As the nights get darker and the leaves turn brown, several things are guaranteed in America. Pumpkin Spice Lattes make their return, the Cleveland Browns suck and the Rowing world descents upon Massachusetts to race the Head of the Charles Regatta. 29 crews are scheduled to take part in this blue riband event. It is worth noting that at the time of writing this preview, the majority of crews had not released their set line-ups. Therefore this will be based off recent form and results from NCAAs and other major events.
Princeton
In absence of last year’s winners, Stanford, Princeton come into this as one of the the best performing University crews. They were second at last year’s event and secured a fantastic bronze medal at this year’s NCAA in the Varsity Eight Grand Final.
Yale
The Bulldogs showed fantastic depth over last season. Their Varsity Eight was second in the B Final at NCAAs and their second boat won the grand final, winning by more than two seconds. Yale’s crews already have some autumnal racing under their belts as they took to the Housatonic, their home river. The top two eights walked away from the field which included crews from Brown, BU and Northeastern. All of whom they’ll race this weekend.
Brown
This year’s winners of the Island Challenge Cup are fielding two boats. Bruno showed they are a force to be reckoned with at the back end of season after they went from strength to strength with wins at Henley Women’s, Royal and sixth place at the NCAAs. Throughout last season, Brown weren’t able to show the depth that Yale had in the second eights so as seniors move on, there’s work to be done to ensure they continue to beat the Bulldogs like they did at Royal.
Leander
The Pink Palace is deploying crews in both Championship Eight events. steered by World Champion, Morgan Baynham-Williams, their women’s crew is stacked with talent. As they weren’t in last year’s draw, Leander find themselves down the field so there will likely be some overtaking to do. Leander should make light work of Minerva Rowing Club and the University of British Columbia. Leander find themselves in a similar position to the crew that Brookes sent over to race in the Men’s event a couple of years ago. Perhaps we won’t be able to see this crew’s full potential as they try to negotiate the notorious bridges that the Charles has to offer as well as overtake what lies ahead of them. I don’t think so. I predict Leander to comfortably feature in the top few crews, particularly as they have the likes of Sophia Heath, Suzi Dear and Daisy Bellamy onboard.
International Entries
Denmark and Ukraine are set to race this weekend. The Danes have flown over a fantastic lineup, stroked by Astrid Thougaard Steensberg, the former USC Trojan. She brings international experience at Junior and U23 level. Stine Højager Nielsen was part of the Danish Four that ended up in the B Final of the W4- at this year’s World Championships so there’s plenty of talent on board. What’s crucial is that several in the crew have been educated stateside. There’s athletes from USC, UCF and Cal to name but a few. Never write off a crew that has experience of racing on the Charles, it’s vital. As for Ukraine, it’s brilliant to have them over and racing. The Head of the Charles Regatta organising Committee have announced that they are sponsoring 28 Ukrainians to come over and race at the three day event.
Others To Watch
Several other universities will be aiming to sneak into the top five this weekend. USC, Harvard Radcliffe, Boston and Northeastern. The later trio are all based on the banks of Charles and on this course, home advantage cannot be written off.
My Prediction…
Yale, Leander, Denmark, Princeton and Brown. Pretty much in that order……
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