Crimson Boats Make Progress in Adverse Conditions

Hippies have Woodstock. Movie buffs has the Cannes. Rowing fans have the Head of the Charles.

This weekend, thousands of crew enthusiasts from across the world flocked to Cambridge for the 45th Annual Head of the Charles Regatta. For them, it was a chance to see rowing at its most elite, with various national teams taking the water, in addition to the much-vaunted “Great Eight”—a boat comprised of the world’s eight fastest scullers.

For Harvard men’s heavyweight and lightweight crews, it was a chance to gauge their progress as they work towards the more competitive spring season while enjoying the weekend’s electric atmosphere.

“This year, we had the boathouse swarmed with Olympians and people from various national teams,” lightweight captain Martin Eiermann said. “It’s always a special atmosphere. We all came into the weekend being really excited.”

The regatta’s appeal was dampened, quite literally, by rain and then snow on Sunday, but both squads came away from the weekend satisfied with their production.

“I thought it was really good,” heavyweight captain Blake Pucsek said. “We had crews place similarly to how they did in past years, which is a good sign.”

The heavyweights put their top rowers in the Championship Men’s Fours race, where a Harvard boat directed by junior coxswain Chris Kingston and rowed by Pucsek, senior Richard Anderson, and juniors Anthony Locke and David Wakulich finished in third. The Crimson spent most of the race in hot pursuit of the Camp Randall Rowing Club—the eventual second-place finisher.

“They took a lot of the distance between us very quickly, but then we kind of dug in,” Pucsek said. “At the end we tried to push away, and we came within two seconds [of Camp Randall].”

Harvard’s other four, coxed by senior Joseph Lin, came in eighth.

The Crimson also placed three boats in the Men’s Championship Eights race, which finished in 18th, 22nd, and 24th. The 18th-place boat, a sophomore crew coxed by second-year Alex Sopko, who is also a Crimson sports editor, finished in 15:28.495—under a minute behind the Great Eight, who won the race. The other two boats, including one rowed entirely by freshman, were only seconds behind.

“I think that’s great,” Pucsek said of the young rowers’ performance. “This is the future, right?”

The Harvard heavyweights also raced boats in the Men’s Club Fours and Men’s Club Eights, giving the Crimson a chance to display its depth and give its less-experienced rowers a taste of competition.

Even 73-year-old Harry Parker, the men’s heavyweight coach for the last 46 years, got in the action, racing in the Senior-Veterans Singles Men’s race.

“Harry’s been rowing in every single one of these things,” Pucsek said. “It’s awesome having a coach that takes part.”

On the lightweight side, the Crimson raced four boats—including three in the Lightweight Men’s Eights and one in the Lightweight Men’s Fours.

In the eights, Harvard sent out its three varsity boats. The 1V rowed impressively, finishing in third place based on its raw time of 15:36.607, but the Crimson was dealt a 60-second penalty which bumped it down to 18th. According to Eiermann, the boat starting ahead of Harvard got caught up in the buoys. The Crimson eight, already building up its speed, passed the entangled boat before the line and was penalized for starting in the wrong order.

Harvard is appealing the decision.

“Im pretty positive that with our appeal we might be able to get rid of that penalty,” Eiermann said. “Nothing on our part was intentional. I don’t think we got an advantage out of it.”

As for the race itself, Eiermann was pleased with his boat’s performance despite the less than ideal weather conditions.

“We couldn’t expect to be rowing pretty and feeling nice,” Eiermann said. “You have to have some guts and just go after it. When we hit the headwind, we stayed very strong. [Senior coxswain Dexter Louie] made some very good calls.”

The Crimson 2V finished in 10th place, while the 3V came in 20th. Harvard also raced a 14th-place boat in the Lightweight Championship Fours.

Eiermann was especially pleased with the performance of the Crimson sophomores, who burst onto the collegiate scene in the spring, dominating freshman races for much of the season. At the Head of the Charles, four sophomores rowed on the 1V, while two more raced for the 2V.

“The sophomore class is so strong,” Eiermann said. “They’ve surprised a lot of the older guys on the team. They’re putting on a serious challenge.”

With the Head of the Charles behind them, the Harvard heavyweights and lightweights have an idea of where they stack up against top-notch competition and can draw on this experience as they continue training and competing with the spring season in sight.

—Staff writer Loren Amor can be reached at lamor@fas.harvard.edu.