Harvard outlasts M. Crew at Henley Royal Regatta

After defeating a crew from Germany, the Penn heavyweight eight lost to Harvard on the Thames. The Penn men's heavyweight crew team recently rowed across the Atlantic Ocean. Well, they rowed on the other side of the Atlantic, that is. Ending a nearly 11-month season, the Penn heavyweight eight boat lost to Harvard in the semifinals of the Ladie's Challenge Plate at the Henley Royal Regatta on England's Thames River on July 4. Getting to Henley, however, was an accomplishment. Although there are no qualifying races for Henley, the Penn team earned a trip to England with its first place finish at Eastern Sprints. "We like to reward the team when they win a big race like Eastern Sprints or IRAs," Penn coach Stan Bergman said. "The trip was completely funded by crew alumni and fund-raising. It didn't cost the University a cent." By competing well against the best crews America has to offer, the Quakers were rewarded with a chance to compete with the best the rest of the world has. Founded in 1839 and held annually except during the two World Wars, Henley is the oldest regatta in the world. It is also one of the largest, attracting a record 552 crews in its various races in 1998. These crews represented 19 different countries, including first time entrants from Guatemala, Chile and Turkey. While crews came from all parts of the world for different races, the Red and Blue prepared themselves for the Ladie's Plate. "The Ladie's Plate is the second fastest of all the eights behind only the Grand Challenge," Bergman said. Penn found itself in a field that also included crews from Great Britain and Germany, as well as American rivals Harvard, Dartmouth and Syracuse and the first-ever boat from Turkey. Unlike American crew races, races at Henley feature only two boats per race. Earning a bye in the first round, Penn beat R-C Favorite Hammonia from Hamburg, Germany, by 1 1/4 boat lengths in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, the Quakers finished nearly three boat lengths behind Harvard on the one mile, 550 yard-long course, which is slightly longer than the standard 2,000 meters. "We led until the final two minutes," Bergman said. "We would have liked to beat Harvard, but it just didn't work out that way." Harvard, the team Penn edged out to win Eastern Sprints, beat Cambridge in the finals to win the Ladie's Plate. Although the Henley Royal Regatta only lasted from July 1 through July 5, the Quakers spent two weeks overseas, not just preparing for the races -- but also as a reward for their fine season. "They're really a good group of athletes," Bergman said. "They did a good job during the year." The year for these athletes ended on the Thames in the wake of Harvard's boat, but it began over ten months ago -- last September on the Schuylkill River. The Quakers will be back on that same river in September, allowing them only a little more than a month without scheduled training and competition. Many miles of rowing will follow during the 1998-99 season. After these miles are logged, the Quakers may find themselves back on the Thames next July.

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