An Idea for the National Championship

With the announcement of the BCS match-ups come the annual calls for a I-A college football playoff system. Although this world of big-time sports seems far removed from lightweight rowing, it reminded me of a rowing championship format espoused by Mike Teti. Before I go farther, let me say that this idea comes from Mike, but I will no doubt not explain it quite the way he would and may get some key elements wrong. So, the idea is not mine, but any differences from the originator's actual concept are the result of my own faulty memory or misunderstanding.



In essence, the plan would work like this:





- The championship would include men's and women's heavyweights and lightweights, varsity eights only.



1) For each category there would be 12 entrants who would race in two qualifying heats (two 6 boat races)



2) Three top boats from each qualifier would move on to a quarterfinal (6 boat race)



3) The top three boats in the quarterfinal would race again in the semi-final (3 boat race)



4) The top two boats in the semi would race again in a match race to decide the national championship (2 boat race)





So, we have a tournament format, for V8s only, and all four collegiate rowing categories would have a NCAA championship. The idea is that the tournament format would create increasing excitement, building toward the last match race for the national championship (I may have added an extra race in there). By only allowing V8s we cut to the heart of the matter, avoid those silly team championships, and avoid the embarrassment of listening to the "national champion" 2V pair tell an interviewer how they just started rowing together last week. To make it a true championship event, all categories would need to be present and racing for a national championship.



That's the idea and, again, my apologies for any deviation from the original scheme. What do you think? Could this work? How would you improve it? Other ideas?







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Radcliffe Wins the Belly!

I don't mean wins the lightweight category, I mean wins the race. Yes, the heavyweight boats in this freshmen race are supposed to be evenly matched, but c'mon, this is a great result for the Black and White. The next fastest boat was the Princeton heavyweights who were 2 seconds back. Princeton, by the way, only had one heavy eight entered so I'd say this is the best they've got. The Princeton lights were the next lightweight boat, 43 seconds behind Radcliffe, with the Georgetown lights another 26 seconds back. Both Radcliffe and Georgetown entered B boats which finished a bit further back in the pack.

That Radcliffe boat must have been smoking. No doubt the freshmen provide a good training partner for the varsity. The key point here seems to be that Radcliffe can bring some of these freshmen into the mix for seat racing this spring, adding speed to the V8 while still keeping a fast freshman eight. Thinking of the Pittsburgh four, this makes me wonder what the average erg score is of the Radcliffe boat. Think it's faster than all of the heavyweights in that race?

Two crews have now thrown down markers this fall - the Princeton varsity and the Radcliffe freshmen. Now, when the snow starts to fall, they'll move inside and begin making or breaking their spring seasons.

Racing This Weekend - Head of the Hooch

There are other races this weekend but the biggest is the Head of the Hooch. The light eight has five entries including Alabama, Virginia Tech, Miami U., and UCF (Atlanta Rowing Club will also compete). This is effectively the fall debut of UCF as they race against other lightweight crews for the first time. They should dominate here although Atlanta can't be overlooked. The light four is loaded with 19 entries including, among others, Jacksonville University, Virginia Tech Crew, UGA Rowing Club, Alabama, UTC, Georgia State, Miami University, and Georgia Tech. The Hooch continues to be a premiere fall regatta for lightweight crews.

Head of the Iowa and More

I was a bit slow on more results and a reader beat me to the Head of the Iowa:

Wisco lights won Gold medals in the Open Women's Pair and Light Four at the head of the Iowa. They finished 8th in the Open women's eight race. The Badgers actually had the 2nd and 3rd fastest times of the day in the pair, but penalties moved the 3rd fastest pair on the water into gold medal position. Badgers finished 1st, 2nd and 4th in the LW4+, but 2nd place crew was penalized and moved into third.

These sound like pretty good results to me. In the eight Wisconsin beat 22 heavyweight boats, including the top boats from Grand Valley, Kansas State, Drake, Marquette, and Creighton.

At the Head of the Tennessee, Dayton beat Virginia Tech by 13 seconds in the light eight (Atlanta scratched) and Georgia State handily beat Auburn, Virginia Tech, and UTC in the light four. Georgia State was 1:38 ahead of second place Auburn. Both Dayton and Georgia State were favored (by FITD anyway) in these races.

At the Head of the Fish Buffalo was just over a second faster than Fairfield in the light four. Fairfield was followed by UMass, Brandeis University, University of Vermont, and Buffalo B. It looks like a light eight race was scheduled but no times are given.

At the Speakmon Memorial Regatta Ohio State took the light four race easily (43 seconds) over a second place high school crew. Miami University and Wittenberg University were fourth and fifth.

Head of the American Results

Cal and Stanford raced in the Collegiate Eight event at the Head of the American today. Both boats finished in the second half of the pack of heavyweight boats, with Stanford finishing about a minute ahead of California. Stanford also raced a light four in an all heavyweight race, finishing 13th out of 17.

Princeton Chase Results

Reports from the Princeton Chase today described an extremely windy course with a dominant headwind for the last third that caused steering problems and collisions throughout the day. The fours were canceled along with the small boats.

It was a big day for Princeton as the Tigers finished 1 - 2 in the lightweight competition. The first Princeton boat finished over a minute ahead of third place Radcliffe while the second Princeton boat was 25 seconds ahead. Radcliffe, in turn, was 4 seconds ahead of Georgetown which was 23 seconds ahead of MIT. A third Princeton boat rounded out the lightweight field. Princeton must have some talent this year as it appears that the only boat capable of gaining on Princeton is, well, Princeton. The Princeton B boat was 49 seconds back from the A boat at the Head of the Potomac and has now moved to within 37 seconds. When these two crews mix and match in the spring the result has the potential to be extremely fast. To add a little more perspective, the Tiger A boat beat the Cornell, GW, BC, and Rutgers A heavyweights, while the Princeton B boat beat the Trinity, Villanova, and MIT A heavyweight boats. The top lightweight boat was a bit further back in the field this year than last, but given the wind we would expect that.

Another winner appears to be Georgetown. They closed the gap substantially on Radcliffe since Boston while moving ahead of MIT.

Although there is some racing left, the Chase closes the door on the fall races with the potential to tell us anything about the relative speed of lightweight crews. At this point we should look back at last year's Chase, keeping in mind the final spring results. Princeton also won last year (Wisconsin did not compete in either 2005 or 2006) and also beat Radcliffe by about a minute (52 seconds). Georgetown was second last year, 9 seconds ahead of Radcliffe. (Recently, Radcliffe seems to have had some problems with this race.) Princeton beat quite a few heavyweight A boats last year as well (although this year there was a lightweight killer wind).

So what does all of this tell us? I think it mostly tells us who to measure spring progress against. This spring that initial measuring stick will pretty clearly be Princeton. On the other hand, last spring the measuring stick was Wisconsin, yet we know that Wisconsin typically starts slow and they stayed true to form as Radcliffe and Princeton beat the Badgers at Knecht. Mostly what it tells us is that the fall and spring seasons are very different. Crews that excel rowing 5000 meters at a controlled 30 spm, can turn into screaming banshees, unable to control slides or match catches, in the heat of a sprint race while rowing a 36 or 38. Head races are rowed at that Goldilocks pace in which the boat is going fast enough to set it and keep the oars off the water, but not so high and hard that you think you can't go on after the first 30 strokes. Nonetheless, before you can row well high and hard, you have to row Goldilocks well.

Head of the Schuylkill Cancelled

That stinks! A lot of teams already made the trip. Given the weather forecast, though, there didn't seem to be much of a choice.

Racing This Weekend

The best week of the fall season continues this weekend as many crews are in action around the country.

We'll start in Philadelphia where despite a brief scare earlier today, the Head of the Schuylkill will go on as scheduled (although expect the weather to play havoc with the racing). There is a six boat light eight event as Marist, Philadelphia University (I think this may be their first year competing in crew), Holy Cross, Penn State, Pittsburgh, and Duquesne head into battle. I wonder if Pittsburgh was able to clone that light four? Marist and Holy Cross both competed in Boston but, given their four's result, I'm going to look to Pitt as the favorite in this race. There is no light four event at HOSR so that may explain why Penn State and Pittsburgh are both entering eights. There is, however, a light single event and Bucknell has three women entered.

Next we head to the Head of the Tennessee lightweight eight event. Dayton and Virginia Tech are entered, along with the Atlanta Rowing Club. My guess is that Dayton beats Virginia Tech, but Atlanta takes the race. The light four event has Auburn, Augusta Juniors (don't tell the NCAA), Berry College, Georgia State, UTC, and Virginia Tech. Coming back from Boston, Georgia State may be able to pull off a good result here.

The Speakmon Memorial Regatta has a light four event with entries from Miami University, Ohio State, and Wittenburg University, along with some other club and juniors (don't tell) crews. This should be a good race for Ohio State to blow out the carbon.

Wisconsin will make its pilgrimage to the Head of the Iowa. The Badgers will race a novice light eight against Northwestern and Grand Valley while the varsity will race light fours (3 boats) against Creighton, Grand Valley, Marquette, Northern Michigan, Northwestern, and Kansas. Kansas is an interesting boat to see here - I wonder if that is the varsity program racing lightweights or a club program. Racing in fours, it looks like Wisconsin is heading into the part of their season where they worry about rowing well a bit more than hammering the water from an eight. Watch what the good programs do and you'll begin to understand how they can row with power and technique.

Last, but certainly not least, is the Princeton Chase. I believe this race is one of the finest head races around. Only colleges race and its unique combination of the casual with the intense almost makes one think it should be called the Princeton Dialectic rather than the Chase. It has the atmosphere of a pick-up game against your biggest rivals. I'm not exactly sure who will be there, but I expect we'll see Georgetown and Radcliffe as well as Princeton. [Update: MIT will be competing as well.] The crews will also race small boats, everything from fours to pairs to doubles and even singles. If the weather is good, nothing beats this regatta.

Sportsmanship Lives

In an age when every athletic contest seems to be an opportunity to find new ways to mock one's opponent and aggrandize oneself, we were offered a lesson in sportsmanship by the Undine, Penn State, and U Vic light four crews and coaches on Sunday.

Those of you who checked the light four results shortly after they were posted on Sunday saw U Vic in first by virtue of a buoy violation penalty assessed against Undine. Spectators were surprised to watch the early progression of the light four race and see no sign of Undine. Clearly something had happened to the boat and in fact, they had trouble launching and arrived late to the starting line. After some hard words and raised voices, the referees allowed Undine to start at the back of the pack. Rapidly making up water on the field, the crew began passing the boat just ahead. The boat being passed was Penn State and the Nittany Lions moved off their course, yielding to Undine. As they were being overtaken, however, Penn State encountered steering problems and pushed the Undine boat out of the racing lane, causing it to miss two buoys. Seen by the referees (as ALL buoy violations are at the Charles), Undine was duly penalized.

Undine appealed to the Race Jury and just 30 minutes prior to the awards ceremony the Undine penalty was withdrawn and Penn State was assessed a one minute penalty. In fact, the Penn State coxswain and coach stepped forward to explain what happened to the jury, an act which certainly played no small part in the final resolution. Undine presented their case professionally and forthrightly, Penn State came forward to give the true version of events knowing it would mean a penalty, and U Vic, who saw defeat snatched from the jaws of victory, duly congratulated the proper winners. The U Vic coach did what good coaches do and explained to his crew that redemption can come next year. (As an interesting aside, I should note that one of the Undine rowers was a Penn State alumnae.) [Update: A reader notes that Penn State was penalized immediately, not later when they spoke to the jury. Nonetheless, their actions after the race reaffirmed the penalty.]

Everyone acquitted themselves well in this affair, and the only losers were lightweight fans who were denied the opportunity to see Undine and U Vic go head to head. No problem though, we just need to come back next year since they'll start 1, 2 again. This race turned out to be a complete reversal of last year's, as U Vic cruised along in front, blissfully unaware of how fast Undine was moving from the back of the pack. Two years ago Undine lost this very race to Radcliffe (the four was the priority boat for Radcliffe that year as they didn't enter an eight) on an appeal of a penalty. It's funny how things come back around.

Completely unrelated, but worth noting nonetheless, a reader drew my attention to the fact that Penn AC's Rebecca Smith and Maria Picone, two lightweights, came very close to winning the Champ 2x!

HOCR Results - Fours

The lightweight fours race contained the biggest surprise of the regatta as Pittsburgh rowed to a third place, and top US collegiate crew, finish. I don't know if this is the Pitt four that has been racing the last couple of seasons or if they are a new crew, but some focus on that boat has clearly paid off. I doubt I would be wrong to say that no one (perhaps not even the Panthers themselves?) thought they would move down this course as fast as they did. As they came through Eliot Bridge it was obvious something special was going on in that boat. Their placement in the field showed they were moving fast, but it wasn't until the results were posted that we knew just how fast. This is an excellent result for Pitt and this boat should be a terror in the spring.

Eighteen seconds back, in 7th place overall, was the next US collegiate crew - Princeton. As the Tiger crew came into sight approaching the Eliot Bridge, the boat was swinging wide around the turn and barely avoided running their oars along the bridge arch. The crew recovered and rowed strongly to the finish but Pitt would go unchallenged and Princeton would wait for the spring season and straighter courses.

Hot on Princeton's heels, less than a second back, was the University of Tulsa. This Tulsa crew contained three freshman and a senior all of whom (the freshmen at least) were specifically recruited as lightweights from excellent junior programs like Saratoga, Austin, and Everett. Tulsa is building up their lightweight program and this was a pretty good start. This is another boat that will be worth watching in the spring.

In places 13 through 16, Pacific Lutheran, URI, Georgia State, and Penn State rounded out the field. URI's (ninth in the nation last spring) inability, or unwillingness, to race an eight at HOCR raises some questions about the focus of that program. It may just be that fall priorities are elsewhere and lightweights were racing in other boats. If PLU sent a four across the country, they must be serious about racing it in the spring. Lightweight races can be hard to come by on the West Coast, but light four races can be found. I think Georgia State and Penn State have both raced lightweights before so it's good to see them still in the mix.

Ever since a post on Dad Vails last year, there's always been some discussion here over the relative competitiveness of the fours vs the eights. I tend to look at it as how close each event finishes to its heavyweight counterparts. In this year's HOCR, the fours seem to be closer to the heavy fours than the eights are to the heavy eights. Comparing lightweight first place to heavyweight first place, lightweight second place to heavyweight second place, etc., the fours are closer as a percentage of time. For example, 3rd place Pitt took 5.3% longer to complete the course than 3rd place U Vic heavyweights in the fours, while 3rd place Riverside took 6.4% longer than 3rd place Princeton heavyweights in the eight. The eights are anywhere from 1 to 8.2% slower vs their heavyweight counterparts than the fours. In addition, if you look at the average time, the light eights took 9.7% longer than their heavyweight counterparts, while the fours took 5.7% longer. Do these numbers really prove anything? I'm not sure but they definitely keep the conversation going.

In the next day or so I'll have some more on the races as well as a picture or two.

HOCR Results - Eights

In sharp contrast to a blustery Saturday, Sunday at the Head of the Charles dawned clear and calm. The day warmed up and by lightweight race time most spectators were trying to shed a layer or two they needed earlier in the day. Such excellent conditions promised excellent racing and we weren't disappointed.

As the London Training Center blew away the field, among the colleges Princeton and Wisconsin battled it out all along the course. Starting just behind Wisconsin, Princeton had the stage presence of mind to save their pass of the Badgers for the final turn after Eliot Bridge, as if to make sure the move achieved the fullest possible dramatic effect. The body language in these two boats made it clear that the collegiate race was being decided at that moment. As often happens in fall races, a deadening fatigue offset by coursing adrenaline resulted in the exaggeration of eccentricities of the stroke. In the Tigers' case, a wrenched finish became even more pronounced, while in the Wisconsin boat, in at least a few seats, suspension from the oar crossed the line and became a shooting slide. No style points were awarded in this race, however, and Princeton took it by 14 seconds over Wisconsin (Riverside fell in between in third place overall).

Another 14 seconds back from Wisconsin came a quick Radcliffe crew which was never threatened by Georgetown, starting just behind. Although faster than Quinte, starting just ahead, the Black and White didn't catch them and rowed the course alone. As the Hoyas receded into the distance, this no doubt hurt Radcliffe's time a bit as they had no one nearby to push them on. Radcliffe was followed in the final standings by Quinte and a penalized Rudergesellshaft Munchen 1972 crew, but the next college crew was MIT, who finished only 7 seconds behind hometown rival Radcliffe but almost 7 seconds ahead of Georgetown. This MIT crew, seventh in the nation last spring, was one of the big surprises of the regatta as they finished ahead of last spring's number two Hoyas. As MIT rounded the turn after Eliot, clearly gaining on Georgetown, fans on the shore seemed as surprised as anyone but after yelling themselves out of breath acted as if they knew it would happen all along. When MIT finished 7th at IRAs I said that was a surprise too. I think it's time to no longer be surprised by the Engineers. As for the Hoyas, somehow the HOCR just didn't seem to fall at the right time in the training schedule and they'll have more to show, possibly as early as next week.

Following Georgetown was Picnic Point and Atlanta Rowing Club, with Marist, Cal, and Holy Cross rounding out the field. Cal's second to last finish gives a false impression of that crew's speed as they tangled with Holy Cross just before Weeks Footbridge. The Bears were rowing through the Crusaders, but Holy Cross failed to yield, an error which cost them a minute penalty. The crews interlocked oars, untangled, started rowing, and promptly locked up again. This dead-in-the-water period must've seemed interminable to the rowers, but the Cal coxswain later estimated it to be about 30 seconds. That 30 seconds stretches out to at least a few more when you work in time needed to get back to speed and on course. A disappointment for Cal (and, of course, Holy Cross), but it was awfully nice to see the Bears make the trip east.

This week is the most exciting week in fall rowing as the HOCR is followed this Sunday by the Princeton Chase. Many of these crews will battle again this weekend and we'll get to re-check relative speeds. Princeton and Wisconsin are trying to show that they'll be the boats to beat this spring. In the fall crews are tuned with hammers while in the spring they're tuned with piano keys. All of these crews will be much faster come May. As coaches pull out their piano keys and work their magic, switching rowers in and out and creating crews that work together, we can look forward to the birth of some really fast boats. Those crews finishing behind Princeton this year will take solace in the fact that only two of the last eight IRA champions also won the HOCR collegiate competition the previous fall. It's not much of a predictor, but I'd still rather win it than not.

Head of the Charles Preview - Fours

The 2006 Head of the Charles lightweight fours starting order reflects the dominance of last year's Canadian crews. The University of Victoria starts 1st followed by Undine Barge and Brock University. It's not until the 6th starting place that we get to an American crew - Princeton University. Last spring Princeton was pretty much the uncontested fours champion so U Vic and Brock must have been awfully fast (or Princeton didn't find its lineup until later in the year). Princeton is the only returning American collegiate competitor from last year.

With none of their traditional foes near them, the Tigers will find themselves wondering just how fast their quarry and their pursuers are. CRI, who starts right ahead of Princeton, has won the Head of the Housatonic and the Textile River Regatta this fall beating, among others, UMass and MIT. Starting behind the Tigers is Pacific Lutheran, a program that boated lightweight boats in 2004 and 2005. Pacific Lutheran is followed by Georgia State who won the Chattanooga Head Race this fall. Another Canadian crew, the University of British Columbia follows Georgia State.

A bit of information on U Vic and UBC comes from the Fraser Fours Regatta run last weekend to celebrate the opening of UBC's new boathouse. The two lightweight fours went at it on a shortened course that was probably around 2,500 meters. U Vic won by just over a second. Yikes! That sounds like two fast crews!

Separated from UBC by Bubbly Creek is Pittsburgh and URI. Pitt had a good but somewhat inconsistent spring season and they head to Boston trying to build on a big victory at the Head of the Ohio. The Panthers took that one by over 30 seconds. After losing their lightweight coach this year, URI seems to be going through a bit of a transition as we haven't seen them put together a light eight this fall. The four then, should have some of their best rowers and a good showing might help convince the program to keep some emphasis on the lightweights.

Starting in the rear of the field, 15th and 16th, are Tulsa and Penn State. Tulsa mopped up at the Head of the Oklahoma and should show the East that some good quality crews can come out of the south-central part of the country. Penn State raced an eight at the Head of the Ohio, but we haven't seen them put out a light four yet. No doubt they've culled the best rowers from the light eight for their Charles four.

This will be a difficult race for the American college crews. U Vic and Undine blew away the field last year and they're back. U Vic started 11th in 2005 and worked their way through the field, effectively blindsiding Undine. Starting 2nd this year, Undine won't let that happen again. To get some sense of what these crews are capable of, one need only recall that Undine is home to Meghan Sarbanis who took Lisa Schlenker to three races for the right to represent the US as the lightweight single sculler at Worlds. I'm told that Meg will be in the Undine boat, along with three other rowers who are, if anything, even stronger than last year's crew. (They've been rowing mornings in Philadelphia, under cover of darkness.) For its part, U Vic usually has a few Canadian national teamers in the boat.

Princeton, however, may have a little bulletin board material. After last year's Head of the Charles, a proud University of Victoria father posted a picture in his blog of the U Vic light four passing another boat saying, "they only took about two strokes to whip past this boat." "This boat" sure looks like Princeton to me.


That's the 2006 Head of the Charles preview. Now it's time to load the trailer, pack the truck, and get to Boston because soon it'll all be over but the cryin'.

Head of the Charles Preview - Eights

The 2006 Head of the Charles once again pits last season's top four crews against one another. As the defending HOCR collegiate champion and three-time national champion, Wisconsin enters the starting chute as the favorite. Although the Badgers (starting 3rd) lost several rowers to graduation, the power of that program to find winners among the cornstalks cannot be underestimated.

Four of the next five boats are Wisconsin's prime competition in the race. Princeton starts 4th, followed by Quinte Rowing Club, Radcliffe, Georgetown, and MIT. I don't know if Quinte is fast or slow this year (they were, of course, fifth last year), but they're in the middle of a battle royale.

Not many observers would give the number four crew, Princeton, a real shot at catching the number one crew, but the nine Tiger rowers aren't observers. Princeton performed impressively at the Head of the Potomac, but that was an early race with their primary competition, Georgetown, not yet settled into eights or a lineup.

Radcliffe, last season's number three crew, will follow Quinte but, perhaps more importantly for the Black and White, they'll be just ahead of Georgetown. Racing on home water, and with IRA revenge as a motive, Radcliffe will not want to see Georgetown make up any water, much less pass them. The Hoyas, meanwhile, see Radcliffe as the first obstacle on their way to a national title. Separated from Wisconsin and Princeton by Quinte, this battle within a battle should be one of the more exciting sub-plots in the race, and may very well provide the push for one of these crews to finish on top.

MIT, meanwhile, had an impressive end to last season, finishing 7th in the nation. Last year at the HOCR they were the last collegiate crew and would no doubt love to lose that distinction in 2006. The Georgetown coxswain would be making a mistake if she never turns around to check on the Engineers, because they just may be crawling up her stern.

Separated from MIT by the Atlanta Rowing Club, Marist, Holy Cross, and Cal come down the course next. None of these crews were in the race last year, and Marist and Holy Cross are occasional lightweight competitors. Cal didn't make much noise last season but a good performance in Boston will start this year with a bang. Marist and Holy Cross are relative unknowns but by the end of the day Sunday will have a pretty good idea of where they stand.

A bit off topic, but still of interest, is the lightweight single race. Claire Wallace, Wisconsin '06, starts 23rd, just ahead of Katie Sweet, Wisconsin '05. Wallace should have her work cut out for her as Sweet is coming off Worlds where she represented the United States in the lightweight quad. This one is for bragging rights in Bucky's Den.

Next we'll look at the fours. We may have some bulletin board material for this race (Was that really a U. Vic dad talking smack about Princeton last year?)!

More Racing This Weekend

The Head of the Oklahoma Centennial Regatta is running a light four event and Creighton, Oklahoma City University, and Tulsa are all entered. These schools also have eights entered so there could be some undesignated light eights racing as well. As we know, Tulsa is developing a lightweight program so it's great to see them with competition. Creighton and OCU frequently race lightweights so perhaps a competitive lightweight community will begin forming in the mid-south. This regatta is growing and is beginning to make a name for itself in the rowing community. With an unusual format of head racing combined with 500 meter sprints, plus night racing, it should be a lot of fun to race. It's great to see rowing building where it hasn't been before (and holding lightweight races!).

The Textile River Regatta is also running a light four event with Brandeis, UMass, and two MIT boats entered (along with a CRI boat). There is also a light eight event but it looks like all the entries are juniors so, with MIT attending, it's likely that there is at least one light eight in an open event.

There is also a light four event at the Tail of the Fox, with Lawrence, Marquette, and Northern Michigan entered (along with a club crew).

Head of the Potomac

The Head of the Potomac is coming up this Saturday and it looks like both Georgetown and Princeton will be in action.

I'm really guessing about Georgetown because they have two eights and three fours entered, all as simply "Georgetown." Given that this is a home race for the Hoyas I would assume that the lightweights will be there, probably with at least an eight and a four. Princeton, meanwhile, has two eights entered as "Princeton Women's Lightweight Crew," so the lights are definitely there. Often these early regattas are raced by even boats but since Princeton has one boat in the Open event and one in the Club event it's unlikely they are even. With only two Georgetown boats in the Open race, they are probably one heavy and one light eight, so it looks like Georgetown isn't racing even boats either. Granted, coaches are just beginning to sort out their crews, but no one wants to get blown out. This means we should have a fun early season match-up between the two schools.

HOCR Weight Limit

I was surprised to notice that the weight limit for lightweight fours and eights at the HOCR is listed as: "Women: rowers’ weights average not over 130 lbs., none over 138 lbs." One hundred thirty eight pounds! That's quite a bit above the sprint season average of 130. Just as an example, if you have four rowers at 125 (not uncommon), you can have three at 138 and one at just under 130. That's really quite a different boat than one you'll see in the spring. Some of the crews racing here may never appear as a lightweight boat during the sprint season for just that reason. I suspect, however, that most of the serious lightweight programs will ask their rowers to be at 130. Rowing at 138 doesn't give you much of a feel for how you can row in the spring.

Head of the Charles - Fours

The lightweight four at this year's HOCR has 15 entries with 6 US colleges and another 3 Canadian college crews. Georgia State, Pacific Lutheran, Princeton, Pitt, Cal and Tulsa will race, with only Cal and Princeton returning from last year. Competing club crews are Argonaut, Bubbly Creek Rowing Foundation, Minnesota Boat Club, NYAC, Quinte, and Undine. Argonaut and Quinte are Canadian, Bubbly Creek seems to be mostly Northwestern Alumni, and Minnesota, NYAC, and Undine are traditionally quite strong in this event. The Canadian college crews are Brock University Rowing Club, Univ. of British Columbia, and Univ. of Victoria.

The top four crews from last year return - U. Vic, Undine, Brock, and Minnesota, in that order. Princeton was the top US college crew, followed by Cal and CMU. Villanova, NC State, Radcliffe, Fairfield, and MIT also raced last year. I'm surprised that Radcliffe and MIT have decided to forgo this year's race since they have the home field advantage. Last year U. Vic and Undine pretty much hammered the field, with second place Undine finishing 39 seconds ahead of third place Brock. As the first US collegiate crew, Princeton showed the speed that would carry them to the top in the spring season.

Pitt comes to Boston to see if they can keep some momentum from a good 2006 sprint season. They were a bit inconsistent but still had a season worth building upon. Pacific Lutheran is a name we didn't see last year but which raced lightweights in both 2005 and 2004. Georgia State raced a four last spring, although infrequently. A HOCR appearance will give them a feel for where they stand among some of the better crews in the country. It's good to see Tulsa with an entry, as they are beginning to develop a full lightweight program. HOCR is a great place to start the build.

Head of the Charles Draw

The Head of the Charles draw is out for the light eight and light four. Last year there were 14 entries in the eight, 6 of whom were US collegiate crews (plus U. of British Columbia). This year 16 eights are entered including 9 US college crews. The 6 crews from last year are entered again (Wisconsin, Princeton, Radcliffe, Georgetown, URI, and MIT) plus Holy Cross, Marist, and Cal. Other entrants are Atlanta Rowing Club, which often puts out a boat largely made up of Georgia Tech alums, Havergal College which looks to be a youth eight, Quinte Rowing Club from Canada, and Rudergesellshaft Munchen 1972. I don't know much about the last two. Also entered is Picnic Point Rowing Club a pleasantly named club comprised primarily of Wisconsin alumni. Given that heritage it should have the potential to surprise. The final two entrants are last year's first and second place finishers - London Training Center and Riverside Boat Club. Both crews will contain women training for their respective national teams.

It's good to see both URI and Cal in this field. URI's presence suggests that the new staff will continue building the lightweight program, which started to receive some attention last year. [Update: URI is no longer listed.] Cal makes the trip east after missing 2005's race (in the eight, they did race the four). Although they did race last spring, Cal seemed to be missing in action, perhaps because they raced in few lightweight events and those they did race were really only against Stanford. Speaking of Stanford, the Cardinal skips another year. Stanford raced in 2003 and 2004, but missed last year. I guess it's a pretty long trip from California. Marist's entry may mean that they'll have an eight to race in the spring, something they do fairly frequently. Holy Cross made some half-hearted attempts at boating a light eight last year, but an entry here may mean that they finally feel like they've the personnel to make a run.

Interestingly enough, since 1998, only last year did the HOCR collegiate winner (Wisconsin) ultimately become the national champion the following spring. Perhaps the squirreliest year was 2001 when Wisconsin, Radcliffe, and MIT all beat eventual champ Princeton. Despite that record, it would be really nice to have a Charles gold medal.

Next, the fours.

IRA Dam Opening: The Final Word

As I reported earlier, the Camden County Parks Director informed me that the Cooper River Parkway Dam was, in fact, open during the afternoon of June 3rd - the most important afternoon in college rowing. During the championship races that afternoon, including the women's lightweight eight, the dam opening created seriously unfair conditions for lane 1 and most likely lane 2 as well. Since lanes one and two were given to those qualifiers with the fastest times, the championship finals were seriously flawed. I gave this information to the ECAC which, to its credit, conducted its own investigation. The ECAC has determined that THE COOPER RIVER DAM WAS OPEN that afternoon.

It is difficult to imagine a more serious error in rowing than racing when there are drastically different conditions for different lanes. This was made all the worse by the fact that the affected races determined the national championship for the men's heavy eight, the men's light eight, and the women's light eight.

This is no small matter. While no one can say what the outcome would have been of fair races, we do know that fabulous crews had their hopes dashed against the shoals of miscommunication. While pride and lasting memories hung in the balance, so too did alumni donations and coaches' jobs. Wouldn't it have been great to see Princeton v Cal from lanes 5 and 6? What would a resurgent Princeton women's light eight have done from lane 5? What would a highly touted Navy men's light eight have done from lane 6? What's done is done, but it was done unfairly and it should not be allowed to happen again.

Gothard Lane, Director of Championships for the ECAC, did the research for the regatta committee. Gothard explained to me that "Without notifying us, the dam was opened on Saturday. From what we understand, the water got so high that they had no choice but to open the dam. If they had not released the water when they did then some of the local neighborhoods might have experienced some flooding later on that day during high tide." It seems then, that this was a tragic case of miscommunication. It's more difficult to understand, however, how spectators and coaches alike knew of the dam opening but the regatta committee did not. As Gothard goes on to say, "If we had been notified by the dam operator, then we could have gathered the coaches together to decide about what to do with regard to the schedule." If I were a coach, I would want to know what the regatta committee's plan is to ensure that this does not happen again. I would expect a letter acknowledging the problem and the plan.

Here is a short chronology of how this all came to light:

- As the women's light eight grand final is crossing the line on June 3rd, spectators mention to Fight in the Dog that the dam has been opened

- FITD analyzes race results after the rumored dam opening and finds obvious abnormalities

- row2k publishes a post-race report stating that the dam was closed all afternoon and was incapable of being opened because of the force of the current

- FITD reads the row2k report but decides that the facts still suggest a serious problem and publishes a post-race report noting the rumored dam opening and its affect on the races

- After taking some criticism from readers for publishing the rumored opening, FITD decides to research the issue and is told by the Camden County Parks Director that the dam was open from 1pm until 3:30pm.

- FITD informs the ECAC of the dam opening; the ECAC launches its own investigation

- The ECAC confirms that the dam was open during the IRA championship races

Sometimes, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.

[Update: The most recent issue of Rowing News repeats the false story about the dam not being opened and unable to be opened for the championship races. No doubt the truth came out after they went to press. It's particularly unfortunate that they led the IRA article with the false story. The article also says that the Cornell light men were in lane one while they were actually in lane two and Navy (sixth place) was in lane one.]

IRA Race Video

The IRA race video is up over at goldmedalfilms.com. Good video and for those of you who tend toward the excessive, you can click through it frame by frame.