With the head racing season over in the United States, all eyes turn to the regatta season as dozens of top university programmes from across the continent will be coming together in some of the fastest and most furious racing this sport offers. The focus of all will be on the national championship regatta at the start of June, taking place on the Cooper River, 40 miles south of its usual location. Let’s look at some of the most compelling narratives on show over the next few months.
University of California
After two successive national titles, 2024 was a let-down for the California Golden Bears; two comfortable losses to Washington at the dual and the final Pac-12 Championships were followed by a third-place finish at the IRA Championships, Scott Frandsen’s men suffered for their talent loss to the Olympics, having returned none of their 2023 crew. However, this will play to their benefit this season, as a wealth of talent returns to Berkeley, including seven of the eight rowers from last year’s campaign alongside at least four athletes returning from Olympic redshirt years who had previously won IRA gold for Cal.
Joining them is also an elite recruiting class, highlighted by Louis Nares, a graduate transfer from Oxford Brookes who has won two U23 World Rowing Championship titles and freshman athlete Johannes Benien from Germany, who is one of the most talented young rowers in all of the sport. With a class that reduces three athletes who have won World Rowing Championship medals for GB to below the fold, there is more than enough talent in the Bay Area to reclaim their spot at the top of the tree.
Dartmouth College
While results at the Head of the Charles must always be taken with a pinch of salt, Dartmouth College turned many heads after finishing third overall as the second collegiate crew in the championship eight. Backing that result up with three comfortable wins over Syracuse and Cornell in a private match in Ithaca, Wyatt Allen’s men have become the ones to watch after finishing 11th at the IRA Championships in June.
Much of this increased speed can be put down to the athletes stepping into the programme this year. Billy Bender returns after an Olympic redshirt where he raced in the US pair in Paris while the big green also welcomes Isaiah Harrison, a touted recruit from Idaho – a state with almost no rowing infrastructure – who posted phenomenal times on the rowing machine and has already earned three Team USA vests in the single scull.
Moving into the spring season, the New Hampshire programme has used the Fall racing schedule to elevate their expectations heading into the new year and will hope to live up to those expectations this Spring.
United States Naval Academy
The only division one programme to hire a new head coach this summer, the US Naval Academy landed a coup, drawing the legendary Steve Gladstone out of retirement. Winner of a record-equalling 14 IRA titles across a career with Brown, California and Yale, he replaces Rob Friedrich who was elevated to another role within the athletic department.
After making a name for himself as a phenomenal recruiter of talent from around the world, Gladstone faces a new challenge at Navy. The service academy is only able to recruit US citizens and requires those athletes to subsequently serve in the armed forces. With just a few months under his belt, there will be a lot of attention on this programme to see if legendary coaching can help close the gap to those with more talented rosters.
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