Men's crew turned in yet another commanding performance at the annual Head of the Charles in Boston this weekend.
Brown finished third among collegiate boats and fifth overall in the championship eight race with a time of 14:33.3. The U.S. national team took first in the event at 14:09.67, and the University of Washington was the first collegiate crew across the line at 14:21.9. Ivy League rival Yale also bested Bruno, unexpectedly taking third overall in 14:24.9.
While finishing behind the Bulldogs was disappointing for the Bears, they were still satisfied with the defeat of their main national rivals at the Boston race. Brown finished three seconds ahead of the University of California-Berkeley and more than 13 in front of Harvard. It was also the fourth time in the teams' previous five meetings that the Bears have been able to defeat Harvard.
Co-captain Ben Harrison '07 was satisfied with the varsity boat's weekend performance.
"We were able to accomplish most of what we had set out to do, which was to race aggressively and at a high rating," he said. "We faced some challenging conditions in the varsity race but handled them well."
The Head of the Charles was only Brown's second race of the fall season, so the strong performance bodes well for the future. Earlier this month, the Bears placed first in the Head of the Genesee race. The team also soundly defeated the Crimson at that race.
Co-Captain Dave Coughlin '07 shared Harrison's positive outlook following the race.
"We showed speed comparable to any crew in the country for stretches," Coughlin said. "Now we need to learn to maintain and improve on that. Our strength is our unity and we will continue to train hard in the coming weeks for our final fall race."
Another encouraging sign that Brown took away from the weekend was that its other boats had success at the regatta. Notable were the championship four, which finished 12th in a very competitive field composed of numerous non-collegiate boats and the freshman boat that finished sixth behind Berkeley, Princeton, Northeastern and Yale. Brown was just one second behind the Bulldogs.
One of the new additions to the varsity squad this season has been Evan Panich '07, who has added a degree of experience and toughness that will be necessary if the team is to stand on the podium at nationals in New Jersey come June.
"It was good to come away knowing that right now we are close to the top, but it is important that we take the results in stride and continue to train to the best of our abilities in the coming months," Panich said.
The team's next race is the Tail of the Charles scheduled for Nov. 18.
