Racing This Weekend

There's a lot of racing this weekend, highlighted by the Head of the Ohio.

The Head of the Ohio has good fields in both the lightweight eight and lightweight four events. Seven eights are entered in the lightweight category - Michigan State, Duquesne, Penn State, SUNY Buffalo (2 boats), Pitt, and McMaster. Michigan State is the defending champion, having edged Duquesne by less than a second last year. Pitt is an intriguing entry because although they've raced a light four the last couple of years, I don't remember seeing the Panthers race an eight. Penn State and Buffalo both had some success last year. The Ohio has a ten boat light four field. Buffalo (2 boats), Pitt (2 boats), Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne (2 boats), West Virginia, McMaster, and Michigan State. Last year's winner was Buffalo, followed closely by Pitt and CMU. While the four entries are similar to last year, the eight's are quite a bit larger, a good sign for this Pittsburgh regatta that is really gaining prominence for lightweights.

The Head of the Housatonic has a four boat light four race with entries from Fairfield, Iona, and UMass (the fourth is a club, CRI). Last year this race was a rowover for Holy Cross.

The Columbus Crew Classic lists Ohio State as the single entry in the light eight event. With no more entries we'll no doubt see the lights join the other OSU boats in the open event. The Secret City Head Race shows Georgia State as the lone light four entry and the Head of the Genessee has Western Ontario as the lone light eight entry.

Other races are scheduled but I haven't seen entry lists posted. In particular, the Head of the Rock is this weekend which will have Wisconsin lightweights all over it, in both lightweight and heavyweight events.

Lots of crews will get in some racing this weekend and a few, like Wisconsin, will already be racing for the second time this fall.