Lotman Challenge 2024 – Men’s Preview

Alongside the eponymous competition for world-class scullers, the Gold Cup regatta also includes racing for domestic scullers, again offering significant prize money. With open entry, it begins with a time trial over 650 metres, with the top four progressing to the final. Making the final guarantees a $2,000 payday, before a 750m side-by-side race for the top prize of $8,000. With so much money available, the best scullers in the country will line up to compete, offering brilliant racing for the spectators.

Jacob Plihal

The only Paris Olympian in this event, Jacob Plihal represented the United States in the single scull. Measuring in at 6’10”, the Northeastern graduate is an imposing presence but had never raced the single internationally before, other than at the 2022 Poznan World Rowing Cup before getting in the quad for the World Rowing Championships. Before he could get to Paris, though, he had to go through a tough series of tests: firstly, he won the right to be the sculler at the Olympic trials against a competitive field, then he made it through a tight Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne before finally getting on the start line in Paris. The long season may have been too much, as he finished in 13^th place after missing out in his quarterfinal by less than a second. Working with such fine margins, he is battle-tested and will be looking to have one last great outing in 2024 this weekend.

Eliot Putnam

The single sculler from the 2023 World Rowing Championships, Elliot ‘Finn’ Putnam has had a long journey to this point this season, as he skipped the US selection camp to focus on the single but fell short at trials with a sixth-placed finish. Despite his Olympic campaign ending in April, he has remained very busy, graduating from law school and getting married in September. Despite the alternative interests, he won at the Tuxedo Park 1886 Regatta near New York two weekends ago and followed it up with an eighth-placed finish in the championship single at the Head of the Charles – the second-best result by an athlete from the US. Looking to return to the role of top domestic sculler, a win in this field would go some way to achieving that.

Cedar Cunningham

One of the fastest rising prospects in US Rowing, Cedar Cunningham did not do his college rowing at a varsity programme like Cal, Washington or in the Ivy League. Instead, the Renton, Washington native looked inland to attend Washington State University, rowing with the club team there. However, within two years of leaving, he was already among the top scullers in the country. He earned an invite to the Olympic Selection camp, and while he left unselected, he raced at the Olympic trials in the single, finishing third overall. After racing in the double at Henley Royal Regatta and the Head of the Charles, he is back in the single this weekend, ready to prove he can compete with the best in the country as he begins to eye up Los Angeles in just under four years.

Jamie Copus

The Lotman Challenge is designed for US domestic rowers, and due to a change in sporting nationality, Jamie Copus fits that bill. Training out of Oxford Brookes University, Copus has represented Great Britain at nine senior and age-group World Rowing Championships, primarily in lightweight events. Chasing his Olympic dream, the Chicago-born sculler swapped to the United States when it became clear that there wouldn’t be a route for British lightweight men to race in Paris. While that path didn’t pan out either, he represented the US in the lightweight quad at the 2023 World Rowing Championships, where the crew finished third in a three-boat field. Since then, he has hopped back and forth across the Atlantic, winning at Henley Royal Regatta in 2023 with Brookes before setting up shop in the United States as head coach at Fordham in New York City. Whether in Europe or North America, count Copus out at your peril.

Andrew LeRoux

Selected for the world championship team an impressive three times as a junior, Andrew LeRoux hasn’t quite been able to crack the higher levels. Always in and around the squad, he was the travelling spare for the 2022 World Rowing Championships in Czechia and was invited to the Olympic selection camp. Unselected from that group, he stroked a challenger quad to fight for the bid to Lucerne, coming within a second of defeating the in-house crew. Since that racing, he has also been making the rounds of the sculling regattas of the east coast, losing in the semifinals at Tuxedo Park but setting the fastest time by a US athlete in the single at the Head of the Charles, finishing fifth overall. The distance is much shorter for this weekend, but he has proven he’s got the speed to upset the established names. Making it to the side-by-side is well within his powers, and he may be challenging for the win.

Michael Herman

A coastal-first rower, Michael Herman has had limited success competing on flat water. With an international career consisting solely of coastal endurance racing, he was part of a quad that finished 18^th in Genoa this summer. Herman still has some ground to make up in the classic discipline if he wants to make the national team. 17^th and 23^rd in the fall and winter speed orders respectively, the Olympic dream may be running out for the 32-year-old athlete, but with a fifth-placed finish in the double at the Head of the Charles, the form may be close to where it needs to be this fall.

Paul Marcy

Since graduating from Navy and joining the United States Marine Corps, Major Paul Marcy has occasionally attempted to row at the Olympic Games for Team USA. His best shot came in 2016 when he was part of a California Rowing Club quad that placed second at trials. More recently, he placed fourth in the pair for the Paris selection, but given his age, that remained a long shot. Indoors, he became the first man in the United States to break six minutes on the ergo after his 40th birthday and will need to use all that power if he wants to finish in the top four against his younger competition. 

James Schmidt

A graduate from Drexel University this spring, James Schmidt made his international debut this summer at the U23 World Rowing Championships in the quadruple sculls. The native of upstate New York did not grow up in a club focusing on sculling but has adopted the discipline as he aims to progress to the national team. He has had some success, winning gold in the U23 single at the 2023 summer nationals, but will be taking a big step up to compete with this level of competition.

Dylan Green

Another member of the U23 quad in St Catharine’s this year, Dylan Green has now entered his second season since graduating early from the University of Wisconsin. Last season, he relocated to Philadelphia to train with Penn AC, racing among the seniors at the winter speed order. He finished 31^st at that event against many of the nation’s top scullers. With seven of this weekend’s field ranked above him at that event, he hopes to make some serious leaps forward if he is to feature in side-by-side racing.

Ian Holly

The only current college student competing at the regatta, Ian Holly has made the varsity eight for the lightweight team at the University of Pennsylvania his home. A sculler in his youth, he won the youth quad at the Head of the Charles in 2021 with Maritime Rowing Club in Connecticut. Off the back of a third-placed finish in the lightweight eight on the Charles this year, he comes back into the single. With little high-level racing in the boat class, it would be a big surprise if he made it to the side-by-side racing.

Prediction

The last time we saw a field with many of these top contenders was in February, so with varying training peaks it is difficult to draw many conclusions from that point. However, with thousands of dollars on the line, we should be able to assume that most of the competitors will have put some training into their fitness. Therefore, over the short, sharp racing course, I’ll pick Jacob Plihal to win, given the advantages of his build over the distance.

About The Author

Fraser Innes

Fraser joined the JRN team in September 2022 and regularly writes about domestic and international rowing with particular specialisation on US Collegiate Rowing having launched JRN’s coverage and being a staple on the End of the Island’s series on the topic. He has been involved with the sport since 2016 at George Heriot’s School and the Universities of Glasgow and Wisconsin.

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