Rowing begins fall season at Head of the Charles

On Sunday, all three Columbia rowing teams competed at the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. The race starts at the Boston University boathouse and lasts for roughly three miles. It is the world’s largest two-day rowing event.

The lightweight men’s varsity eight had a good start to the fall season, placing ninth out of 21 teams. The Light Blue finished with a time of 16:05.654, narrowly edging out Harvard, which came in ahead of Columbia at the IRA National Championships last spring. During that contest, the Crimson took third place, while the Light Blue came in seventh.

Princeton finished second behind the New York Athletic Club, with a 10-second penalty for hitting a buoy. The Lions finished behind Cornell and Yale, which placed fifth and sixth respectively, and ahead of Penn and Dartmouth.

The heavyweights did not fare as well in the Championship Eights race, coming in at 35 out of 37 teams. They originally finished with an unofficial time of 15:33.047, narrowly besting Boston University, which came in 21st with a time of 15:33.371. However, a one-minute penalty for interference dropped the team down to 35th place. Brown’s first entry took fifth place, Yale took 12th, and Harvard came in 18th. Tideway Scullers finished first with a time of 14:33.239.

The women’s team placed 29th of 31 with a time of 18:37.640, besting Lehigh and placing behind the other Ivy League teams. Yale, Princeton, and Brown were all in the top 10, with Yale coming in third, Princeton sixth, and Brown eighth, close behind Virginia.

All three teams will compete next weekend at the Princeton Chase on Sunday, Oct. 25.