A chilly Saturday morning with strong tailwinds provided challenging conditions for the Radcliffe lightweights.

Regardless, both the Black and White varsity eight and second varsity eight had no problem taking care of Buffalo, finishing with times of 7:03.93 and 7:13.04, respectively, while the Bulls—which sent only one boat to the Charles—completed the course with a time of 7:17.04.

“It was challenging conditions for everyone out there,” Harvard coach Heather Cartwright said. “[The tailwind] increased significantly through the second half of the course and the water got a lot rougher…but I thought that our athletes did well today. For our first race, it was a good beginning for us.”

The winner of the race was decided early on, as the varsity eight gained a considerable lead in the first 500 meters of the course, pulling ahead of both the second varsity and the Bulls.

“We got off to a good start by establishing a very good rhythm in the first half of the race,” Cartwright said.

With the departure of three seniors from last year’s crews and a large freshman class, Cartwright brings back a team filled with both experience and youth—while the varsity eight is filled with mostly returning starters, more than half of the team is comprised of freshmen.

But last weekend’s race proved that the Black and White has the perfect balance of leadership and raw talent to succeed this season.

“Going forward we have a lot to work on,” Cartwright said. “We have to gain more speed, and we need to refine our technique and work on our race plan…But we definitely rowed well for our first race.”

The Radcliffe heavyweights will remain on the road next week, as they will travel to Brown to begin conference competition. The lightweights will remain on the Charles to take on Georgetown on Saturday.

—Staff writer Kevin T. Chen can be reached at ktchen@fas.harvard.edu.