As the fall season draws to a close, the men's crew looks forward to its largest and most important race of the season this weekend in the 37th annual Head of the Charles regatta. The weekend-long event is considered among the biggest rowing events in the world.
Beginning near the DeWolfe Boathouse, boats will be racing upstream through a three-mile stretch along the Charles River, ending near the Cambridge Boat Club. In addition to competing against nearly 60 boats from around the world, the Jumbos will be rowing in front of a crowd of over 3,000 spectators scattered along the raceway.
"For the Charles, we will focus on keeping our good time," senior Nate Swinburne said. "We can't fall apart. With the adrenaline rush from racing at such fast pace, especially when racing the Charles, we have to avoid racing sloppily."
In the season-ending race, coach Ben Foster plans to display his best athletes. The Jumbos will enter two boats - one for the fours and another for the eights -as they have in each of this season's regattas.
"We're definitely excited for this weekend," Foster said. "The Charles is an exciting race, and the kids have fun every year. It will also be a good race to see where we stand."
The team is coming off a strong performance with their fifth and tenth place finishes from last Saturday's New Hampshire Rowing Championships in Manchester, NH.
Racing one boat in the open fours and another in the club eights, the team finished near the top against powerhouse crews MIT, UNH, and Williams - all opponents Tufts will meet again this weekend at the Charles.
The men's lightweight four squad placed tenth out of 16 last weekend with a time of 18:00.74. The boat consisted of seniors Raj Marreddy and Chris Mitchell, freshman Joe Schipani, junior Brandon Dickason, and sophomore coxswain Sarah Dale.
In the men's club eight, the crew finished fifth out of 16 boats. Comprised of seniors Shane Black-Macken, James Winkler, and Swinburne, juniors Mike Friedberg and Max Bernstein, sophomores John Goulet and Jim Burke, freshman Rob Goldstein, and sophomore coxswain Bess Dopkeen, the team turned in a time of 15:44.18. WPI, this year's winner, completed the race in 15:01.17.
"We did well," Foster said. "Our team chemistry is increasingly improving every time we row together".
The team attributes much of its success this season to depth, which includes an abundance of returning sophomores and a supporting core of upperclassmen. Rigorous practices from the weight room have translated to faster row times on the ergs of the water. The team's main concern early this season was overcoming off-season rust and getting the members to gel together. After settling into the season, the coach has decided to use the Textile Regatta and the NH Championships to gauge which lineups are best for the spring sprints and for the oarsmen.
"Our form is much improved, especially in keeping in rhythm and synchronization," Swinburne said. "We have to keep working on our catching an releasing as well."
Foster has experimented with different lineups this season, sometimes moving players out of traditional positions. Nevertheless, most team members are confident in their ability to work together this coming weekend.
"We have had fairly good races, and chemistry-wise, we certainly have been looking better," Black-Macken said. "This weekend should definitely be an exciting race for us, as well as it being a great way to close the fall season."
