Racing in the Head of the Charles is like playing croquet. It has all the airs of a "gentleman's sport," but the winners are always the most cut-throat competitors.
For the blanket-bundled spectators who will line the shores Sunday starting at 11 a.m., sipping rum and feasting on fried chicken, the regatta is a reminder of what rowing used to be. As they admire the precision and the colors, and revel in the bygone aristocratic ambience, most are unaware of the dog-eat-dog competition--the aggressive rowing, shrewd steering, even the confidence in a coxswain's voice--which separates the winners from the nature lovers.
Wayward Twitch
Over the three-mile course which begins at the B.U. Bridge, a bad stroke or a wayward twitch of the rudder can mean the loss of a few precious seconds or even the boat itself. More than one impressive pursuing crew has bullied its immediate leader to destruction upon the Charles' banks.
Among a record 2530 competitors, a troop of Harvard oarsmen is again gritting its teeth, eager to bring home more fame and hardware to Newell Boathouse by sundown Sunday. The coaches, heavyweight Harry Parker and lightweight John Higginson '62, had planned to take advantage of their perennial eligibility for the Elites, leading their crews on to victory instead of plodding behind them in one of Harvard's fat red launches. However, Parker developed a back injury late last week and says he is undecided whether or not to row in the elite singles and doubles events.
Although Parker says that the Head is just "a fun race," it is the only regatta all year in which Harvard oarsmen can expect tough fights for the top spots in every event. The most exciting race should be the elite fours in which strong crews from Vesper and Potomac boat clubs and from MIT will challenge Harvard's two entries all the way up the course.
Up for Grabs
Medals in the other heavyweight events are up for grabs too. Pushing the top-seeded Potomac Boat Club pair will be Harvard's Ed Woodhouse and Murry Beach. Experienced freshmen boats are prime contenders in the intermediate fours event, while five unpredictable rookie freshmen crews will compete for the junior eights title.
The lightweights will race four crews in the eights competition: one composed of the remnants of last year's varsity, while another is last year's first freshman boat. As for the others, Higginson says, "They come from the sludge of our lightweight barrel. Of course, the barrel is all sludge in the fall."
Rowing Backwards
Higginson says he hopes that his crews will not do as poorly as they did in last year's Head. He explained that the boats that beat them in the fall, such as Coast Guard, "all ended up rowing backwards in the spring."
Three strong but unpracticed lightweight fours will challenge Coast Guard, Princeton and Penn in that event but are not expected to win as all crew members will have raced earlier in the eights.
In the woman's division of the same race, however, Radcliffe has invested all its varsity oarsmen in two boats in an effort to sweep the event. Here the opposition is hardly top quality. The real race will be in the women's eights, when two fast but inexperienced Radcliffe crews will race 43 others, among them the 1974 National Champion Vesper Boat Club.
In the women's singles, Radcliffe's Wiki Royden and Marie Adams will challenge past Head champ Gail Pearson. Later in the day, Harvard House boats will suffer down the course for the intermediate eights title, which is bound to be more a test of endurance and a bout of coxswain's roulette than a rowing tiff.
Few rum-sippers will understand what is going on or who is winning Sunday, because the boats will start at 15 second intervals. For the spectators, the regatta is reduced to a purely esthetic event.
Class Event
Just so, the last and class event, the smooth impressive elite eights, always attracts a big crowd. This year the throngs should be even bigger, the spectacle even more spectacular than usual.
At about 5 p.m., the 1974 World Champion U.S. eight--including four Harvard oarsmen--will cruise down the course in rhythmic perfection towards its first post-medal victory. Perhaps this is the only crew that might say with any confidence or conviction that the Head is just plain fun.
Entrants in each event are started at about 15 second intervals. Two-thousand-five hundred-and-thirty competitors will race in 583 shells over the three-mile course. This breaks down to 227 single skullers, 61 pairs and doubles, 115 fours and 180 eight-oared shells. 452 oarswomen will be participating.
Read more in Sports
Sprinkle Honored
