The Crimson men’s heavyweight crew team ended its season in resounding fashion earlier this month when the varsity eight won and the varsity four made it to the semifinals in the teams’ respective events at England’s Henley Royal Regatta, one of the most prestigious rowing meets of the year.

The regatta has been held annually since 1839, only taking breaks during World Wars I and II. Held this year from July 4-8, its present format comprises five days of racing, with three weekdays of heats before the semifinals and finals of each event on the weekend.

The Harvard varsity eight, competing in the Ladies’ Challenge Plate—an eight event slate second only to the Grand Challenge Cup—stormed through its heats and semifinal against Brown to win a place in the final on July 8.

“We managed to get faster every race and continue to build upon our past performances,” six-seat Toby Medaris ’07 said. “The race against Brown University was a particularly strong showing, which put us in a great position to approach the final.”

The Crimson saved its most impressive racing, though, for the final event against a Molesey BC and New York Athletic composite boat, completing the course in 6.36, a length ahead of the opponents.

“We weren’t really sure what to expect from the other teams, as we hadn’t raced most of them, and even Syracuse and Brown had different lineups,” said rising senior stroke George Kitovitz. “We were concerned by Molesey, as they had several Olympic medals in that boat.”

In addition, Kitovitz said that many competitors commented during the week that of the two lanes, the Berkshire side was significantly faster than the Buckinghamshire side, and while Harvard had been given the Berkshire side in the heats, they had the Buckinghamshire one for the final.

“We were a little concerned,” he said.

Nevertheless, the team performed at its peak and delivered results to match, returning to the top of the podium for the first time since 2002.

“We had a very strong start in the final and approached the end of the island a seat or two up on the Molesey crew,” Medaris said. “We had a strong settle and put ourselves in a very good position from which to win the race.”

Kitovitz agreed.

“We were ahead going out of the island by half a length and we increased it inch by inch from there,” he said.

In the body of the race the Crimson maintained its lead, eventually entering the Steward’s Enclosure with almost a five-seat advantage, which was further added to by a strong final sprint. But Medaris cautioned that the race was not as cut-and-dry as it might seem from the results.

“The race was incredibly tight and both crews fought extremely hard for any advantages,” he said. “[It] was far harder and more level than it may have appeared to spectators, both boats were very evenly matched. We were able to race the better race on the day, however, and get our stern into the lead.”

It was not his own race that Medaris described as “the best race of the regatta,” however. That honor went to the Harvard uncoxed four against the composite Henley and Thames Rowing Clubs, which got catapulted the Crimson into the semifinals of the Visitors’ Challenge Cup.

Rising senior Winter Mead, bow seat of the four described the electric atmosphere on the way to the race, with fans for both Harvard and the opponents out in force.

“Even though there were many taunts on the way down to the gates, others were asking if we knew people at Harvard and shouting encouragement,” he said. “At the start line, while flocks of people were shouting for the hometown boys, one Crimson supporter shouted, ‘show them where the real Cambridge is.’”

“It was an absolute thriller, which saw the lead change several times and be decided in a desperate sprint to the line,” Medaris said, describing the tense minutes of “incredible silence” afterwards as the officials took more than a few minutes to agree on the verdict of Harvard’s victory.

“That race in particular was great inspiration for the eight,” Medaris said. “Seeing the effort and unrelenting determination of our four teammates was incredibly uplifting.”

The Harvard four was then knocked out in the penultimate day’s semifinals by a two-and-a-half-length margin by the Leander Club, the Cup’s winners the next day.

“Our best race was against Leander,” Mead said. “The Leander crew was very strong, outweighing the men in our four by a stone and a half on average. This bulky Leander crew ended up winning the Visitors the next day by six lengths.”

Several other Harvard oarsmen competed at the Regatta in boats unaffiliated with the Crimson, including rising senior Breffny Morgan in the Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup, and graduates Malcolm Howard ‘05 and Kip McDaniel ‘04 in the Canadian eight and four, respectively.

The Canadian eight, who eventually won the Grand Challenge Cup, raced against Harvard as part of the team’s warm-up the day before the regatta started, beating the Harvard boat by a slender margin, Kitovitz said.

“We scrimmaged with the Canadian national team a few days before racing and they...only won by a couple of seconds. And they then won the Grand Challenge at Henley and the World Cup last weekend,” he said, hinting at even greater untested prowess on the part of the Harvard eight.

But for now, this final victory was good enough for the boat, and a fitting way to end their 2007 season after a couple of disappointing performances at the IRAs and Harvard-Yale.

“The result at Henley was more indicative of the standard of this year’s crew,” Kitovitz said.

“It was an incredible feeling to end the season on such a high note,” said Medaris, who, having graduated, plans to continue competitive rowing in other arenas, including the Olympics and the Oxford-Cambridge boat race.

“The boat showed incredible determination and character to rebound from the Harvard-Yale defeat so courageously,” Medaris said. “It was a great way to end my Harvard rowing career.”

—Staff writer Alexandra C. Bell can be reached at acbell@fas.harvard.edu.