M. Crew teams 'head' to Charles

The Penn men's crew teams head to Boston this weekend to compete in the Head of the Charles regatta, the world's largest two-day rowing event. The Quakers heavyweights will be rowing two varsity eights and a freshman eight, while the lightweights will bring one varsity eight to the Head of the Charles, which is expected to draw 300,000 total spectators on Saturday and Sunday. Over 5,400 athletes of all ages will compete in the regatta, which has 19 different race events. "It's definitely the biggest race of the fall. I'm excited to go. It's amazing," said Keith Sutter, a junior who will be rowing in the two-seat for Penn's top heavyweight eight. Two years ago, Sutter rowed in the freshman heavyweight eight which won the youth event. "There's like hundreds and hundreds of crews there," he said. "It's crazy, there's so many different people." According to Penn coach Stan Bergman, the Quakers cannot expect to win the championship eight event, which draws national and club teams from all over the world. Last year, the U.S. national eight won the Head of the Charles, finishing the three-mile course in just over 14 minutes. "Obviously we'd like to be the first collegiate crew to finish, and if not one of our major goals is to be in the top 10," Bergman said. Penn finished eighth in the 45-crew field last year, when the Quakers posted the sixth-best collegiate time at 14 minutes and 47.28 seconds, behind Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Northeastern and the University of Victoria (B.C.). "We've been lifting a lot in the fall, so the extra strength will help us a lot," said Penn heavyweight captain Greg Jenemann of his boat's chances. "I know we're going to attack the race, both boats. We'll see what we can do." The three-mile course presents a particular challenge to the coxswains. "It takes a lot of skill from the coxswain, which I think is nice," Bergman said. "It gives the coxswain a chance to really perform well and help the team out that way. There's a lot of turns, and I think you go through six bridges. It's fun actually for them." While the course may pose an interesting challenge for the coxswains, it makes for more rowing for the oarsmen. "It's definitely harder [than the other fall races] because it's listed at three miles but with all the turns it seems a lot longer," Jenemann saiid. "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so all those turns make it seem a lot longer." While the longer fall head races are primarily seen as opportunities to train for the spring sprint season, the Head of the Charles presents an opportunity for both the heavyweights and the lightweights to get an early look at some of their key spring opponents. "It's definitely all preparation for the spring," lightweight captain Ben Goldman said. "This race is a good preview to see how strong the teams we're going to race in the spring are now." This weekend, the lightweight eight welcomes back senior Gerry Berry and junior Garrett Cameron, absent from Penn's last race, the Navy Day Regatta. "I definitely think we're going to improve over our last race, when we had a couple of notable absences in the boat," Goldman said. "Some of our strongest racers couldn't make the last race for injuries and other reasons." After the Head of the Charles, the Penn crew teams have just two fall races remaining -- the Head of the Schuylkill next week and the Belly of the Carnegie at Princeton on November 13.