On a warm fall weekend in Boston, thousands of crews raced down the iconic Head of the Charles course as the world’s largest three-day regatta lived up to its billing. With over 100 athletes coming fresh from the Paris Olympic Games, the field was stacked, and we were treated to high-quality racing across all three days.
The first day of championship racing on the Charles focussed on the small boats, and they were not short of exciting racing as the surprise of the regatta took place in the men’s championship single. Finn Hamill of Waikato RC, New Zealand, entered the regatta with little global recognition, with a medal in the lightweight single at the Under-23 World Rowing Championships in 2023 and a coastal gold medal this summer. However, starting deep in the field, he shocked the crowds to win the event by 21 seconds – taking the $10,000 cheque back home with him to New Zealand. Behind him, Javier Garcia Ordoñez from the Spanish Olympic Pair and Paul O’Donovan from the legendary Irish lightweight double rounded out the podium, while Sam Melvin’s early speed ran out just too soon as he fell from second place at Cambridge Rowing Club to 14th as he crossed the line.
In the women’s event, the entry was a lot more domestic in nature, and the locals didn’t let the big-name internationals get a look in, as Emma Twigg and Imogen Grant finished 10th and 12th, respectively. Instead, it was the US Olympians who took charge with Michelle Sescher of the lightweight double who defended her title ahead of Kara Kohler who raced in the single.
In the other championship events to be held on Saturday, the doubles were dominated by Paris Olympians. On the men’s side, Martin and Valent Sincovic won the event by almost 25 seconds ahead of an Italian crew with Olympic experience. Behind them was the international composite of Oxford Brookes’ Jamie Copus and Niels van Zandweghe from the Belgian lightweight double, who claimed the final spot on the podium.
Following them in the women’s race were Rebecca Wilde and Matilda Hodgkins-Byrne, the bronze medallists in the double from Paris, who managed to overtake to claim the expected comfortable victory. Behind them was less expected as the relatively unfancied Sere Busse and Sophie Calabrese of Craftsbury Green Racing Project got the better of the Irish and Canadian lightweight doubles from Paris to finish second overall.
Rounding out Saturday’s racing was a stronger Para-rowing field than we have seen in some time, headlined by the PR3 mixed four. With bow number one, the silver medalist crew from the United States would lead out the field, being chased by a British composite of the Tokyo and Paris crews that both won gold as part of the crew’s lengthy undefeated run. While that run was not on the line today, the United States crew will be buoyed by their result. Using the expertise of their Massachusetts-native coxswain, the US crew overcame an early deficit to draw clear through the more technical parts of the course, claiming a ten-second win.
But on Sunday’s racing, all eyes focused on the fastest boats of the regatta: the championship eights. Leading the field for the men were the light blues of Cambridge University as they showed a strong performance. They overlapped with the Oxford crew set off in front of them, who would finish in eighth place after a penalty. This was a strong statement from the Light Blues in their only direct meeting before next year’s boat race.
Behind them were the winners of the collegiate championship medal from Harvard, who were second overall for the second year in succession, while third place went to the surprise package in Dartmouth University, who made a strong statement against top opposition before they entered the winter training period. Skøll of Amsterdam finished fourth overall ahead of the University of Washington – who also won the men’s championship four. The exciting crew from the Kovan Training Center, containing the gold and silver medal-winning pairs from Paris, finished in 12th place.
On the women’s side, the victory went to Leander Club, unsurprisingly, given the crew contained eight Olympians from Paris. However, what was more surprising was how close they were pushed by Yale. The Bulldogs actually posted a faster time to the final checkpoint, but the elite speed of the British crew to the line secured the win and their pride. Behind them were two Washington crews, finishing an impressive third and fourth for the Huskies of Seattle. Fifth place was for the Irish eight from Skibbereen, while Cambridge, in sixth place, was well ahead of their rivals from Oxford, who finished 18th.
The women’s championship four featured an interesting dynamic: The top crew from Columbia University finished ahead of a non-collegiate Penn AC crew and the lower-ranked crew from the University of Virginia.
Away from the championship racing, the fastest boats of the weekend came from the alumni events. On the men’s side, Washington arrived with a crew containing seven Olympic medallists, including six from Paris. Hurtling down the course, they broke the course record by more than seven seconds with a margin of 11.8, back to the best of the rest this year. Further down the start list, it was Durham University’s 1877 Club who won the battle of the British as the Durham alumni used a superior second half of the race to overcome their local rivals from Newcastle.
In the women’s alumnae eights, there was not quite the same volume of returning Olympians. Instead, it was a repeat of the recent NCAA championship as recent graduates from Texas and Stanford topped the table with only three Paris Olympians between them. However, they provided one of the closest races of the weekend as Stanford topped the ‘Longhorn Legends’ by just 0.35 seconds.
A new record was set in the directors’ challenge mixed double: Olli Zeidler and Sofia Meakin – the fastest couple in world rowing – won the event by 34 seconds, even after handicaps were applied.
For the youth men, it was an imperious showing by the visiting British crews as both blue-ribboned youth events would be taken back across the Atlantic for the second year in a row. In the coxed quads, Windsor Boys’ School claimed victory by ‘just’ 13 seconds over the crew from RowAmerica Rye, down on their 30-second victory last year, while the ‘B’ crew from Windsor successfully defended bow number five. Following that race was the eights and it was another domination from St Paul’s School as they lead at every time check as they won the event for the third time in their history. After claiming the quadruple last season, Bobby Thatcher’s crew will be wanting to repeat that honour and have taken the first step along that path. Behind them was the Marin Rowing Association from California, who pushed the Englishmen hard and became the top domestic crew, while King’s School Wimbledon will be happy to finish third in the event, ahead of all the other US crews.
In the women’s youth events, Headington School made up most of the British contingent but could not match the wins. Starting at the back of the pack, they fought forward to finish sixth in the eight and third in the coxed quads. An impressive showing on the first racing trip across the pond for these athletes. These events were won by some of the largest brand names on this side of the Atlantic as Los Gatos beat Redwood Scullers in the quad, and RowAmerica Rye put more than 25 seconds into Saugatuck and more than 35 into Greenwich Crew as they won the women’s youth eights for a third successive year.
Beyond these events, there were plenty of other successes for British crews on the Charles. In the men’s club single, George Lawton of Northwich Rowing Club won the event by one second and in the women’s club four, Mortlake, Anglian & Alpha Boat Club won the medal for the top ‘club’ boat in a field of mostly university crews. In the master categories, Molesey Boat Club won in the men’s grand master fours, and a crew from Marlow Rowing Club, overflowing with Olympic pedigree, won in the women’s senior master eight. However, the early successes in the weekend for Britain came from light blues. The Cambridge University double of Jenna Armstrong and Carina Graf were the fastest women’s double in the 30-39 age range, and Crabtree Boat Club, the Cambridge alumni group, won in both the men’s senior master and alumni fours.
Bringing the Regatta to a close were the directors’ challenge events as Andrew and Martin Holmes of Castle Semple Rowing Club took home the glory, the seventh time the father-son combination has won this event before the mixed eights rounded out the week with a British one-two as a crew from Wimbleball Rowing Club in Somerset gained the win after handicaps were applied to the second-placed British crew containing Olympic legends such as KatherineGranger and Jess Eddie. With this win, the win total for British crews reached 14 across the beautiful weekend in Boston.
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