This summer our very own Colin Ethridge will be representing the United States in the Rowing World Championships in the Netherlands.

When he is not crunching numbers for our accounting department, Colin is honing his rowing skills on the Schuylkill River and with the National Rowing Team. Colin, has been been competing in different rowing competitions at a high level since 2013. Most recently, Colin won the US trials in the single scull event. For those of you who don’t know, a single scull is a long, narrow boat. Many consider single sculling the purest form of rowing and successful single scullers, like Colin, are arguably the best athletes in the sport. This is the 5th time Colin has represented his country (and DMi) for a shot at a gold medal.

Colin, 27, began his rowing career in 2004 at Gonzaga High School in Washington DC. After high school he continued rowing through college at University of Delaware. While at Delaware Colin helped lead the Blue Hens to silver and bronze medals at Philly’s Dad Vail Regatta in 2010 and 2011.

After graduating in 2011 with an accounting degree, Colin, began growing his professional and his rowing resumes with the Malta Boat Club in Philly. In 2013, he competed in the World Rowing Championships & the World Rowing Cup. He placed 1st in both the World Championship Trials and National Selection Regatta trials in lightweight double sculls. That same year he also began working as an accountant at DMi.

For the past three years Colin has been balancing training and work. He leaves home around 5 am and is on the Schuykill River by 5:30. After his morning workout he heads to DMi. At lunch he takes advantage of DMi’s gym reimbursement program and hits the weights at SWEAT Fitness. After work, he is back on the water again for evening practice.

Colin is able to keep this challenging schedule going five days per week. (He is also on the river on Saturday and Sunday, too!) Colin is able to train and compete both domestically and internally in large part due to his self-discipline and also the flexibility the DMi team provides him.

When asked how he does it, Colin says, “It is all about discipline and coffee. There are times when I’d like to watch that next episode of a show on Netflix but I know have to put the remote down and walk away so I can get some sleep.”

The entire DMi Team (as well as the Country) will be rooting for him when he competes against some of the best rowers in the world in late August. Help us cheer him on!