Rowing Earns Silver at Head of the Charles
10/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Alabama Rowing team had a landmark finish at the legendary Head of the Charles Regatta grabbing the silver medal in the Women's 8 race.
The Tide overcome a mid-race clash with another boat during the three-mile race and accelerated through the end of the race, finishing just four second behind Tennessee's winning effort.
"This was a red-letter day for our program," head coach Larry Davis said. "We have never medaled at a national regatta before, so this is a major accomplishment for this crew and our program."
Alabama, in just its second year as an NCAA varsity program, posted a time of 17:20.52, beating crews from Radcliffe, Yale, Villanova and Iowa among the 51 participants in the race. In its first year as a collegiate program, Alabama routinely finished a minute behind Tennessee. This season, that margin has already been cut to four seconds.
"This was a major step forward," Davis said. "I think that if we had not clashed with another boat during the race we could have been seven to 10 seconds faster today. As it was, considering what we overcame, that was a great time."
Davis was also pleased with the poise his young squad showed under adverse conditions.
"Our ladies showed a lot of determination and poise out on the course today," Davis said. "They could have let the clash with the other boat rattle them, but they didn't, they fought through it and showed a lot of class and heart."
The Head of the Charles Regatta is largest and certainly one of the most prestigious rowing events in the world. First held in 1965, the regatta has grown tremendously over the past 45 years with more than 7,500 athletes from around the world competing in 55 different race events. The Head of the Charles attracts up to 300,000 spectators during the October weekend.
Alabama returns to action Oct. 27 at the Hobbs Island Regatta in Huntsville, Ala.
