This year’s Head of the Charles was a mixed bag. Torrential rain came and went, a tailwind that had seen many event records fall became a staunch headwind, and on Sunday the sun finally flashed its welcome face. Nonetheless, 400000 rowers rowed 4.7 something kilometres to the bitter end. As ever, in some events the usual suspects formed the top pack, whist in others new crews and faces emerged at the top.
The first championship event of the weekend was in the men’s doubles, and it was one to remember for the British contingent. Oliver Costly and Rory Harris of Leander Club would be the combination to take home the victory followed by Quentin Antognelli and Jamie Copus who both are alumni of Oxford Brookes. Rounding out the Brit-related top three was a combination of Charlie Warren and Bryn Ellery, back racing in Windsor Boys School colours.
Saturday’s main event was the first introduction of prize money to North America’s most prestigious event. Despite the international interest that the prize pot attracted, both championship single titles would stay in American hands with Sorin Koszyk and Michelle Sechser claiming the respective wins with Kiwis Tom Mackintosh and Emma Twigg finishing in second. California Rowing Club’s Koszyk blew the rest of the field out of the water in his category as the former Cornell lightweight beat second place Thomas Mackintosh, himself an Olympic gold medalist in the eight and a world bronze medalist in the single, by 22 seconds to secure victory. The next five spots were separated only by four seconds in what was otherwise a very tight race. On the women’s side, Sechser’s long-time partner in international crime, Molly Reckford, was also within a top-ten densely populated with established members of the US women’s sculling team, who had come to compete en-masse.
On Sunday, there was yet more success for the Americans as the crews would unite into eights for the Championship events, winning both events. The men lead from start to finish with bow number one as Jimmy Catalano steered the crew to a second successive victory on the Charles. On the women’s side it was a far closer affair as the lead changed at all three intermediate posts with the eventual winners being the US National Team crew who had won silver at the World Championships a month and a half previously as they squeezed ahead of another US Rowing crew made up of the four from worlds along with some training center athletes. Both of these crews put more than nine seconds into the Danish team and thirteen into Leander, who won twelve months ago. Yale impressively won out in the college group, whilst reigning college champions Penn’s varsity entry was scratched. Michigan and UVA also fielding strong performances whilst Washington did not repeat the form they showed at the end of last season
With the women’s collegiate championship title going to the bulldogs, Stanford University almost had a pretty impressive run. They flew across the country to carve their way through the pack before some unfortunately timed traffic cost them valuable time to place second in the collegiate ranks despite leading the entire field at the first time check. Other impressive results from the back of the pack came from Michigan and Virginia.
For the men’s colleges, Harvard placed second in championship eights to be the fastest college crew. For a program with lower expectations coming in, this performance in front of a home crowd will be one that inspires confidence as they head inside for the winter. Princeton demonstrated the promise in their young crew, placing third overall while also winning championship fours. Impressive results also came from Northeastern as they were the fourth fastest collegiate first boat and had the fastest second crew, showing they may be in a position to build from their A-final appearance at the IRAs in June. The University of Pennsylvania will be happy as their 19-seed boat made the top ten, while Syracuse fell from second to 11th in an underwhelming outing for the big orange.
In open collegiate eights, Tufts took the win, posting a strong second half to secure victory. La Salle, whom I had picked to win the race, came apart in the weld to CBC stretch after taking an impressive lead early on. Wesleyan also greatly outperformed their seeding, perhaps a sign of a strong season to come from this ever-improving outfit.
On the women’s side, Tufts also laid claim to the collegiate eights trophy. You can only imagine what the mood must be like in the William A. Shoemaker Boathouse after victories in both categories. Uni of Calgary will be disappointed to have missed out by a mere two and a half seconds, having made the trip from abroad to test themselves against the might of the American collegiate field. Trinity fittingly rounded out the podium, and it will be interesting to see whether this form holds into the spring, or if Mercyhurst will rediscover speed as the season unfurls
In the youth men’s events, it was a barnstorming performance from the British tourists on the Charles. For the eights, it was a spectacular performance from St. Paul’s School. With number 74 on their bow and a slew of traffic to deal with, Victor Bocquet steered the crew to a marvelous result, finishing more than 20 seconds ahead of their closest rivals from Saugatuck, Connecticut. This margin eclipses all winning gaps in the event in recent years, including the 2017-18 SPS crew that would dominate the domestic scene in the summer. They will be eagerly looking to go one better than last year after a narrow loss to St Edwards in the final of the Princess Elizabeth last year.
Returning from their second-place finish in the coxed quad last year, the Windsor Boys School would put more than 30 seconds into their closest competitors from RowAmerica Rye in the youth men’s quads with a second Windsor quad placing fifth. The Tideway Scullers School finished ninth, making it three of the four entries from the UK in the top ten with only the American School in London missing out. Los Gatos, the defending champions, were over a minute off the pace.
On the youth women’s side, the eights were an all-Connecticut affair at the top of the time-sheets with fifth place being the top result from outside the state. RowAmerica Rye were the best of the lot, finishing first and third for the second year in a row. In fact, the entire top four remained in the same position as last year with Greenwich Crew placing second and Saugatuck finishing in fourth. It will be interesting to see whether RowAmerica Rye will come over to Henley Royal Regatta this year. As it stands, American crews who opt to do this forfeit their opportunity to go to junior worlds. Hopefully the selection system is re-jigged to avoid this disappointing outcome but in the meantime it will be interesting to see where clubs priorities lie.
In the quads it was an international affair as Canada’s Notre Dame RC finished 16 seconds ahead of the Tideway Scullers School and Redwood Scullers of California, who were the fastest of the American entries. Oregon Unlimited, last year’s US national youth champions were notably absent. With only one returner from the Tideway crew that won the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta this year, we are excited to see how TSS fare against the might of seasoned performers like Henley, Headington, Shiplake and Wycliffe.
On the lightweight men’s side, Harvard repeated as champions on what was a fantastic day for the crimson. They beat a Penn crew who chased them down on the final stretch. Princeton, last year’s national champions, under-performed and were well beaten by Harvard, whilst Dartmouth massively over-performed relative to their seeding. The elephant in the room, of course, is Columbia and it will be interesting to see how they match up against Harvard when the two programs race each other and Dartmouth in two week’s time.
It was a story of same old same old as Harvard were once again victorious in the lightweight women’s eight, capping off an extremely successful Charles weekend. The very small field was relatively tight as Princeton again seemed to under-perform.
Written by Fraser Innes and Guy Jones
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