Crew Establishes New World Record

After rowing on the ergometer for 24 straight hours, one might have thought that the Harvard and Radcliffe crews--or at least the ergometer they were rowing on--would be ready to collapse.

In fact, the mood at Weld Boat House Saturday afternoon was ecstatic as members of both crews gathered to celebrate their new world record for distance rowed on an ergometer in a continuous 24-hour period.

"We knew for a while we were going to break it," senior rower Jeremy Barnum said. "People are psyched."

The crews began rowing Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m At 2:01 on Saturday afternoon, the crews surpassed the previous world record of 454,328 meters. In the 59 remaining minutes, the crews racked up another 20,000 meters to put the record at 474,632 meters.

The crews rowed around the clock, and it wasn't easy.

"It was an organizational feat," Barnum said, "It was impressive to get people to come out in the middle of the night."

Barnum estimated that there were from ten to 20 people in the building at any given time of the night. "People were willing to make sacrifices for the record," he said.

Sophomore rower Brendan Sheehan was also impressed with the smoothness and coordination of the effort.

"What I think is really amazing is that they kept the erg going for 24 hours with over 144 changes [of rowers]," he said.

As 3:00 approached on Saturday afternoon, the boat house began to fill with rowers eager to celebrate. When the clock struck three, the building was filled with cheering and showers of sparkling cider.

According to Barnum, the records of the event will be sent to the manufacturers of the ergometer, who keep rankings of records set on their machine.

Furthermore, since the ergometer the team was using, a "Concept II," is being phased out, there is a chance that Harvard's record on this model will be permanent.

"It was a really good experience for a lot of people," senior rower Ben Glass said. "It was a real confidence builder."

Freshmen Matt Oak agreed. "It's exciting enough to come to Harvard, and now we've got a world record," he said. "It's really cool."