After the lunch break Thursday on the Thames, the Henley racing resumed in that funk of late-afternoon fatigue. Slated to race in the fifth afternoon race, Mae Joyce Gay of Union Boat Club, Boston, was pitted against Freeman of Wallingford Boat Club in a heat of the Princess Royal Challenge Cup, the women's single. Gay was significantly larger in stature that her opposition, and she delivered a massive start.
She led for more than half the race, starting higher and up on Freeman until the 3/4 mile marker. After that power stretch she couldn't separate from her foe in Berks station. Slowly Freeman rowed through Gay, at a lower rate, finishing the race with a verdict of winning "easily." Gay had done well this spring in NSR/Speed Orders, with an 8th in the time trial and 4th in the final, and we may see more from her in the States this summer.
John Bancheri awaited his Grand Valley crew's match against Brock University, Canada, a Dad Vail adversary who had won the Vails in 2010, with a little pacing, a little talking, and a lot of analysis. He banished the launch view and went to watch by the shores as GVSU faced a crew that won the finals at Dad Vails, where Grand Valley had missed the finals altogether. Several weeks, workouts and line-up changes later, Bancheri was thinking they had a good mix. They did, to be sure, but Brock had that mix in the spring, and built on their success to boot, and were too solid for GVSU to overcome in July.
In this Temple Challenge Cup match, more than a month removed for Spring Championships in the states, Brock and Grand Valley had almost identical ratings throughout, ranging from a 41 at the power strokes, to 33 through the body, rising slightly past the stands, the one difference being Brock was about a boat length and a half up the entire race. GVSU just couldn't grab them and draw them in. It was a race that defines Henley--two well-matched crews, but in the end, Brock was victorious. Brock will face Queen's University, Belfast tomorrow.
In the launch for the Temple Challenge Cup heat with Washington University and Nihon University Japan, row2k reporter was sitting next to a self-described "old boy" from Nihon University, Japan, who came to share in the fun at Henley, where he rowed more than 30 years prior. Yuichi Nishikawa is now a psychiatrist in Sitama-Ken, Japan, someone qualified to give the analysis of the choosing of the flourescent pink unisuits worn by his alma mater, or perhaps how they lightweight Nihon boys were feeling at the start next to the Washington Huskies, while a headwind buffeted their pink backs.
Both crews had a nice start, and the precision with which Nihon rowed was noticed by all in the umpire's launch. However, one couldn't miss the drives from Washington at the start, which surged the bow of their shell forward, each stroke pulling away from Nihon. Conditions favored the Huskies.
"The Japanese are a well-drilled crew," says Luke McGee, Husky Frosh Coach, who has seen Nihon from the towpath since the UW crew arrived on Friday. Their skill was evident, but the University of Washington freshmen just had the power to take every stroke with more juice and had a lead throughout. About a mile into the race, it looked like they were having so much fun they didn't want to ratchet it back a bit, even with over a 2 length lead. Eventually they dropped about 2 beats and settled, winning by two and a half lengths.
Coach McGee can share his vast Henley experience with his young crew, as he has been to Henley five times as a rower at Brown University, a Brown Alum rower, and finally as coach. Just last year McGee rowed in a thrown-together US boat with several of his Brown Alums mixed in with active US Team rowers in match with the Great Britain Eight in the Grand Challenge Cup. A few of the current US Team members had work commitments and had to leave Henley, so US Team Coach Tim McClaren hustled to fill seats for the Grand. McGee sat in four seat of a powerhouse boat, the stroke of which (Glenn Ochal) is racing in a double with Warren Anderson here in the Doubles Plate. McGee had already raced up to the semis in the Ladies' Plate with a Brown Alumni and NYAC crew in six seat, and hadn't really practiced with this US team hybrid, but he was game. Despite a close race throughout, GB barely pulled it out in the sprint to beat the scratch US crew. This kind of Henley race experience is certainly a boon to his Washington crews, who were a bit wide-eyed when they arrived in Henley.
"They had about a week and half off after IRAs, took their finals, then went home for about four days, then we started up again," says McGee of their post spring championship spell. Washington had won the team trophy at IRAs, and the freshman won their final by two seconds over California and Princeton, so it was time for a break.
Washington has two walk-ons in the boat at--bow seat and six-seat, "Brandon Taft was a football player and Ryan Schroeder was a baseball player and started rowing with the program in September." They had an athletic background and figured out the technique, apparently. "It takes until about February for the light to switch on," says McGee. It is shining brightly now. They'll face University of Victoria, Canada tomorrow, a capable crew so far here at Henley.
Time for the evening racing!
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