Rowing competition has different seasonal flavors. Spring and summer racing, or sprint racing, is similar to swimming competitions. The racing boats accelerate quickly off their starting docks, race straight down their buoyed lanes, and complete the 1,500- or 2,000-meter course within six to nine minutes. Victory is simply crossing the finish line first. Fall head racing, in most venues, is like a bicycle time trial. Each boat starts at full speed, about 10 or 15 seconds behind the previous boat, and competes on time over the approximately three-mile courses.
And then there’s the Head of the Charles: 3.2 miles of close-quarter, fast-paced racing on a twisting river through six bridges, competing against the best rowers in North America, cheered on by thousands. It is the Formula One of rowing, a driver’s race, a coxswain’s race. In addition to a fast crew, it takes skill and strong nerves to jockey for inside corner positions, threading through bridge arches in a fast 40-foot, 800-pound boat using a rudder the size of a playing card. It’s sad to acknowledge, but some people only watch it for the wrecks.
The Head of the Charles also has rules. Faster, overtaking boats have the right-of-way, giving later-starting boats a chance to win. On the other hand, slower boats can’t be run off the course. Deciding if the faster boat’s passing attempt is too aggressive or if the slower boat interfered is done by scores of volunteer on-course umpires lining the banks of the Charles. They make the calls and assign the penalties. And like all umpires, their calls can make or break a game.
Girls team
In the Women’s Youth Four event, Bromfield-Acton-Boxborough was seeded at bow number 21 out of 85 competitors. The Bromfield girls—sophomores Emily Erdos (coxswain) and Molly Hart, junior Sylvia Sarnik, and seniors Olivia MacLean and Caroline Hart—were the fastest boat in the race, completing the course in 19 minutes and 21 seconds, three seconds faster than the next fastest boat, bow number two. But they did not win. While passing beneath Weeks Footbridge, the girls crew collided and tangled oars with another boat. The umpires on that station assigned fault to the Bromfield-Acton-Boxborough crew and assessed a one minute penalty, dropping the girls to 19th overall.
From left: Caroline Hart, Olivia McLean, Molly Hart, and Sylvia Sarnik, all of Harvard. Not shown: Emily Erdos (coxswain). (Photos by Daniel Shrives)
The girls appealed the penalty, but it was not overturned. The result was heartbreaking for a crew that clocked the fastest time on the course in spite of losing about 30 seconds during the collision. Program director and girls coach Holly Hatton was very proud of her crew, especially for showing “sheer grit and determination” under such challenging circumstances.
In the Women’s Youth Eight, the Bromfield-Acton-Boxborough team started 67th in a fleet of 85. They did an excellent job negotiating past many crews to a 38th-place finish. The on-course announcer at the Cambridge Boat Club complimented coxswain Polly Lauer’s superb course around the tight 180-degree curve leading to the Eliot Bridge in the strong cross and head winds.
In addition to Bromfield senior Lauer, the eight was rowed by Bromfield seniors Tola Myczkowska, Catherine Turnbull, and Elizabeth Wilkey, juniors Ki Jung Lee and Annie Cooper, freshman Julie LeBlanc, and A-B junior Lindsay Darlow.
Boys team
The Bromfield-Acton-Boxborough boys entered a single boat (bow number 31) in the Men’s Youth Four event. Like the girls’ four, they rowed a very strong race but suffered a disappointing result due to a collision. Only 500 meters from the finish line they collided while passing a slower crew. An additional following crew, unable to avoid the stopped boats, also collided with them. The boys, including Bromfield seniors Julie Dexter (coxswain) and Nick Walker, were not assessed a penalty but lost significant time disentangling and restarting. Sprinting to the finish, they secured a 26th-place finish out of 85 crews. Based on their split times earlier in the race, though, they had been well-positioned to finish 10th or better.
Bromfield-AB A boat 4, from left: AJ Higgins, Charlie Watt, Kyle Hayes, and Nick Walker, all of Harvard. Not shown: coxswain Julie Dexter. The boat placed 25 out of 85.
While some of Sunday’s results were disappointing, even heartbreaking, Bromfield-Acton-Boxborough’s Head of the Charles racing showed a strong and fast team able to compete and win against the best crews in the country.
The full team will be traveling this coming weekend to the Head of the Fish regatta in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., for their last day of fall head racing.
