The Harvard freshman heavyweight boat races against Northeastern on the Charles earlier this year. The Harvard frosh rebounded from early-season losses to win both the Eastern Sprints freshman race and the Temple Challenge Cup.

To pull off an unparalleled feat in Harvard rowing is nearly impossible, given that its history dates back 150 years.

But Harvard crew achieved the near impossible by winning three championship titles last week at the Henley Royal Regatta— the grandest stage in the world at the club and university level.

A total quarter million British spectators watched along the Thames as four Harvard boats combined to win 16 head-to-head races from July 3 to July 8. The only Harvard boat that lost, the Harvard ‘A’ coxed four, fell to none other than the Harvard ‘B’ coxed four in the finals of the Britannia Challenge Cup. The rowers from the fours all came from the Crimson’s undefeated second varsity boat.

“As far as we’re concerned, they both won,” said Harvard captain Wayne Pommen. “None of those guys lost a race to any other crew all season whether it was in a U.S. or U.K.—that’s a pretty incredible accomplishment.”

Pommen rowed in the bow seat for the Harvard varsity eight, which needed two victories to claim the Ladies’ Challenge Plate—the second-most prestigious international event for eights at Henley. Only the Grand Challenge Cup contested between mostly national crews is higher.

While the first and second varsity rowers were the first two Harvard boats to claim crowns on Sunday, it was the freshman eight that stole the show by upsetting the favored Oxford Brookes first varsity eight to win the Temple Challenge Cup—an event open to collegiate crews that have not previously won Henley titles.

The frosh pulled off the victory despite losing stroke Bob Kubis to stomach illness just two hours before the start time. Senior Graham O’Donoghue, the stroke of the Harvard ‘B’ coxed four, was asked to serve as replacement just hours after his Britannia Cup race.

O’Donoghue had never rowed with the freshman boat until it approached the starting line. The end result of his debut was one of the closest races of the tournament—a three-quarter length victory over Oxford Brookes. The win gave O’Donoghue a rare second Henley medal in one day.

“He was the talk of the town,” said Harvard freshman coach Bill Manning. “All the British newspapers mentioned him by name.”

Another name rolling off the presses was Harry Parker, who just concluded his 40th season at the helm of the Crimson program. Henley titles are common for Parker—he had already won 19 in his career entering this season—but to win the only three American titles at Henley this year was an entirely new experience—a sweet moment for Harvard crew.

Temple Cup

Kubis had seemed perfectly healthy when he awoke Sunday morning for the Temple Cup final. He had helped the Crimson freshman eight plow through a 32-boat field with victories in each of the previous four days, leaving just his boat and Oxford Brookes in the final.

But just hours before the race, he broke out in a fit of sweating, fever and vomiting. A replacement was immediately needed.

There was no choice but O’Donoghue. The eight first varsity rowers who competed in the Ladies’ Challenge Plate were automatically ineligible, and all the sophomore second varsity rowers were ineligible because they had raced in the Temple Cup team last year. That left O’Donoghue, the only senior on the second varsity, as the only option.

“It wasn’t much of a selection process,” Manning said.