John Madura

About Me

My name is John. I am from West Milford, NJ and am the oldest of two sons. I grew up in a town composed mostly of woods, lakes, and hills. From a young age I gained an appreciation for the outdoors, and the hard work that it has to offer. My father did an excellent job of ensuring that I remained active, and often took my brother and I fishing, or out to our family's property to hike, shoot, or ride our ATVs and dirt bikes. My parents also involved us in sports from a young age, and we participated in team sports every season, except for the summer, that time was reserved for fishing. I attended West Milford Public High School and participated in the school's alpine ski team, baseball team, track and field team, as well as it's many musical programs. 

I graduated from high school in 2008, and then attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA. The second day at WPI I was singled out of the lunch line by the rowing coach, Larry Noble, as a potential for the rowing team. Larry was able to convince me to attend a information session at the boathouse with the promise that there would be free food for all of the freshman, which is always the easiest way to get me to do anything. Before I knew it I had completed my first fall season on Lake Quinsigamond and had many new friends on the rowing team. 

I was a two sport athlete in college, participating on both the varsity rowing team, and club alpine ski racing team. I graduated in 2012 with both my BS and MS in mechanical engineering. About a month after graduation I was simultaneously laid off from my job at a Siemens plant, and informed that I was selected to attend a USRowing U23 sculling selection camp. even though I had never rowed at a high level, and had never seriously sculled, I had nothing better to do, so I packed up my things in Worcester and headed to Norwalk, CT. I was able to make the U23 men's 2X that year, and upon returning to the USA I knew that elite level rowing was something I had to try. 

I enrolled in a PhD program at WPI, and entered the high performance sculling program at GMS under coach Guenter Beutter. I spent the next year working on my rowing fitness, and learning how to scull more efficiently. in the summer of 2013 I had become fit enough, and learned to scull well enough that I was sent to the Holland Beker Regatta and Royal Henley, where we were knocked out in the semifinal by the evntual winners, in a 4X sponsored by the California Rowing Club. 

At the end of 2013 I left my PhD program at WPI, and was accepted into the PhD program at UC Berkeley. Because I had no business being in Worcester anymore, I moved into an old office trailer at GMS, and continued to train until August, when I moved to California to attend school. At this point I began training at California Rowing Club under coach Bernhard Stomporowski. That fall I was 2nd at the West Coast fall speed order, and put myself in the running to make the club's priority boat, the men's 4X. 

In 2015 I was selected into the CRC men's 4X, and my crew and I won the 2nd national selection regatta in the quad, winning the right to go to the world cup races in Europe. We finished a dissapointing 12th at world cup II, but came back to the USA, where we worked on our rowing efficiency and changed the line up. We won the USRowing senior trials in a time of 5:49, earning a spot at the World Rowing Championships, where we will attempt to qualify the USA in the men's 4X. We need a top 8 finish.