More than 1,000 rowers are expected to hit the Milwaukee River Saturday morning for the 17th annual Milwaukee River Challenge.

The event draws college and high school rowing teams from Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota and Illinois, and Milwaukee School of Engineering coach Charles Stollenwerk says it draws quite a crowd as well.

"In my estimate it would probably be somewhere around 10,000 people along the whole line of the shore here along Schlitz Park, all the way up the Menominee Valley by Pottawatomie."

Team members say that crowd really makes a difference.

"I mean there's really nothing better than someone cheering you on when you're digging deep for that last couple strokes, and you're in the middle of the piece and you just need something to keep you moving. And it really just excites the competition even that much more," MSOE rowing member Frederick Rosenberger said. 

There are eight different events in the three-mile track. The first half of the race takes place in the Menominee River, and there is a sharp 90-degree turn into the Milwaukee River. It is one of few rowing races in the country with such a turn.

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