Bates Carries Torch for Family

When junior Lizzy Bates takes to the varsity eight for her third-straight Head of the Charles Regatta as a member of the Black and White lightweights, she will be representing more than just the Radcliffe rowing institution. Indeed, her family’s lengthy history in rowing and competing in the Head of the Charles could be a rowing institution in its own right.

This weekend, the Bates family will watch Lizzy row in the six seat for the varsity eight, while her older sister Sarah—now three years removed from the Black and White—returns to the Charles River for the singles competition.

Despite her long association with the sport, Lizzy Bates wins high accolades from her fellow rowers for outstanding commitment to helping her teammates improve.

“One thing that I really appreciate about her [is that] when we’re on the water doing a piece, she always has something positive to say,” freshman Veronique Irwin says. “Even when she has constructive criticism, she won’t say anything negative without having something positive to say right after that.”

To Bates, all of the prestige of the Head of the Charles and the frenzy of spectators fades away once the race starts, and Bates shows the no-nonsense attitude and competitive spirit that propelled her onto the varsity eight after the first semester of her freshman year.

“For us, a race is a race, and it is great to get out there whether or not we have a lot of fans on the banks,” Bates says. “We definitely have a loyalty to the Charles. It is our river, and we row on it everyday. We just want to row the best we can on our river and take the turns sharply and row a great course.

But once that race is finished, Bates will have plenty of cheering to do as a spectator when her sister, Sarah Johnson ’06, takes on the competition in the singles event on Sunday afternoon. Johnson captained the Black and White lightweights during the 2005-06 campaign, and Bates spent her years in middle and high school attending the Head of the Charles to support her sister.

“She has a great tradition in her family,” lightweight coach Heather Cartwright says. “Her older sister still holds team records for the ergometer and stadium runs that haven’t been broken, but Lizzie, in her own right, is a very good rower.”

That family tradition even extends to other schools, as Bates’ brother David recently finished his tenure at the Naval Academy in 2008 and captained the Midshipmen’s lightweight crew during his senior year.

“Just like any big brother or big sister, before a competition, they help you get pumped up for the event,” Bates says. “[Sarah] is racing in the Head of the Charles in the single on Sunday at three, and it will cool to root for her.”

Sarah’s presence ensures that Lizzy won’t be the only family representative sprinting towards the finish line, something that occurred last year for the first time in four years.

It was a foreign experience and marked a significant change from Lizzy’s freshman season, when she took to the Charles along with her older brother and sister.

For this year’s regatta, her father and mother will also take time out of rooting for their children to join the army of volunteers as an umpire and a dockhand, respectively.

Beyond the strength of her family’s immediate ties to the Regatta, Bates points to this weekend as an experience that keeps her well-connected to decades-worth of the program’s alumni.

“We all look forward to the racing and seeing friends,” Bates says. “I know that many young alumni will be in town this weekend. It is neat to see older alumni as well because Radcliffe is such an old program, and the spirit of the sport and Radcliffe rowing is the same: timeless.”

—Staff writer Robert T. Hamlin can be reached at rhamlin@fas.harvard.edu.