Pre-WWII Men’s Collegiate Rowing

row2k Features

Wayback Wednesday
Pre-WWII Men’s Collegiate Rowing

June 24, 2020
Adam Bruce, row2k.com

August 1869 The Great International University Boat Race On the River Thames 4 miles 2 furlongs: Between Harvard and Oxford Universities. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

1906 8-oar shell race between Harvard and Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress - Click for full-size image!

Cambridge Crew between 1910 and 1915. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress - Click for full-size image!

c1910. Yale Varsity Crew and substitutes. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress - Click for full-size image!

1913 Harvard Varsity 8. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress - Click for full-size image!

1914. Penn Fresh Crew. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress - Click for full-size image!

June 12, 1915. Yale varsity crew practicing for the race with Harvard. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress - Click for full-size image!

May 18, 1922 Princeton varsity crew. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress - Click for full-size image!

Previously for Wayback Wednesday, we looked at Pre-WWII Women’s Collegiate Rowing and the History of the IRA. Keeping the collegiate theme alive, this week's Wayback Wednesday we have a series of pre-WWII photos of Men’s Collegiate Rowing.

Included in this week's feature, Harvard raced Cambridge in the US and Oxford in the UK. What makes these races so interesting is the first transatlantic commercial flight did not take place until 1939. In order for UK rowers to race in the US or US rowers to race in the UK, they would have to get on a boat and travel for around 4.5 days first. For all us who have complained about those long bus and plane rides to regattas... it could be worse.

As always, if you have any old school rowing images we should check out and are allowed to share, please send them to us.

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