The women's fall crew season culminated this past weekend with the 37th annual Head of the Charles Regatta. As the best rowers the world has to offer descended on the banks of the Charles, the Jumbos sought to make their mark against local area teams and also watch some of the fastest boats in the sport of rowing glide down the Charles River.
"We were looking to see how we stacked up" before the spring season, coach Jessica Normand said. "It gave us a good gauge of what needs work and what in the boat is working really well as we head into the more competitive spring season."
There were three boats entered in three separate races over the course of the weekend. The lightweight eight finished with a time of 18:33.27 for a 14th place finish in a field of 20 teams. In the Club Eight race, the heavyweight boat came in at 38th out of a 54-team field with a time of 18:58.52, while the novice team finished in a time of 19:01.47. This was good enough for a 23rd out of 36 ranking in the Youth Eight women's race.
Three local teams that the Jumbos had hoped to keep in their sights had banner days and finished within the top ten in the Club eight race. Wesleyan, Smith, and Holy Cross tore up the course and secured fifth, seventh, and eighth, respectively. Two rival New England squads that the women defeated were Trinity, who ended up one spot back, and Middlebury, who ended up three spots back.
In the lightweight eight race, Riverside Boat Club and Radcliffe had strong showings, taking second and third places. There were few other area teams in the lightweight race for the women to compare themselves to.
"It's just an honor to get back on the Charles and compete with other boats that are so accomplished and well-recognized in the rowing world," junior Amira Baker-Jud said. "It was the perfect day for a race and we all responded to that. Our coxswain definitely steered a really great course for us."
Though the standings don't reflect a hugely successful outing, the rowers felt that the weekend provided a fitting close to the fall season. Many of the issues that cropped up during the beginning of the season were resolved as rowers became better acclimated to their position in the boat.
"It was definitely the best race of the season - a perfect way to end the semester," junior Dianna Darsney said. "We raced at a 33 [rating] but it didn't even feel like it because we rowed aggressively and kept everything controlled. We started with a positive attitude, and that attitude never wavered throughout the course of the race."
With the fall season behind them, the women are taking a break from rowing outside during the winter and will work instead on building endurance and power in anticipation of the spring season. "The short term goals that we made at the beginning of the season were reached," Normand said.
Though there are no official races during the winter, there is still an event that the Jumbos will be training for. In a test of endurance, power, and strength, the event known as "the triathlon" is a true measure of how fit each person is heading into the spring season. The competition pits each rower against themselves and everyone else on the team with a measure of how fast they complete each of the three stages.
The first stage involves a 7500-meter row on a stationary erg machine, the second leg is a three-mile run from Cousen's gym to the Harvard football stadium, and the final feat is a tour of the 37 sections of the Harvard stadium steps. The triathlon, which occurs at the end of the winter season as the team heads into the spring, is the result of months worth of training and a true test of how ready the team is to tackle the upcoming spring season.
