Ah, San Diego. Easy to forget there’s actually racing to be done. The crew classic--traditionally an incredibly well run event embraced by local sponsors—is the first big date on the calendar and showcases all that is San Diego: great weather and beach attitude in a big city. The finish line spectator area stands up to any regatta—a Mission Bay beach, a beer tent, and jumbotrons broadcasting the racing.
The dark side of the great weather, as anyone that has rowed here knows, is the prevailing thermal winds that can make the outer lanes practically unrowable for afternoon races. That point, along with the growing popularity of the exclusively collegiate Windemere Cup, was raised by Washington’s Bob Ernst and Cal’s Steve Gladstone in a San Diego Union Tribune article this week. The UW program joined a trend among traditional rowing powers in not entering the crew classic, while Gladstone hinted that Cal may forego the regatta in the future if the premier collegiate events aren’t run in the calmer waters of the morning.
True to form, the course at noon Friday didn’t have a cloud in the sky, but did have rolling cross chop across the course; check out the photo gallery from the racecourse today. A quick run down of the crews that are indeed racing:
In the 2004 Copley Cup, the top event for men’s varsity 8s, it was Northeastern that surprised by being the fastest Huskies crew in race, finishing 2nd behind Cal but ahead of Washington. NU is back to challenge Cal this year, as is an improving Stanford crew. Also testing early season speed and SPF effectiveness are Eastern crews Navy (off a dual loss to top ranked Princeton last week), Penn, and Temple.
On the women’s side, defending Whittier Cup champ Cal heads a field that, despite lacking Washington, includes four other varsity 8’s from the 2004 NCAAs that are again ranked this year—Tennessee, USC, Notre Dame, and Texas.
In the Men’s Cal Cup draw, both Gonzaga and Minnesota have won early season duals, while Trinity is regularly one of the top small college programs around. Orange Coast, UCLA, and the Cal lights are home state faves. The Cal lights in an open event, you ask? For the first time in recent memory, there is no collegiate lightweight men’s event on the schedule.
The women’s Cal Cup presents contenders with some serious geographic diversity, having Kansas State, Central Florida, Sacramento State, Miami, Villanova, and UC Davis among the group. The women’s collegiate lightweight event also features contenders from around the country, with Stanford, Central Florida, Villanova, San Diego, and San Diego State being among the favorites.
The cc has become an elite event for Juniors, as the 2004 showed. On the girls side, Oakland Strokes finished 2nd to Marin at the 04 cc but went on to reverse that result at the Cincinnati nationals. Those crews will be at it again this year, challenged by Sammamish, Long Beach and a host of others in a deep field. On the men’s side, Oakland Strokes, a 2nd place finisher at the 04 Nationals, is back to defend their cc title against the likes of Capital, Marin, Los Gatos, and Victoria City.
Master’s rowers get no breaks at the cc, it’s a full 2000 meters for young and old. The master’s club open race has its own unique format: a staggered start according to age handicaps, with the oldest starting first. Usually makes for good fun at the finish and the men’s race will showcase Long Beach, an outstanding group of former international rowers.
Good luck to everyone racing—and don’t forget the sunscreen.
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