Lehigh University Athletics
Mountain Hawks set for Head of the Charles
10/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Rowing, Women's Rowing
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh rowing program heads to New England this weekend as the Mountain Hawks compete in the 45th Head of the Charles Regatta, the world’s largest regatta. Since 1965, teams from not only all over the country, but the world have gathered for Rowing’s Fall Festival. More than 8,500 athletes will compete in 56 events in front of an anticipated 300,000 spectators. The race course begins at the Boston University Boathouse and goes almost immediately under the combination of a railroad trestle bridge and the B.U. bridge. It then proceeds through five triple-arch bridges to the finish line approximately three miles upstream.
Lehigh will compete in four events throughout the course of the weekend, including the men’s second varsity 8 in the men’s club 8 race, the men’s varsity 8 in the collegiate 8 race, the women’s second varsity 8 in the club 8 race and the women’s varsity 8 in the championship 8 race. Last year the women’s varsity 8 crew finished ninth out of 45 entries in its race, while the lightweight 8 crossed in 11th place in its competition. On the men’s side the varsity 8 posted a 13th place finish out of 38 crews and the second varsity 8 placed 26th out of 69 entries.
The HOC was first held on October 16, 1965. The race was established by the Cambridge Boat Club members D'Arcy MacMahon, Howard McIntyre, and Jack Vincent, with the advice of Harvard University sculling instructor Ernest Arlett. Arlett proposed that a "head of the river" race similar in tradition to races held in his native England, be held on the Charles River. "Head" races, a class of regattas, are generally three miles long - boats race against each other and the clock, starting sequentially approximately fifteen seconds apart. Winners of each race receive the honorary title of "Head of the River" or, in this case, "Head of the Charles."
The competitive field at the Charles includes individual and team competitors from colleges, high schools, and clubs from nearly every state and a number of foreign countries. The 2009 field will include all six of the finalists from the 2008 Olympic Single Sculls event, along with 2008 Olympic Double Sculls finalist Iztok Cop and Marcel Hacker, winner of the petite final at the 2008 Olympics in an eight-man sweeps boat dubbed the “Great Eight.” The Great Eight will compete in the Championship Men’s Eights race versus a field that is scheduled to also have national team boats representing the United States, Great Britain and France.
The Lehigh rowing program will host a dinner on Saturday, October 17 at Papa Razzi in Burlington, Massachusetts. All are welcome to attend, including alumni, parents, friends and family. More information on the dinner is available via the link above. Registration for the dinner ends at noon on Wednesday, October 14.
For more information on the Head of the Charles and the upcoming races, please click on one of the links above.
