Radcliffe Eight Sinks MIT Boat; 39th Place Finish Dampens Debut

The Radcliffe women's eights, making their home town debut, handed the MIT women a decisive beating in the seventh annual Head of the Charles Regatta on Sunday. Against the men, however, they finished a distant 39th in a field of 40.

Rowing what coach Garrett Olmsted called an "extremely fine race", Radcliffe, competing in the intermediate eights, finished the twisting, choppy three-mile course in 19:17.6, almost two minutes ahead of the MIT boat. A crew from Winthrop House, liberally sprinkled with varsity rowers, was the eventual winner in the same race, but Olmsted noted that "Radcliffe was only a couple of seconds behind the last boat of men, and was definitely in the race."

Nationals

The crew, with six girls returning from the eight that finished fifth at the Women's Nationals last spring, has been practicing regularly since the beginning of school, but Olmsted conceded that they were still out of shape.

He said the major problem the women's crew faced at Harvard was gaining enough acceptance and financial support to continue the program. Up to now the crew has been using a boat borrowed from Dudley House, and oars loaned to them by the Harvard crew.

"There was a lot of male chauvinist opposition last year," he said, "but maybe people will start taking us seriously now."

The ninth member of the crew, coxwain Ken Inaes, prevented complete domination by the women.

In other races involving Harvard Gail Pierson, an assistant professor of economics, the pre-race favorite, rowed to an easy victory in the women's singles.

The Elite

In the elite fours, ex-Harvard stars, Fritz and Bill Hobbs won over a strong field, but the Harvard lightweight eight, the defending champion, were upset by a strong Navy team, and finished a disappointing fourth.

And in perhaps the most interesting matchup of the day, Professor Alwin Pappenheimer bested Professor Arthur Smithies for the first time in the veteran single sculls. In the six previous races, Smithies had beaten Pappenheimer, "I've been trying to beat him for a long time," Pappenheimer said.