Saturday came in sweet at the Crew Classic, serving up primo conditions for the first full day of racing. Today's heats and races for lanes were all about setting up Sunday and trips to the trophy tent, and getting to do it on water that, for the most part, "stayed glassy, San Diego" was a treat.
2x the Fun for Masters 4x
One set of events that wrapped on Saturday was the Masters Club Quads we wrote about yesterday. The popular new event celebrated its second year in the program with a two day format, leading to a pair of eight quad A Finals at the end of the day.
Steeringuwright, LLC, won the women's race, and three seat Cassandra Cunningham said the event was "so much more fun with heats and finals."
"Adding the extra race put a great spin on this entry. A 2k race is much more intense and exciting than the 1k and it was also an opportunity to line up against the same club from heat to final. Having the opportunity to try and advance in the heat and putting it together in the final racing to earn a spot on the podium made the progression awesome," Cunningham said.
"To see these amazing women in this event at so many different ages is inspiring. My hat is off to all of them."
As it happens, our Friday report just happened to include a photo of the Texas Rowing Center men who wound up winning the men's event--you can see them here in the final. Congrats to all.
The other few finals on the day included the 70+ Masters men, won by the San Diego Alumni crew, and the Para and Inclusion events, which featured a huge group of veterans and members of the armed services with disabilities who participate in the Freedom Rows program and raced here with the support of Unity Boat Club and coaches Patrick Johnson and Brooke Yimer.
Colleges Being Cagey
In yesterday's report, we noted that there are some highly anticipated college showdowns on tap, but apart from one fours race that we'll touch on below, #3 Washington and #4 Texas were in opposite heats in the women's events today and everyone could advance without giving too much away ahead of Sunday.
The #7 Cal Women served up the one real stir when they kept pushing Texas all the way down the course in the Varsity 8. It was "just" a race for lanes since all seven teams in the Jessop-Whittier Cup will race again in the final, but as anyone who's raced on Mission Bay can tell you, there's no such thing as just a race for lanes in San Diego.
So Cal made a push for it, and while Texas won by three seats or so and grabbed lane 2 next to Washington for the final, Cal took some big swings, both to see if they could get out of racing the final out in lane four, and to maybe hand the Longhorns a mini-upset in the process.
You can watch the last 500 below and decide for yourself which of these crews might have the extra gear tomorrow--and bear in mind that the tight finish pushed both crews to post a time some ten seconds faster than the one Washington posted in their much more comfortable win over Washington State.
Looking at each team's full NCAA squad--the two eights and the four--Texas was the only Jessop-Whittier team to collect heat wins across the board, and one of those did come in the four, the one head-to-head of the three against Washington.
But, with none of these crews facing any elimination Saturday, all we can really say that these are some fast boats who have not played all their cards yet, so we will just have to tune in to see them settle on the water Sunday. The V8s go at it at 9:30 Pacific, with Texas hoping to win the Jessop-Whittier for a third year in a row.
College Men Target Cal Cup
With no colleges entering for the Copley Cup this year, the Men's Collegiate Cal Cup has become the peak men's event on the college side. Across four heats of racing amongst IRA varsity and ACRA club teams, and with one EARC lightweight team--MIT--in the mix, we wound up with a final that will see six varsity programs and two ACRA squads face off for the cup.
This Cal-Berkeley Freshmen Eight will be a heavy favorite for the final, even against the first varsities in the event. Racing here as the Bears went split squad with their upper and lower boats this weekend, the Cal Frosh crushed their heat against Purdue. The rest of the intrigue in this final should come from UCLA, a crew which followed up that win in the ACRA Invite on Friday by taking their heat over Gonzaga, and the MIT Lightweights, who won their heat as well, over San Diego.
Tale of Two Coasts
In the youth quads, the annual coast-vs-coast showdowns look to be in place for the finals, with 2023 women's champs Redwood Scullers and Los Gatos leading the way for the west coast and Maritime making good, once again, on its long trip from Connecticut with spots in the final for both its men--who won last year--and its women. With a few Midwest and Texas crews hoping to break into the conversation, these will be good finals for Brunch by the Bay crowd to enjoy Sunday morning.
Amongst the youth eights, the California clubs won all the heats save one, led by Marin who won both the men's and women's trophies last year. It was the Saugatuck women who picked up that heat win, and their men also made their final--both of which will be eight boat throw-downs to see who can come away with a big early season win.
You can check the full results here and here are the streaming links for the weekend, either to catch races live or to watch replays:
If you don't have all day to watch every race, here are local times for some of the key finals on Sunday:
row2k will be posting galleries and reports throughout the weekend, so keep checking back.
Notes from the Course
The Spectating Seal - this guy kept popped up to peep the final strokes of a few races. Apparently the really prime viewing area is in the water, just outside Lane 1...if you are a seal.
So That's How they Do It - The Crew Classic folks shared some behind-the-scenes, and below-the-bay, footage of how they get the course in each year, with the help of a local dive crew; "aquatic challenge" indeed.
wild2k, Mission Bay Edition- There's way more wild-life here than just drone-seeking seagulls, and until we can get a shot of the seal at the finish line, here's our best shot of the huge pelican at the start (see more in the gallery here):
Ah, Novice Life - rowing all the way to the start with no seat? Seems like the kind of thing that could only happen to a novice crew, but luckily, they ran into a guy who could get them a spare.
And, Yep, Still At 6 -
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