Crew headws north for Head of Charles

The Head of the Charles Regatta is the world's most competitive fall-season regatta, the largest two-day regatta ever run and one of few events to unite over five different national teams outside of the World Championships. Penn will be there. This Sunday, five Penn crews will travel to Boston to participate in one of the few rowing events sponsored by such mainstream companies as J.Crew, AT&T; and Xerox. "All the best crews from the country are there, so it's very competitive," Penn lightweight coach Bruce Konopka said. "But the guys want to race against the best, so it's a good thing." The racing at the Charles occurs on an undulating, three-mile stretch of the river known for its navigational difficulty. At the regatta, as with most fall races, crews are started in 10-second intervals and ranked based on the total amount of time they take to complete the course. This is vastly different than races in the spring, where crews line up evenly and race head-to-head down a 2,000-meter course. Penn's lightweight men are entered in one event at the regatta, the championship lightweight eight. Besides facing every crew that placed in the top 10 at last year's national championships, Penn will go up against national teams from the Unites States, Spain, Canada and newcomer Bangladesh. "Our goal is to be solid," Konopka said. "We'd like to get down the course without hitting anyone or anything." It will be a generally young group of rowers who will participate in the notoriously frantic race, including three sophomores and three juniors. Three of the eight were in last year's varsity lineup. "Its exciting for a lot of the guys who haven't raced up there," Konopka said. "We've got some good competition this year; the guys are pushing each other to new levels." The lightweight team's heavyweight counterparts are entered in three events -- the championship eight, the championship four and the youth eight. In the championship eight -- the marquee event for Penn and for the regatta as a whole -- the Quakers will face off against virtually every team they will see this spring during national championships. They will also row against reigning Olympic champions the Netherlands, two-time defending world champion United States and perennial powerhouse Canada. Included in the American lineup is Penn senior Garrett Miller, a member of the U.S. eight during both of their world championships, who will resume rowing full-time with Penn after the regatta. "Our goal is to beat all the other collegiate crews," Penn coach Stan Bergman said. "We came in the top five last year, and we'd always like to improve from year to year." Penn will also race a four, made up of the four best athletes not competing in the eight, against a multitude of international crews, including two entries from Germany, one from Spain, one from Denmark and one from the U.S. While the youth eight -- made up of Penn's best freshmen -- will not face international competition, they will enter as the reigning champions of the event. In only their second race in a Penn uniform, Penn's freshmen are prepared to defend their title against the best crews the nation has to offer. Unlike the men, Penn's women are only entered in one event, the championship women's eight. The race features entries from two reunited U.S. Olympic lineups as well as national teams from Denmark, Canada and the U.S. "It's an extremely competitive event," Penn women's coach Barb Kirch said. "Our goal is to see how we stack up against a lot of the newer Big 10 programs and other beginning programs across the country because they'll all be entered in our event." The women have an unusually large number of returning athletes from last year's squad, including seven from last year's varsity eight and all four who competed in the team's first trip to the recently founded NCAA National Championships. In a surprising move, however, only two of those returning varsity athletes will row in the Charles, including just one from the four who competed at the NCAA championships. One freshman and two sophomores will step up from the rank of novice to help lead Penn. "Its a very big change," returning varsity athlete Rachel Jolley said "But the Head of the Charles is always fun and I'm looking forward to it." For all Penn crews, the Head of the Charles is a unique chance to test themselves against the country's best collegiate crews a full six months before more serious racing begins in the spring. It is also a chance to compete not only against the best in the country, but the best in the world.