Men’s Heavyweight Rowers Win Collins Cup While Women Rowers Falter

The Columbia men’s heavyweight rowing team and the women’s rowing team were in action this weekend as the men were in a close-to-home affair against Rutgers on the Harlem River Racecourse and the women took on Yale and Penn in the Connell Cup Regatta. The annual meeting of the Lions and Scarlet Knights is a battle for the Collins Cup, which the Lions captured for the fourth straight year by sweeping all three races. The women did not fare as well and finished behind both Yale and Penn.

Along with competing against the Scarlet Knights, the Columbia men had to brave less-than-ideal conditions on Saturday, as the temperature on the water was slightly above freezing and the winds blew upward of 20 miles per hour.

The wind made staying the course more difficult than usual, but the Varsity Eights were able to adjust effectively and finished the course in 6:58.8—more than 30 seconds ahead of Rutgers.

Columbia rowed to victory in its first race in a brand-new shell, after two former rowers donated the shell to the team in memory of King’s Crown Rowing Association member Jim Runsdorf, who was killed in an accident on the Harlem River in 2005.

In the Varsity Fours race, Columbia entered two boats, with the Light Blue’s A boat taking first and the B boat finishing behind Rutgers to take third. The A boat finished with a time of 7:10.1, Rutgers finished over 10 seconds behind at 7:22.7, and the Lions’ B boat rounded out the event with a time of 7:34.2.

The Freshman Eights, led by first-year head coach Jon Douglass, won their first home race by defeating the Scarlet Knights, posting a time of 7:03.1 to Rutgers’ 7:17.7. Douglass was the assistant head coach at Rutgers last season, but he joined Columbia after the rowing program at Rutgers was downgraded to club status.

The heavyweight rowers will be in action again on April 5 in the annual Alumni Cup against MIT. This year, Holy Cross will join the race as well. It will take place at Orchard Beach Lagoon in Pelham, N.Y., the normal home site for the team. The men’s lightweight team was off this weekend but will race again on April 5 in New Jersey against Princeton and Georgetown.

The women’s rowing team was unable to challenge defending NCAA champion Yale in any of its four races against the Bulldogs on Saturday. While Columbia was more closely matched with Penn, it could not overtake the Quakers either.

The women’s Varsity Eights and Second Varsity Eights each finished about 15 seconds behind second-place Penn in those two races. The Varsity Fours were the closest of the Lions’ boats on the day to finishing in second place but ultimately placed third, 6.1 seconds behind Penn and 39.1 seconds behind Yale.

The Novice Eights race was very close between Yale and Penn, as the Bulldogs edged the Quakers by 1.2 seconds. The Lions finished 40 seconds off the pace, as they were thrown off when one rower caught a crab. In rowing, catching a crab is when a stroke of an oar either digs in the water too deeply or misses the water, altering the direction of the boat.

The women’s rowing squad will return to action April 5 against Princeton and Rutgers.