Racing starts early on Friday at Henley as new categories hit the water and the larger categories still require whittling. In the first race of the day, the men in the Prince of Wales Challenge quad from California Rowing Center won by a length and a quarter. This crew comprised of athletes from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Yale and UNH looked rather convincing beating the Commercial Rowing Center, Ireland. It looks like they will face Imperial College, London, who had gone out hard in their race, won easily, and were given excessive props from the Umpires, but still finished the course 10 seconds slower than CRC. Yes, conditions change, but the wind has been rather quiet today.
Morning Racing The swift rowers from Merrimack had a quick start in their race in the Britannia Challenge. Though they lead Taurus out of the island, Merrimack fell behind at the barrier, and never recovered enough water, trailing ultimately by three-quarters of a length.
The Union Boat Club Britannia entry, coached by Henry Palmer a Henley veteran with 6 appearances and 3 wins, (one in 7-seat of the 2005 Temple student eights with Trinity and the Graves brothers, the others while he trained at Leander), looked as if they were here to win. Jim Bayley, Josh Novak, Brad Werntz, and Justin Martin with Courtney Coyne coxing are fairly recent grads working in Boston. Two rowed at Boston University, one Harvard, one Princeton, but none had every been to Henley, and according to Brad, "competing at Henley was on my bucket list." Bayley, a medical school student, says that in the race their goal was to "get way ahead at the Island (start)," and hold off the opposing crew. To meet that goal, they were rating 43 at the end of their start cycle, and had one length lead, which they extended to three lengths over Thames Rowing Club by the time they crossed the line.
The Diamond Challenge Sculls
Note one the Diamonds Challenge: 2012 Olympic Champion Mahe Drysdale was knocked out in his first race by Alexandrov of Azerbaijan, by four and a half lengths. Alexandrov had this one from the beginning, forcing Drysdale into a higher rating, but not effectively. In another Diamonds race, GB favorite Alan Campbell won over the Bulgarian Bozhilov, who rows low and powerfully. Though Campbell is steady, clean, and knows the course very well, at the starting platform, he was chopping his oars, resulting in a false start. Not sure what that was about, but he rowed a nice race thereafter.
John Graves had a commanding win over Andreas Penkner from Germany, who had retired from rowing but recently picked up again. He may figure that Marcel Hacker will retire by the time he is 50 and there might be a spot for him on the squad, but his new entry into training showed, and Graves was able to win easily at a 26 rating, still racing but able to lengthen and glide a bit. Graves and Alexandrov will face-off tomorrow.
American Youth Face Challenging Opposition
Green Lake crew had made it to Friday, an accomplishment for a crew that has only gotten better as they extended their season into Henley. In their race Friday afternoon in the Thames Challenge, they met a crew of young men who had been to Henley more than a few times, and were comprised mostly of mature, strong collegiate rowers; Griffen Boat Club is really "Abingdon School Old Boys."
In recent years, the Abingdon School has made the Princess Elizabeth Challenge their own, winning in 2011 and 2012. Six of the Griffen Boat Club rowers were in those two winning boats; at least four are now rowing at American universities and a couple graduated 4-8 years ago. It was a fast boat, and the kind of crew that does quite well in the Thames. Because Green Lake Crew is a club, not a school, they cannot enter in a schoolboys event (PE) and they have to match up with some very experienced rowers.
Griffen Boat Club had this one, almost from the start. Green Lake Crew looks stronger with each outing, but this opposing crew had an advantage: a rhythmic, clean stroke, and consistent power. It was a good run for Green Lake Crew, though they lost this match by a length and a half.
Boston College High School had a similar story; the best part is to see these younger crews fast-forward in their skills and race mentality. However, they met a very large and polished Scotch College from Melbourne, Australia (who would come that far if they didn't mean business?) whose times to the barrier were just one second off the winning Northeastern Varsity time (1:50/1:49) in their match of the Ladies earlier that day. Scotch College won by a length and a half, but only after backing down in stroke rate, at a 23 to cross the finish line.
Ladies’ Challenge Plate
The Ladies’ Challenge Plate race introduced some serious competition today as University of Washington hit the water. Washington met up with Sevilla and Malaga Rowing Club, Spain. The umpire said it all: "Washington was more smooth and powerful." The crews who faced this boat in the IRAs may have felt the same way--they won that championship race against the best of US Collegiate crews by more than three seconds. Washington will face Leander and Molesley composite crew tomorrow. Just a quick note: the British crew had a faster time to the barrier. Racing is on!
"They did just as we talked about," said Bill Manning, coach of Harvard Heavyweights of the Harvard "B" entry in the Visitors' Cup. This crew is really coached by Lightweight Coach Charley Butt, however Manning knew the game plan, and was thrilled with how they executed the race. This lightweight crew is still in fantastic shape from their season, and winning the IRAs in the lightweight eight. Referring to the opposition of the Northeast Alumni of Hovey, Miller, Lovric, and Owsten, Manning quipped, "they may be out of shape from their desk jobs."
This may be true, but the guys in the Northeast Alumni crew have had some success (Miller and Hovey rowed in the last Olympics), so they are contenders; the difference was current training and time together in the boat. This was the deciding factor in the race today, which Harvard won by a length and a half. Northeastern led to the half mile most likely on sheer power, but were warned for steering. Harvard took that opportunity to strike with their good conditioning, and the lead was theres' until the finish line.
Northeastern University "A" in the Ladies’ Plate dispatched Galatasaray Rowing Club from Istanbul, otherwise known as the Turkish national squad this afternoon. The Turkish club started at a much higher rating from the start, but Northeastern already had a 3/4 length lead at the barrier, and they extended it as they moved to the stands.
"It was a relief almost," said Northeastern 7-seat, Trevor Weaser, speaking of getting out and racing for the first time in weeks.
"We have been doing pieces; 1-minutes, 2-minutes, but not a full race," said 6-seat, Cameron Buchan.
"It is a little bit of a wake-up call to get out there into a race....but it was great to stave them off," adds Sean Crowley.
"We always try to be the most aggressive boat on the water," says coxswain Connor Wortley.
"It was a confidence booster to move up on another crew, then have control of the race the rest of the way," says Max Montpetit, 5-seat in the boat. We will see Northeastern race against the crew their "B" entry (2V) lost to today, more later.
Racing Continues
Harvard "A" had just an edge as they emerged the shadows of Temple Island on Friday evening, but they extended that edge to open water in their race against Taurus Boat Club and Star Club composite boat in the Visitors’ Cup. The Crimson were ahead by a canvas at the barrier but by the mile marker had moved away by two boat lengths, ultimately winning by a length and a half. Looking at the big picture for this category tomorrow, the Harvard Lights will face Thames Rowing Club (their times to the barrier were almost identical) and the Harvard Heavies will race against Molesey. Harvard “A” has Molesey to the barrier by three seconds based on today's current results, but this is just for curiosity's sake.
Bromfield-Acton Boxborough won the US Rowing Youth National Championships in June in the four with coxswain, a fully-subscribed category at the most competitive championships in the United States. Their victory in Oak Ridge, TN, set them for a trip to Henley and with one seat change. They have raced in qualifying races, the Reading Regatta and then on to Henley. On their first trip down the Henley course in the new category (commenced last year), the Junior Women's Quad, with both crews having a slow start but evening matched to the barrier. Gloucester moved ahead thereafter, and in the effort to move the boat, steering was a bit off. The quad hit the booms, but re-started quickly. They completed the race, two and a half lengths back.
A few notes (to be expanded upon tomorrow):
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