Gallery • 2 Photos

Willa Rudel

Every year, people from all over the world come to see thousands of talented rowers as they race along a three-mile stretch of the Charles River that runs from the Boston University Bridge all the way to the Eliot Bridge in Brighton.

On October 20th and 21st at the 54th annual Head of the Charles Regatta, as many as 300,000 spectators watched in a chilly wind as the racers gave it their all to score a victory.

There are many different events in a regatta like this one, and teams from CRLS participated in three of them: womens youth fours, womens youth coxed quad, and mens youth fours.

Junior Louisa Monahan, who participated in the womens youth fours event, commented on the conditions, “The course was quite windy, so we got a bit of a slower time than expected, but the race seemed to go by quite quickly.”

Her boat got 24th place, with a time of 20 minutes and 18 seconds. “I’m glad it was cold out, so we didn’t get too overheated. It’s an honor to race in Head of the Charles, and it was definitely the most exciting race of my time rowing at CRLS so far.”

Jesse Lowe, a junior in the womens youth coxed quad, also remarked on the significance of this prestigious race: “It was a huge honor to be in such an important race, and we had the opportunity to talk to the crews we raced against who were from all over the country and the world.”

Lowe recalled an experience she had with one of the other teams—a crew from Palm Beach, Florida all wearing wool hats and shivering.

Peter Fulweiler

Ella Simmons, a junior and another member of the womens youth fours boat, also observed the blustery conditions. “It was the strongest headwind I have ever rowed in,” she noted. “This made the course more difficult but I feel that my boat powered through it and we did our best. We feel really lucky that we had the opportunity to row in this regatta and it was a good experience,” Simmons concluded.

Oliver Saffery, a senior in the mens youth fours boat, had a positive outlook about the teams. “The boys team this year fielded a fantastic boat for the Head of the Charles, and I feel as if the rough, windy conditions were handled well by both the girls and boys teams,” he said.  The boys team, in the mens youth fours event, came in 42nd place out of 85 crews. The girls team came in 24th out of 84 crews in the womens youth fours event, and 24th out of 42 in the womens youth coxed quad.

Saffery concluded by saying, “I’m excited to see the growth of both teams in the future.”

This piece also appears in our October 2018 print edition