Racing commenced early Friday, and as rowing fans were resting for the garden party in the Stewards, athletes were already speeding down the swift course. Records were going to fall on this water today, and it didn't take long for it to happen.
Who else but California to break the first one? The freshmen from Berkeley had broken the Barrier and Fawley records for the Temple Challenge on Thursday; today they bettered their times. They took the 1:46 record down to 1:44 at the Barrier, and the 3:00 Fawley time down to 2:58. Take those drops over the course and it makes for a fast time overall. But it was Harvard frosh who took the record down the course, besting the top Temple time of 6:14 by two seconds--a record set by Oxford Brookes University back in 1995. Harvard ramped things up as they progressed down the course in a come-from-behind effort: their Barrier time was 4 seconds slower than Cal's. It will be an exciting match tomorrow in the Temple.
California has had an impressive undefeated season, capped off by winning the IRAs in New Jersey just a few weeks ago. After that, Coach Wyatt Allen gave the boys a full week off and stern pair Luka Djordjevic and Igor Lucie departed for Serbia to join their own National team. A substitute stern pair from the squad was in place while the team trained in California until coming to England, and once they all reunited, Allen said, they needed some time to get in rhythm again, but they pulled it off.
"This crew has shown maturity beyond their years," says Allen. "We had good athletes at home but [Djordjevic and Lucie] are our stern pair, and anyone who goes in is going to have a different rhythm," he explains. "It's been to see them progress with each race," he adds. "The first day they were a little 'scrambly' out of the start, a lot of nerves, but they have improved on that."
California dispatched Imperial College London this morning, Harvard's win today was against Yale, only the second Harvard-Yale race at Henley, the last being a semi-final bout in the Temple in 2001. Yale had an early jump on Harvard and led for the first two markers, but Harvard kicked it in and pulled out to win by 3/4 length. Prior to the race Yale's cox box malfunctioned. Who did they borrow a replacement from? California.
"They are very happy to have raced well," says Harvard coach Bill Manning of the squad's record-breaking effort this morning. "They raced effectively against a very fast lightweight team. They had to race well," he adds. The start was close, and on that Manning says, "that's the way it is at home all the time; that is the way it is at practice: the higher up on the ladder you go the smaller the margins get."
Harvard Head Coach Harry Parker is back stateside recovering from an infection, and will not be attending Henley this year. Acting Coach Manning attributes some of the success of his athletes to the bodywork/medical support of Anderson Burrell who traveled with the team. He has been working with the Crimson team to improve mobility for the rowing athletes of the team. Although not a Harvard employee, Burrell's support was requested by the athletes during the Henley.
A few crews had their last race today: In the Thames, Kent School Alumni lost a tough race to an older Upper Yarra Rowing Club from Australia, looking great but just overpowered by the other crew. Thomas Graves similarly had a nice race against Chapman from the Australian Institute of Sport in the Diamonds but came up about a length and a half short. Justin Stangel and Tom Peszek of the US Team raced an Italian Crew of Carboncini and Moranati who set a course record on the way. Tough break for the boys, but Stangel said later, "at least we have another chance next week." Indeed: the pair heads next to the Lucerne World Cup. The Malta Boat Club double of lightweights Frycke-Cunningham and Nucci lost to the Australian national team heavyweights from the Australian Institute of Sport. On the women's side, the Brown Alumni Crew racing in the Remenham and drew the UK U23 team racing as Oxford Brooks and Molesey Boat Club, and well...you might guess how that went. Bruno fought hard but was outgunned by a crew who is currently training hard and in peak condition. Good show though, and kudos to all these crews who battled on the Thames today.
The Fawley entry from what the announcer here like to call "Maaahlvern Prep" (a lovely formalization of the Philly "A") faced a skilled youth boat from Clydesdale Rowing Club. This was a fast race and while Malvern led the entire way, they were hard pressed, especially early on when they also were warned for steering. In the end, Malvern won this bout by 1 1/2 lengths.
Certainly the most exciting race of the day when they stormed past the grandstands was the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup match of local favorites Hampton Crew versus St. Andrews from the US. From the start, the crews were matched in rating and speed. Coming out of the start strokes, both crews were at a 41 and within a 1/2 length of each other, with Hampton having they advantage. Through the Barrier, Fawley and the 3/4 mile, Hampton was leading by 1/4 length to a full length. As St. Andrews past Remenham, coxswain Jameson Pesce called a move, and the Saints bumped the rating up two clicks. St. Andrews came to the mile 1 foot ahead of Hampton. Like putting on a "Princess Elizabeth Show" for the spectators in the enclosures, the crews pulled within feet of each other, stroking at a 38-39. At the end, there was that silence as everything was sorted out at the finish line, then the announcement: "St Andrews School, United States of America, defeated Hampton School...by a canvas."
"We came over pretty early, June 14, when only about three crews were here," said Pesce of his Saints crew. "We got to race English crews a little bit, got some practice at Marlow, see how Eton was....we know nothing about these crews," he says. "The first few days were a little unsettling with the booms and the big boats here, but after a few days it wasn't a problem."
"They are a really focused crew," says Coach Lindsey Brown. "You don't just fall into a Henley trip." Coach Brown said that even though this team does not row in the fall, the coaches had Henley in their minds, as this team had a lot of promise and they delivered on that during the regular season. "They did a lot of erging in the winter, played other sports, they had their first erg test in March and it seemed like we had a competitive crew here."
"I think they handled the nerves very well," says Coach Brown. "They have worked so hard and then tapered and now they have all this energy and it is easy for that to not be productive, but being focused and controlled on the first day helped to gain some confidence."
So St. Andrews provided the nail biter of the day, but it could have easily been University of Virginia who did the same, but instead they controlled their race throughout to earn a semi-final berth. Facing University of London, whose team has extensive Henley experience, UVA made an impressive statement by bursting out of the start almost a 1/2 length ahead. They kept the rating one click higher than their opponent throughout and, while U of L still had contact, Virginia was sitting in a nice leader's spot, from 1/2 to 3/4 lengths ahead. As they cruised past the enclosures, they were 3/4 length ahead and held it. Their Barrier time day would have been a course-tying record just two days ago, so they are in the mode of the Harvard and Cal frosh, despite being a self-funded non-scholarship program. They have their heads on straight there. Keep it up UVA.
Cheers from Henley.
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