Amherst competed valiantly in the nearly three-mile long event. The women finished 32nd of 37 teams in the women's club eights division, competing against a wide array of both club and collegiate teams, including Tufts University, Middlebury College, Lehigh University, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and the University of Tennessee. The women's time was a respectable 15:34, just under 30 seconds behind Tufts and over 40 seconds ahead of Middlebury. The Lake Washington Rowing Club from Seattle, Wash., won the division with a time of 13:03.
"Competing at the Head of the Charles was an amazing experience," said Candy Liang '06. "It was so much fun to hear our boat being announced and see so many spectators cheering for us."
Co-captain Alyssa Katzenelson '06 said, "It was fun but a bit overwhelming to row in the biggest race; it went by so fast."
The Head of the Charles is a head race, which means that it is a time trial. The start of the race is staggered and the boats are timed individually. The regatta was founded in 1965 by the Cambridge Boat Club under the influence of Harvard University Coach Ernest Arlett, who wished to have a race in America similar to those in his native England. The crews today row almost the exact same course as they rowed in the first regatta. The upstream race takes the crews past Harvard University before ending approximately three quarters of a mile past Harvard Square. The fastest men's crews completed the course in under 11 minutes.
This particular race offered some peculiar challenges to the women's boat. First, the sheer magnitude of the event meant that there was an unusually large number of boats in the water at one time. The volume of competitors made passing extremely common and, at any given moment, boats would fight for position on the course. In a usual head race, the interaction between crews, although important, occurs much less often.
The many Boston-area bridges offered another unique challenge for the women's crew. As there are not many regattas in such urban areas, navigating under narrow arch bridges was a new experience, made even more difficult by the number of boats fighting for right of way beneath the bridges.
A third challenge posed by the course was the many windy twists and turns. In the other three head races of the fall season-the Head of the Housatonic in New Haven, Conn., the Pumpkin Regatta at Amherst and the Head of the Fish in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.-the courses were mostly straight. The course of the Head of the Charles is winding and narrow, especially in the last two miles.
"I think the team has really come together over the fall season," said coxswain Caitlin Kekacs '07. "We've had a lot of good practices and I don't think we have any regrets about any of our races. We have really clicked as a boat, we get better every day, and it has been lots of fun rowing together."
The women's varsity eight-Katzenelson, co-captain Ilse Van Meerbeek '07, Alex Boyle '07, Arianna Giebink '07, Jen Lesser '07, Liang, Emily Cole '07, Emmy Smith '08 and Kekacs-will look to end the season strong at the Head of the Fish this Saturday. The women will be rowing against a host of excellent crews, including Binghamton University, the University of Vermont and, for the first time in this season, Williams College.