Saturday's post-lunch fixture brought US finalists up to an even dozen, and here is how those races looked from the Press Box.
Island Challenge Cup - W8+
In the Island, in this first year that the powerhouse American programs had full seasons and could travel over, the final will be all USA--which is a bit of a Steward's nightmare. After all, they love to see the internationals, but only wish them luck until the semi-finals in the hopes of a home crew win.
Yet with both Brown and Yale unbeaten here, we will certainly have one Henley winner from the States on Sunday.
Brown, winners of Women's Henley have a two-week winning streak to ride into the final; they also have yet to lose to Yale this year, for what that might be worth on this much different course. Additionally, neither of the teams have crews intact from the spring season, so it is anybody's guess.
The Yale crew in a new lineup will look to change that, and they got the chance to do so in a cracking race against a University of London crew that will no doubt be billed as Yale's second "instant Henley classic" of the regatta.
"That was the best race I've ever seen at Henley by a Yale crew," said Yale's longtime assistant Jamie Snyder, who has seen his share.
Stonor Challenge Trophy - W2x
In the Stonor, the story for the US Lightweight double was that they are together again: Molly Reckford came back into the boat feeling better, after a medical switch with Maggie Fellows.
Word of the switch did not reach the printers, so Fellows got credit in the program and the announcing, but it was Reckford all along on Saturday and the intact USA Light Double--gold medallists at Poznan--took the win. They will face Australia in an all-lightweight Final on Sunday.
Ladies Challenge Plate - M8+
With three American crews in the final, the Men's side of US college rowing had a chance to give us another all-American affair, but Leander was too strong for the crew Yale sent over and California beat Dartmouth, as they had in winning the IRA Championship a month ago.
Dartmouth did not go quietly, and one could see what their extra weeks of rowing can do for a crew from the "Northern Kingdom," as New Hampshire and Vermont sometimes call themselves. Another month further removed from winter and a frozen river gave Dartmouth another gear here, but it was still not enough to stop the juggernaut that is the Cal Men's Varsity."
"Just so proud of these guys and the effort they put in," said coach Wyatt Allen afterwards, "both just now and these past few weeks. We couldn't have asked any more of them and they gave each other all they had out there against a really composed Cal crew."
"I think the guys executed a really good race plan, a really good race," said Cal coach Scott Frandsen. "We knew Dartmouth was going to be right there and fight really hard and they did. So it wasn't a surprise, but we're just proud of the guys for getting out there through the middle of the race, and digging in and holding on and controlling the race in the last five minutes."
Going on in Groups of Four
A trio of four-folk boats made it to Sunday: the "F1" specialists of Washington in the Visitors 4-, the junior women of Redwood Scullers--who have shown fine form and tenacity through their run through the best of GB junior sculling--and the US Team's double-double quad, which features the two Men's Doubles that raced to B Final placings at Poznan.
Here, the US Men faced off against a New Zealand quad who--coincidentally enough--were also B Finalists in Poznan, but in the quad. Off the line, the Kiwi's had a great start and quick lead, perhaps for having a bit more time in their line-up (though not much more: the bow man being the 6-seat Olympic Gold Medalist just last year).
The Americans, with all of 10 or so days of post-Poznan training camp behind them, stayed in contact, kept the sculling light and quick, and worked back through the Kiwis to make the final. There, the World Cup leaders await: China, fresh off a gold at Poznan and looking very sharp indeed.
Onboard the chase launch for that epic comeback was USA sculler Kara Kohler, who was fresh off her semi-final win in this, her first ever trip to either Henley or a Princess Royal final. The fact that she just raced in the massive headwind made the comments from the other guests a bit comical: as they opined about how the water must feel, they seemed to have no idea that Kohler had just mastered it a few races earlier.
That rounded out the finals for the US crews, an even dozen with one race that showed that--for now--if you hold a race for collegiate women, you might just have to get used to seeing an US crew-only final.
Notes from the Course
A step ahead of the papers? If you have been missing the excellent home-based coverage in the Telegraph in the daily row2k news feed this week, that's because there hasn't been any--so row2k is at least a step ahead of the major media here, if not thousands of words to the upside. Word is The Telegraph may "take an article" on Sunday's racing, which would be nice, but their reticence to this point means that Telegraph readers missed all the heroics by British crews across the first five days of racing, to include Radley's stunning upset of Eton is what may have well been the biggest PE upset of all time. The Telegraph was one of the last UK papers to run regular articles about rowing, owing mostly to Rachel Quarrell's tenacity and persistence, and it is tough to see it go missing.
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