If was the kind of race where the losing crew would have been better off pleading nole contendre almost immediately after leaving the stake boat.

The Radcliffe varsity heavyweight crew, Jumping out to an amazing six seat margin after only five strokes of the race, demolished the University of Massachusetts on the Claries Saturday by a five length margin.

The Crimson's time for the 2000 meter course was 7:05 with the Minutewomen left far behind in Radcliffe's wake at 7:25.

We had a fantastic start," number seven rower Allison Hill said, in something of an understatement. "Everyone agreed that it was the best start we've had in three years."

After gaining the quick advantage, Radcliffe increased its lead relentlessly throughout the race, building up an insurmountable margin, although UMass did close the huge gap somewhat with a sprint during the last 500 meters.

The Crimson maintained about a 33 cadence for the first 1000 meters, dropping the beat slightly to a 32 for the second half of the race.

The boat went really well all the way, said Hill. Everyone was rowing together."

It looks like coach Peter Huntsman's lightweight squad finally is going to get a little respect around Weld Bosthouse.

Huntsman's crew, racing in the heavyweight junior varsity contest because UMass has no lightweight crew of its own, won a surprising victory over the Radcliffe and UMass JV heavies.

Huntsman's "A" boat came in at 7:33, with the Crimson JV heavies at 7:37, followed by the UMass JV heavies at 7:56. A Radcliffe JV heavy boat came in at 8:03, and a lightweight "B" boat finished in 8:17. The lights' fine showing was clearly an indication of just how good they might be this year.

"Before the race," said number four Kokanne Malenbaum," we thought we were going to get creamed. But we just towed a lot better than we though we could."

The lights pulled ahead at the start, incresed their lead to a length at the 1000 meter bridge and held on to win by half a length.

So after the double swamping of UMass, things are certainly looking good for both the varsity heavies and lights as they approach next week's big encounter with Princeton.