The Charles was a veritable speed factory today, as 15 events saw new course records over the course of the day. A light southwest wind, a tailwind in the first two miles of the course or so, as well as low river flow due to lingering drought conditions in Massachusetts made the upstream 3-miler just a tick faster.
Masters Singles and Doubles
Just when you thought it was safe to row a women's sculling event at the Charles, Gevvie Stone showed off her best early-retirement form, carving through the turns in the Women's Masters Single en route to another win, another course record, and a first, even for Stone: she caught up to a few competitors in the event that started right before her, the Women's Club Singles.
"I got to enjoy the beautiful day enjoy working hard," said Stone. "It hurts a lot more when you're less fit. I always tell people afterwards, well, I used to do 12 different pieces in training and now I do three, but the race is still three miles. I still get race nerves, but they're fun race nerves because there's no pressure."
Tom Graves, racing in the Men's Senior Masters Single, also set a course record today in winning, finishing the course in 18:15.
It's not really surprising to find so many former national team athletes still at the top of the masters fields, and many of them agreed that the motivation to keep training can be really powerful.
"Getting up at five o'clock every morning is never easy, but we're kind of addicted," said Megan Gradek, who along with partner Melissa Pearlstein captured the Women's Senior Masters Doubles. "It's so great to have each other to push. We were very committed to coming back this year, and having a fantastic race."
Masters Fours and Eights
Fully twelve events at the HOCR on Saturday are dedicated to Men's & Women's Masters Fours and Eights; while the crews may have run the gamut from the "fit and committed" to the "occasional," the spirit of the rowers is unquestionable, because the crews run on friendship.
"It's just the whole atmosphere, that camaraderie of meeting up with with guys that you worked really hard with back in the college days," said Peter Sharis, who raced in the winning Ex Nemo entry in the Men's Senior Masters Eight. "The whole regatta, getting to see people you haven't seen the rest of the year."
"We just all became friends," added Margarita Zezza of the Lucky Charms Women's Grand Masters Eight. "We started rowing a quad together 12 years ago, and racing at the Charles and just to do it."
The Etats Unis crew of former US Women's National team members in the event raced this year for the first time since the passing of longtime friend and boat mate Carie Graves. The crew were all wearing buttons to remember Carrie, her sister Alison took her place in the line-up, and Kay Worthington told row2k, "It felt like Carrie was with us the while way."
For still others, like accomplished Australian rower Peter Antonie, an Olympic champion and a world champion, the draw is the regatta itself. "The beauty is, it's different to any other event in the world," said Antonie, who along with his crew from the Upper Yarra Rowing Club smashed the course record in the Men's Grand Master Eight by almost 30 seconds.
"It's preeminent. Essentially, the Head of the Charles is the world championships of head racing."
Lightweight and Champ Singles
It's rare that the winners of all four of the marquee singles race on Saturday, the Men's and Women's Championship and Lightweight singles, are all first-time HOCR champs, but that was the case today as Emily Kallfelz (Women's Champ), Molly Reckford (Women's Lightweight), Ezra Carlson (Men's Champ) and Jamie Copus (Men's Lightweight) all took home their first singles win.
Read more about today's singles winners here: Four 1st Time Winners In Elite Singles Races Saturday.
Club Races
Where most Head of the Charles event specifications can be summarized in a sentence or two, the definition of a "Club" crew takes up almost a full page in the HOCR program, but the end result is an event that matches both club and university crews of similar standards for bang-up racing.
Drexel University's women had to do some navigating from bow #30, but took the win today, Drexel's first in a women's event at the Charles.
"We have an amazing support system, from the other women here, our coaches, everyone at home, the alumni," said four seat Kirby Droogan. "So it was definitely a team effort to get down the course. You know, we just wanted to take it in and make the most of it."
"That was our biggest thing, we kept saying whatever is going on, it's gonna be fun," added stroke seat Julianna Rogers. "There's gonna be a lot going on, and just have fun and pull hard."
It's no mean feat to win a team boat event at the Charles from deep in the pack, but coxswain Natalie Cleri explained the crew's mindset. "Even if it's a little washy and a little wakey, we were prepared for that," she said. "We work to row well in bad water at home. This is something that our coaches say to us all the time, whether it's to the coxswains or the rowers, just stick with what you can control and don't let anything else get to you."
Harvard University won the Men's Club Eight.
Vesta RC Club (UK) and Riverfront Recapture out of Hartford, Connecticut, took the Women's and Men's Club Fours, while Riverside's Adriaan Venter and San Diego RC's Mary Kaleta took the Men and Women's Club singles.
This year, a Club Club Crew won the Men's Four Club event; the Riverfront Recapture crew that won the Men's Club Four is the first actual Club crew to win it since 2011; collegiate crews also row in the event, and have won it every year since. The HOCR does give out a special medal to the top-finishing club Club crew in the event each year, but this year Riverfront saved them from giving out the extra medal.
Alumni Races
It's almost a cliche now, but you can find some of the most stacked lineups at the regatta in the Alumni events.
"I was shocked at how competitive it was," said Brooke Mooney, '21 US Olympian and a member of the winning University of Washington women's alumni eight. "I was just so excited to get back in the boat with my teammates from college. I haven't really raced since Tokyo, other than the spares race at Worlds, an it was nice to feel the competitive energy again, on the start to have those nerves and just be ready to go."
So, if you have been to the Olympics or won a medal at the world championships, what's the draw of the alumni event?
"When you are on the national team, you all come from different schools, you all come from different backgrounds," said Mooney. "There's just something about your college team that is a little bit different, right? You have school energy and no matter the day we want to win. You just have a team or school spirit that like you don't necessarily get as much when you are on the national team."
Or, you are trying give back. "This one was for Chuck Crawford," said James McCullough of the University of Delaware crew that won the Men's Alumni Four. "Chuck's an amazing coach who just retired this year, so we wanted to bring this home for him. We knew once Chuck retired, we were peaking for this event."
Two of the Delaware crew were involved in Worlds selection this year, with McCullough racing as the US Men's Lightweight single at Worlds this past summer.
Washington won the Men's Alumni Eights, while MIT won the Women's Alumni Fours.
Para Racing
Three Para-rowing events concluded the day on Saturday, the Mixed Para Legs/Trunk/Arms Fours, the Mixed Para Inclusion 4+ and a biggest-ever field of 19 Mixed Para Inclusion 2x crews.
Leslie Collins, stroke of the Athletes Without Limits crew which won the Mixed Inclusion Four, said of their race that, "it was dazzling. It was exhausting, but it was strong, consistent, and powerful."
"We were slowly creeping away from the boat behind us, which I love to see. I found myself counting our strokes through the bridges: when we crossed the bridge, I would count our strokes until I saw them cross the bridge. Each time, it was slightly longer."
The crew was coxed by Micaela Selota, who was racing the Charles course for the first time:
"I was so worried about the bridges because I watched the videos, and they say it's very dangerous, so I was just really worried. But I practiced yesterday and it went well, and then it went very well today: they were very responsive.
"One thing that really helped was our coaches told me to say the adaptive rowers' names. They're very responsive to that, and that just really helped a lot."
Notes From The Course
Find our super HOCR-sized notes here.
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