TAKE 30 STEPS TURN AND FIRE

The stage is set. Hacker and Schroeder fall. English fans; fill those top hats with booze, put on your finest wingtips and get ready for Campbell vs. Drysdale. Last year’s World Cup Champion Vs. last year’s World/Henley Champion. Even on his home course Campbell should be considered a heavy underdog, but who knows what ends English fans will cheer The Tideway Sculler to. This is the beauty of Royal Henley; boxing had Ali/Foreman, cycling had Ulrich/Armstrong, and rowing has Campbell/Drysdale. This will certainly be a much more difficult test for Drysdale than Palmer was last year. I hope to see Campbell match Drysdale from post to pedestal.

Yesterday was a bad day for Junior American Crews. Both Malvern Prep quads bowed out of the competition before reaching the quarter final. The Malvern/Miami composite boat rowed well into the final eight but lost to the Windsor Boys School who will now challenge Peterborough to represent their club in the final. Malvern “B” again lost to U.S. rival Maritime Rowing Club based out of Norwalk, CT. The 2007 National Youth Champions then fell to the Sydney Rowing Club. After a promising start, no U.S. crew will compete for the Fawley Challenge Cup.

Additionally, Thomas Jefferson High School; who had looked impressive for the entire regatta, fell to Brentwood College School located near Vancouver, Canada. Brentwood defeated Eton College and will now compete against Shrewsbury to claim the prestigious Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup awarded to the winner of the Junior 8+.

However, the Collegiate 8+’s have been dominated by American crews. The four remaining crews left to contest the Temple Cup are all American. Cornell narrowly defeated the University of Bristol by ¼ length and Brown defeated the University of West of England by 3 ¾ lengths to end all hopes of keeping the Cup in England. Cornell will now face Cal in the final round.

Michelle Guerette has defeated the Netherlands’ Klaasesen and Leen Blondelle from Belgium. She has now earned the opportunity to contest The Princess Royal Challenge Cup given to the fastest women’s single sculler. She will face the British lightweight sculler, Jen Goldsack. The Former Bronze medalist, Guerette will be the heavy favorite to win.

U.S. Crews Roll On.

Hacker, Drysdale, Campbell, and Schroeder advance unscathed as windy, slow conditions persist in Oxfordshire. The field is quickly dwindling down and now matchups are going to get more interesting.

A persistent head wind and slow conditions have dramatically helped the big American advance in this, his second win at the 2007 Henley Royal Regatta. The next matchup will certainly test his mettle and his ability as he will inevitably face one of the Worlds best in Alan Campbell. I think it is no surprise that England’s own will travel down this bracket, far away from Hacker and Drysdale. An American upset here would be sweet indeed.

The Matchup of this regatta will occur in the lower half of the bracket. 2002 World Champion, German,Marcel Hacker, will face off against the reigning World Champion and Henley Champion, Mahe Drysdale.

U.S. Crews continue to advance in the Temple Cup. Cornell, Colgate, Cal Berkeley, Georgetown, and Brown are all still alive in the hope of advancing to the quarter finals.

Thomas Jefferson continues to roll. Along with Belmont Hill School, they are one of the two remaining American crews left to challenge for the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup.

Malvern Prep continues to do well at this regatta advancing two boats to round 2. They will face off against U.S. Rival and National Youth Champion, Maritime. They Malvern/Miami Rowing composite boat will face Windsor Boys “B” in the lower half of the bracket.

This very well could be a U.S. regatta. The college eights and junior quads are in a good position to make the final and Jamie Schroeder has continued to look impressive.

Bring Your Umbrellas

Jamie Schroeder “easily won his first round matchup as the Henley regatta persisted through the rain and a nagging current (against the flow of the race course). Slow times and sore legs continue to mark the first half of this race. Alan Campbell also made an appearance in the Diamond Sculls winning his first round matchup by 4 ½ lengths.

American Crews continue to post good results. Brown, NYAC, and Syracuse all won their first round matchups in the hopes of claiming the Ladies Challenge Plate (Intermediated 8+).

Competing for the Thames Challenge Cup (Club M8+), one of two Cincinnati Junior boats won their matchup against Mortlake Anglian & Alpha B.C to advance to round 2. The Green Lake Crew from Washington also won their race and posted one of the top 10 times of the day.

Of all 9 American crews that competed for the Temple Challenge Cup only Dartmouth was eliminated in day 1 of the regatta proper. They lost to the American crew from Washington D.C.; Georgetown University. Colgate was able to pull off an upset, defeating the Oxford Brooks. Cornell looked impressive posting the fastest time of the day, clocking a 7:17 on their way to a 2 length victory over Durham.

American hopefuls from Winter Park were defeated by the crew from St. Ignatius College that posted one of the fastest times of the day. Reigning Stotesbury Champions Thomas Jefferson High School looked very impressive against Methodist College to easily advance. They could be a threat to win the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup awarded to the fastest Junior 8+.

Cop and Spik advanced by 2 ¼ lengths to defeat the Russian Double. American lightweights, Brandon O’Brien and Nate O’Conner raced well against Sloma and Brezinski from Poland; a 2x that finished 4th at last years World Championships, to finish with a 3 lengths verdict. Sloma and Brezinski finished just 2 seconds behind Wells and Rowbotham in Eton last year, so if they race well they could be a crew to contend with.

IDR=Perfect Weather

Perfect weather and fast conditions highlighted this years Independence Day Regatta in Philadelphia, PA last weekend. The Schuylkill River provided a welcoming 78 degree average temp and a 5-10 mph tail wind through most of the three day regatta. Billed as the largest U.S. Summer Club Regatta, crews came from as far as England to participate. Roughly 750 boats in 85 events launched on to the Schuylkill River to race through Strawberry Mansion bridge on their way to Peter’s Island and the finish line. The majority of those 750 boats (myself included) had intimate meetings with the buoys in lanes 1, 3, and 6 which where the size of basketballs and placed awkwardly on both sides of the lane before the bridge. Despite a few land mines on the course, and the occasional official steering boats from three lanes away, the regatta was a rousing success and a joy to race.

With boats from NYAC, Steel City, Nereid, Potomac, and even a few U.S. Junior and U23 boats, this race made for an ideal spot for boats hoping to win trials to test their speed on a fast course. The Undine Men’s Quad of Dan Ackelsberg, Cody Lowry, Jon D’Alba, and Sam Saylor won both the Open Quad event and the Octuple (as a quad). They clocked the smoking times of 5:49 to win the Open Quad, and 5:48 to edge the GMS/BK (read U23 composite) Octuple with a late charge.

The Vesper/NYAC Women’s Light Quad of Carey Brezler, Sarah Bates, Margaret Duggan, and Hannah Moore also got down the course in a hurry clocking a 6:30 on their way to a nearly 9 second victory over Undine Barge Club.

The light men’s single was won by a much improved Andrew Gryzbowski from Penn AC with a time of 7:08.71. He was able to hold off a charging Greg Kaplan from Undine Barge Club to claim a 2 second victory.

Vesper's Ben Churchill was able to hold off PJ Antonik from NYAC to claim the men's open single in one of the closest races of the day.

The men’s pair was won buy Toby Ayer and Chris Defelice. They defeated Vesper and Undine to claim a 2007 IDR watch.

The Men’s eight was also won by Penn AC who held off Vesper to claim a nearly 3 second victory.

The Mixed Open Double was dominated by Greg and Shannon Kaplan of Undine Barge. They were said to have been “making out” at the finish line after their victory. Most of the married pairings surprisingly made it off the course still married.

Undine Barge Club came from behind, to place in the men’s and women’s quad and the octuple to win the Mariner trophy for the most team points.

The high water mark of most East Coast Club rowers’ season, this regatta is also always accompanied by BBQ’s, brew, and Penn AC Parties. Now its time for most crews to get down to business in preparation for Worlds Trials that will take place later this month.

Greatest Races Week 14



In 1985 a young Harvard prankster travelled to Hazewinkel, Belgium to compete in the Men's 1x against, what many consider to be, the best field of rowers in history. He would face the infamous Pertti Karppinen and Peter Michael-Kolbe. Despite his stellar performances at Harvard, and his 1984 Olympic Silver Medal in the 8+, he bathed in anonymity, never appearing in books like the Amatuers or Assualt on Lake Casitas, yet he was able to do what very few could not, put Kolbe and Karppinen on the defensive and scrambling like mad to catch him in the last quarter of the race.

On July 15,2006 Andrew Sudduth lost his final battle to pancreatic cancer. The following is taken from his website:

"Andrew died of pancreatic cancer at his family home in Marion on July 15, 2006. He faced death with the same integrity, passion and focus that he lived his entire life. With his usual grace, he brought his friends and family close to him as he approached dying. Andy had a tremendous capacity to give and receive love in his quiet way. Over the course of his illness we were blessed with the love and prayers of hundreds of people Andrew touched over the course of his life.

There was nothing mediocre about Andy. Everything he did, he did intensely and well. His rowing achievements are the most public: eight National and Olympic teams, including a 1984 Olympic Silver medal, four medals at the World Rowing Championships (including a silver in the legendary race where as a young upstart he almost beat Karpinnen in 1985), the never-repeated triumphs of the 1985 Harvard crew at Sprints, Nationals and the Grand Challenge at Henley, three victories at the CRASH-B sprints and his five-time victories in the Championship single at the Head of the Charles.

His determination to push himself, to grow, and to do the right thing (rather than the popular thing) permeated his life. In Junior High School in Exeter, NH, he set up the school’s first computer network. In 1988, Andy circulated the first major warning of a computer virus in the “Internet Worm” event, when he was working late at night at Harvard’s Aiken computer lab."