The Penn rowing teams are gearing up for a busy weekend, which begins with the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta tomorrow and ends with the Princeton Chase Sunday.
The annual HOSR will feature races with college teams from all over the country, as well as a variety of races ranging from high schools to rowers ages 60 and above.
Penn will race two boats in the men's heavy championship eight and one boat in the women's heavy championship eight. The crew team will also race two boats in the lightweight championship eight under the moniker Quaker Rowing Club.
The men's teams are coming off their races last weekend at the Head of the Charles, the largest head race in the world, where both the heavy and lightweight teams had solid outings.
There, the lightweight eight placed sixth out of 26 boats at 14:54.448, finishing ahead of four Ivy League opponents. The heavyweight championship four finished ninth out of 18 crews, with a time of 16:35.643, while the heavyweight championship eight came in 23rd out of 44 at 15:03.692.
The women raced two college eight boats at the Charles, with one finishing 10th out of 57 teams at 17:50.267. The other boat placed 17th out of 45 at 16:50.105, finishing ahead of both Cornell and Princeton.
While fewer Ivy League schools will be participating at the HOSR, Penn will be competing against many local rivals including Saint Joseph's, Temple, Drexel and Villanova.
The lightweight men's teams will have a tall order in duplicating last year's dominance during this busy weekend, when they took first in both the HOSR and the Princeton Chase.
The Penn women will also try to repeat their impressive performance at last year's HOSR, where the Red and Blue placed fourth in the heavy championship eight with a time of 13:53.85.
The course begins just south of the Twin Bridges and finishes near the Penn boat house, covering a distance of approximately 2.3 miles. The event will begin at 10 a.m. and races will run until 3 p.m.
Continuing their weekend, the Penn rowing teams will also participate in the Princeton Chase on Lake Carnegie in Princeton on Sunday.
The Chase, which covers a distance of 2 3/4 miles, will feature events for both lightweight and heavyweight men as well as women.
Last year at the Chase, the Penn men's heavyweight eight crew took fourth place while the heavyweight four took ninth.
The women's team will try to improve on its 18th-place finish last year.
