Navy Men, Columbia Women Keep Cup Stateside
New this year to the GW Invite's round-robin of duals was the inaugural Potomac Challenge Cup. With the Cup up for grabs in the final session of racing, a little backstory: hoping to add a little extra flair to the racing, the GW and Georgetown coaches came up with the idea to invite some international collegiate crews to the regatta. Oxford was an obvious, and worthy, choice and then, after a little searching, Brock University--a familiar Canadian name to anyone who has tried to win a Senior B race at Can-ley--emerged as good partner. Brock has been venturing south a lot more lately, taking the Dad Vail title last may and racing the Lubber's Cup last weekend. Both schools were willing to field a men's and women's entry, in keeping with the very balanced nature of this regatta, and the field was set for the first Potomac Challenge.
The format was simple: the international crews would get a "warm-up" race on the first morning against some American crews in the round robin, and then day one would end with the two internationals facing off for the right to race the top American crew at the regatta for the cup. The wise inclusion of a petite final, against the "second best" American college, gave all the crews a Sunday race, and created four exciting "America vs. Canada/England" races to close the regatta.
Potomac Challenge Cup - Men's final: Navy vs. Oxford
Hard to imagine a more fitting collegiate crew to line up for the USA side than the Midshipmen of Navy. The Mids were penciled into this final from the start, with Cornell, the other heavyweight power at the regatta, heading home early, but Navy made sure to earn the spot by posting the fastest times of the regatta all day Saturday. They also turned up to the line, appropriately enough, in a boat named for one of the three great Navy crews to (actually) represent the USA at the Olympics: 1952's gold medal-winning "Great Eight." The OUBC eight was not technically "Oxford" of course, since that title is reserved, and fittingly so, for the line-up that races each March against Cambridge, but it was a formidable group of Oxford's best. Oxford's best time had been about six seconds off Navy on Saturday, but Oxford had shown some good speed and savvy in outlasting Holy Cross and overpowering Brock, and it didn't look like Navy was taking Oxford lightly when the starter's flag dropped.
The Midshipmen blasted off the line at 47, a tick or two higher than Oxford, and then lengthened with a four seat cushion. Oxford kept punching, but Navy's rhythm was noticeably more relaxed, and effective. After 500 meters, what hope the OUBC might have harbored of a second come-through win was fading, and it was all Navy down the course--much to the delight of the announcers, who called the whole race as the "American crew" pulling away from the "English crew." Heady stuff for an April college race, but a good fix for folks unable to wait for the 2011 Worlds.
Navy coach Rick Clothier couldn't remember a Navy-Oxford dual in his tenure, and that goes back 37 years, so we'll chalk this win up as an historic first. The Oxford staff was very complimentary, noting that the Navy crew was sharp, and ready to race this shorter distance, but it was clear that, like all good competitors, the Dark Blues were not keen about being bested. On the dock, the two crews exchanged handshakes beside their boats, much like the medals dock at an international race--another nice moment occasioned by the interesting format.
Potomac Challenge Cup - Women's final: Columbia vs. Oxford
The Lions of Columbia were tabbed to represent the US on the women's side, and coach Melanie Onufrieff and her crew were clearly thrilled to be "Team America" for the day. The Lions had gotten there by having their way with the other DI crews here, and wasted no time putting a big lead on the Oxford women. The Oxford boat was all Blues, but four of the eight had been drawn from the lightweight side of the boat club, so the crew was both a composite and a bit of a mixed bag. They rowed extremely well together nonetheless, but could not match the power of the Columbia crew. The Lions cruised home to chants of "USA" from spectators, to include some members of the other teams at the regatta-all caught up in the Potomac Challenge spirit of patriotism.
After the race, Columbia was asked to row back to finish area, where they were given their medals on the water, via a launch. It was a unique but clever way to award the hardware, and in a nice touch, Arthur Rodbell, chairman of the event, announced each rower by name and thanked them for their efforts on the race course. Oxford was also brought back for a round of applause and a word of thanks. Certainly, the organizers are hopeful that these visitors will return and keep this format full of exciting races.
Potomac Challenge Petites
Say what you will about the merits of the "small final" or racing for pride without a shot at a medal--these Petites were the best boat races of the day.
The GW men, a young crew under second year head man Mark Davis, took on Brock and treated the crowd to a few lead changes and then a photo finish. Brock left the line high and stayed there, in true St Catherines-fashion, to grab the early lead, but the Colonials kept charging to go ahead by a length before the Key Bridge. Brock took that hit and responded, and the crews spent the last 500 meters separated by perhaps inches. Brock took the sprint, just. For GW, racing in their fourth 2k of the weekend after agreeing to dual Cornell Friday night before the regatta, it was a gutsy performance but another tough loss--their second of the weekend by a bow ball.
Georgetown's open women took on Brock in the other Petite, and bounced back from a hard fought race with Columbia to turn the tables on the Badgers from Canada. Brock was game to race, and kept the race the tightest of the women's finals in the first 500 meters, but the Hoya's used a mature, powerful rhythm to press out into the lead. Georgetown then shut the door on Brock in the second thousand for their best margin of the weekend.
Other Race Day Notes
For the non-Cup crews, racing proved just as intense--these were the best bits:
The Navy women took their sweep of the fast-improving GW women right to the wire: the Varsity 8 race saw the Mids weather a furious charge by the Lady Colonials to hold onto the win by half a deck. The win put Mike Hughes' varsity crew at 2-1 on the weekend.
The Georgetown Men quietly tacked up the second best varsity time of the weekend in their all-Jesuit final against Holy Cross and Gonzaga, posting a finish time bested only by Navy. As noted here yesterday, this is a young Hoya crew to watch out for.
Gonzaga made the long trip east again and got themselves in two tight races on Sunday: the frosh came out on the right side by outlasting Holy Cross by a deck, but it was the Crusaders who impressed the photo finish folks in the 2V, with Holy Cross taking it by 0.2 seconds over the 'Zags.
Dave Vogel, announcing the races all weekend in dulcet tones, made a few mentions of the intersquad rivalry between the Navy 2V and 1F. With all the Navy boats enjoying large margins but still pushing, the Midshipmen did put on a show of racing the clock, so we feel honor-bound to report that the 2V did in fact edge the Plebe crew 2-1 on race times.
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