The 34th running of the George Washington University Invite featured tight regional racing on the women's side, some serious heavyweight posturing by the Cornell and Navy men, and even some international flair, as Oxford and Brock pitched up to race for a spot in the inaugural Potomac Challenge Cup. Those were the stories once day one got underway Saturday, but the biggest story of the regatta happened on Friday.
Racing might have been scheduled to start at 8:24 am, but the clock here in DC started running far earlier for these crews. The regatta was still a day away when the near-shutdown of the US government over the budget impasse developed into a real threat to the racing. Even as crews were traveling to DC, the location and time of the regatta hinged very much on the outcome of the debate happening just a mile from the finish line on Capitol Hill.
The biggest hurdle for crew's and race organizers was the potential loss of the regatta venue: Thompson's Boat Center, the staging area for the regatta since its inception, is located on National Park Service property. Had the government shut down, the entire facility, including the docks and trailer parking area would have been off-limits. Contingency plans called for re-locating the launch area up-river to Potomac Boat Club and delaying the racing to allow teams time to re-organize, but having to wrestle with a news site and schedule posed nightmares for organizers. Crews arriving Friday to practice and, in the case of the Cornell Heavies, to race an evening fixture with host GW, were busy de-rigging after their rows, just in case their first task on Saturday would be moving upstream.
For one team, the government shutdown would have scuttled the regatta entirely: the Navy coaches learned on Friday that teams from all three service academies would be ordered back to campus and all competitions would be suspended in the event of a shutdown. "It was like waiting to see if we were going to have a nationwide snow day," joked one Navy coach, who pointed out that the Navy heavyweights would have lost their first three races of the season had they been ordered to stay home.
When the word came through late Friday night that the government would stay open for business, the regatta was able to go on as planned, much to relief of all involved, even if it did mean some extra re-rigging time on Saturday morning.
The Invite featured its traditional round-robin format but added an extra twist this year with the introduction of the Potomac Challenge Cup: the fastest US V8s would "advance" to take on the winner of Saturday's race-off between Oxford and Brock. With the trophies for overall winner also being awarded based on margins as well as number of wins, the Invite saw a lot of fast but perhaps not "sporting" racing, as the varsity crews who could power away and dominate the competition left nothing to chance in vying for the title of "fastest" US eight.
Notes from the Racing - Women
The MIT women found themselves locked in a good fight with Oxford and host GW in the morning. The Oxford boat was a combination of the open and lightweight Blues squads, but there was no mistaking the five seat, Natalie Redgrave, competing in the first international race of her young career. The Oxford crew clearly came to make a serious run at the regatta, with an early lead over both MIT and GW, but after a strong first 1000 meters, MIT put their bow just ahead for good. The crews continued to battle, with GW never more than a few seats down and Oxford gamely trying for the win all the way to the line, but the Engineers took the win by a seat. MIT would drop the second race of the day to Navy, but finished 2-1 on the day.
Navy got off to a strong start with its 1V4 against a tough and much improved Columbia team, notching a win that will help the Midshipmen's team ranking in the Mid-Atlantic region. "Our four looked good in beating Columbia. We were ranked fifth in the region in the four and Columbia was fifth so we should be moving up in the rankings," head coach Mike Hughes said. The Lions however dominated the eights racing, sweeping Navy in the bigger boats to end the morning.
The Georgetown lightweight women took to the water against Radcliffe in the morning race, to contest the Class of 2004 Cup. The race was a tight affair, with Radcliffe taking a narrow but controlling lead early. The Hoyas continued to press all the way to line, keeping it under half a length, but Radcliffe had their measure. The Georgetown openweights fared better, taking an early lead over St. Joe's and the Brock crew visiting from Canada. The Hoyas went on to win by open water in a good start to their day.
Columbia, however emerged as the best crew on the women's side: after strong rows to take the win over both Navy Varsity eights, the Lions lined up against Georgetown in the afternoon, and swept the Hoyas. The Columbia Varsity eight did so in convincing fashion, but it was the Lion's 2V that thrilled the crowd with a dramatic come-from-behind win in what looked to be the race of the day. It was all Georgetown early in this one, as the Hoyas took 6 seats off the start and then, just as Columbia began to move at their base pace, the six seat jumped her slide. For the crowd watching the excellent live video at the finish line, it looked like Georgetown had all the lead they would need, but the Lions recovered and patiently paced themselves back into the race. Gaining perhaps a seat every 30 seconds, the Lions only drew level in the last 500 meters, but their move to the front was unstoppable. "They showed tremendous poise," Head Coach Melanie Onufrieff said. "They recovered and responded."
Notes from the Racing - Men
A host of men's crews here--GW, Georgetown, Holy Cross, Gonzaga--but the day belonged to Cornell and Navy, who used the Potomac to wage a true heavyweight show of force. The two IRA powers did not face each other this weekend, saving that showdown for next weekend's Goes Cup racing in Ithaca, but clearly were intent on matching times and speed even as they watched each other race. Cornell, of course, comes into 2011 fresh off a tremendous IRA, which saw the V8 take third in the nation and put a Cornell boat in every final. Navy, on the other hand, had yet to race this spring and seemed eager to back up the promise of their victory over the Big Red in last fall's 4 mile race at Poughkeepsie.
The Navy and Cornell races were only exciting for their fans: every boat got out to a quick open water lead and stormed to the finish line. At one point, video announcer Dave Vogel opined that the Navy 2V was actually rowing as if they "knew their freshmen's time was a fast one." The only crew here that seemed able to hang with Cornell and Navy in the early going was Georgetown's young varsity eight. The Hoya's, many of whom rowed the Sprints final last year as freshmen before heading to Henley last year, rowed aggressively and will definitely be a crew to watch in the coming years.
On the clock, the only way the Red and the Mids could keep score without a head-to-head race, the Midshipmen got the nod: Navy posted the fastest times in the 1V and 2V races in each session, and will be the US crew in the finals of the Potomac Challenge Cup on Sunday.
The rest of the men's racing was exciting and well-matched, but the best was the tightly fought race between GW and Holy Cross against Oxford. Here, Oxford took a length early, but GW made a strong push to pull within a deck. The home crowd, cheered them on, but Holy Cross, from nearly a length behind, mounted a charge of their own, and snuck past GW in the closing seconds. Oxford, remaining amazingly composed just one lane over from this dogfight, never lifting above 35, even as the other crews threatened to draw level. At the line, Oxford had held all of two seats advantage, but it was enough for the win, with Holy Cross scoring a bit of an upset to take second over the Colonials.
Potomac Challenge Cup
The day ended with the heats of the Potomac Challenge Cup: races that pitted the two international crews, Brock and Oxford, in a dual to decide who would meet the best US crew for the Cup on Sunday. The women's race was hard to handicap, as both Brock and Oxford had fallen in the morning to US crews. In the afternoon, it was Oxford that found the early rhythm, and measure of redemption, to earn a spot in Sunday's Cup final against Columbia.
The men's race was a different story: a two boat, stroke for stroke battle that was everything that the regatta committee could have hoped for when they invited these crews to DC. Brock, last year's Dad Vail winner was on good form here, giving Cornell a good race for nearly a 1000 meters in the morning. Oxford meanwhile, had made the trip with a surprisingly good crew, "rumoured" to have four Blues aboard, fresh from the Boat Race, joined by four members of the Isis reserve crew--so fully eight of the OUBC's top sixteen oarsmen.
Brock blasted out to an early lead, taking a full length in hand to the 1000 meter mark, but Oxford was unflappable. No doubt fully accustomed from Boat Race training to long pieces of steady effort, ahead or behind, Oxford was relentless and kept chewing into the Brock lead, without ever seeming to move or sprint over their base cadence. As the crews drew into sight of the crowd at Washington Harbor, they were battling stroke for stroke. Oxford looked to grab a slight advantage with 200m to go, but Brock started sprinting back into the lead. The Dark Blues had the final answer, however: Oxford by a bow ball, in a courageous race by both boats. Oxford will now face the Midshipmen of Navy for the Cup in the final race of the regatta, while Brock takes on the host George Washington in the petite final. (Cornell had already headed home: the Big Red did their racing here Friday night through Saturday, heading back to Ithaca with nary a defeat).
Comments | Log in to comment |
04/10/2011 11:14:14 AM