Before the weather turned sour Saturday afternoon, Princeton and Yale showed up on the Charles River with every intention of raining on Harvard’s parade.

The Tigers and the Bulldogs brought their best to the Goldthwait Cup races, the annual Harvard, Princeton, and Yale men’s lightweight regatta.

But the Crimson lightweights brought their best as well. And when you’re No. 1 in the country, your best is not too bad.

Harvard’s first and second varsity wins secured the team’s third consecutive Goldthwait Cup, one of the most contested prizes in lightweight rowing.

“This grudge match was going on way, way back in the day,” said junior second varsity five-seat Alex Phillips. “These three schools have been duking it out since before rowing was rowing.”

The first varsity eight overcame Yale’s four-seat advantage at 1,000 meters, stalled the Bulldogs’ push at the midway mark and pulled even in the third 500. Once Harvard reached the final 500-meter marker, the Crimson powered its way to a 2.4 second victory.

“Yale jumped us off the line and their [stroke] rating was really high,” varsity three-seat Griffin Schroeder said. “They were up on us by several seats quite early in the race.”

Princeton fell off the pace early, but the Bulldogs shot out of the start at a higher rating than the Crimson and bolted to a quick half-boat advantage.

“We were almost done with our warmup, and [seven-seat] Mike Kummer leans to me and says, ‘Last year, they came out of the blocks smoking and we have to be ready for that,’” varsity stroke Dan Reid said.

As has been the case all season, the Crimson’s base cadence erased that early spurt.

In the first 250 meters of the second 500, Harvard halted any Yale attempt to add to the lead. Harvard held the Yale boat close without much adjustment to the stroke rating.

“Right after the 500-meter mark, they took another move and took the rating up,” Schroeder said. “They moved away a little bit more and then we held them again—held that margin, and then we started walking back on them.”

The Crimson calmly entered the Mass. Ave. Bridge at a slight disadvantage, with Yale still up half a length and Princeton almost a length behind both boats. Then at 1,200 meters down, the Crimson grew tired of the first real deficit it had faced since an opening weekend loss to Georgetown.

And that’s when the No. 1 crew in the country made a No. 1-type of move.

“We killed their move,” Schroeder said. “They were moving on us, then we killed their move, and then we walked on them.”