The 60th anniversary of the world’s largest three-day regatta, Head of the Charles 2025, will play host to 2,689 different crews from 856 separate clubs. As ever, they’ll fight their way down the winding three-mile course through Boston and Cambridge. Last year’s edition featured several Olympians trying their hand at the world-famous regatta directly following the pinnacle regatta. The winners of the women’s championship double and Paris Olympic bronze medallists, Becky Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne, will not be returning to defend their title, leaving the 22 entries for 2025 to battle it out for themselves.
Sophia Calabrese and Sera Busse (Green Racing Project)
Calabrese and Busse, runners-up in last year’s edition, are returning and will lead off the event from Bow #1. This double has been training out of the Green Racing Project, based in Craftsbury, Vermont, and has been in this combination for two years now. Calabrese made her way onto the U23 National Team before graduating from Texas, and was selected for her first Senior National Team this summer with Busse. They raced the women’s quad in Shanghai just three weeks ago, finishing a solid tenth. Expect a fierce run down the course for this duo.
Tabea Schendekehl and Sarah Wibberenz (RC Hansa Dortmund and Brandenburg)
This German combination going off Bow #2 are powerful and certainly one to keep an eye on. Schendekehl is no stranger to the American rowing scene as a graduate of the University of Washington programme. She is also accustomed to international racing, having earned a bronze medal in the women’s quad at the Paris Olympics last fall and clinched a fourth-place finish in the women’s eight at the Shanghai World Rowing Championships a few weeks ago. Wibberenz is similarly experienced at international level, winning a bronze in the women’s quad at the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai. She just missed out on Olympic qualification in Lucerne in 2024 after winning Henley Royal Regatta in The Stonor Challenge Trophy. This could be a lasting combination for the German National Team, and they’ll undoubtedly want to start it out on the right foot.
Aislinn O’Brien and Claire Friedlander (Conshohocken Rowing Center, Inc.)
The Philadelphia-area duo managed a fifth-place finish in the same event last year, amongst a stacked entry list, just 15 seconds off the runners-up from Craftsbury GRP. The two athletes have respective international experience at the U23 level. O’Brien raced the lightweight double in 2023 at the U23 World Rowing Championships, finishing sixth, and Friedlander raced the lightweight quad in 2022, finishing fourth. This duo has demonstrated its speed over the HOCR course, but unfortunately, didn’t get to do the same at the Shanghai World Rowing Championships after missing the time standard at the National Team Trials in August. A top finish this weekend would surely make up for that, so expect these lightweights to come down the course blazing.
Meg Combs and Chloe Lewis (Riverside)
Combs and Lewis are a more experienced double, training from one of the most iconic boathouses and clubs along the Charles River. The duo is returning to this category for the fourth consecutive year, having secured seventh place in 2022, sixth place in 2023, and 13th place in 2024. Given the pedigree of this double, between their rowing experience and intricate knowledge of a notoriously tricky course, they will definitely be looking to return to a top-ten finish, at least.
Other notable entries
Saturday championship events always invite a wide variety of entries, from Olympic medallists, national Team trialists, clubs, and collegiate programmes; the 2025 women’s championship double is no different. In addition to the reviewed entries, the event will feature doubles duels from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University – both programmes that consistently produce very strong double entries.
In addition to Combs and Lewis, Riverside has two other entries that are sure to have important knowledge of the course’s intricacies. Likewise, Craftsbury GRP, a feeder training centre for the US National Team, has two other entries of its own with the U23 National Team and top-level NCAA experience. These are entries that aim to make an impression on National Team selectors and post impressive times against strong international competitors. Penn A.C.’s Tierney sisters will also feature in the event. The sisters have been on the scene for a while, with a wealth of International and Domestic experience of their own.
Finally, alongside the German combination, other overseas competitors will also feature in the event. Auriol Kensington is sending a double over, likely in preparation for the UK Head Racing season. Rowing Canada Aviron High Performance, the Canadian National Team training centre, is sending an entry of its own, although its lineup has yet to be revealed. RCA HP’s 2024 entry managed a sixth-place finish, and I would expect a similar level of competition from this year’s entry.
Prediction
I expect the closest and fiercest competition to come from the first three bowballs in Craftsbury GRP A, Hansa Dortmund/Brandenburg RC, and Conshohocken. Craftsbury GRP A and Conshohocken each have an advantage in their knowledge of the course’s twists and turns, and proven results in the same combinations. However, the horsepower and international sculling experience in the German combination is hard to ignore. Barring extreme difficulty with steering down the Charles, I think the Germans’ power and experience will be hard to match. I’ll pick RC Hansa Dortmund and Brandenburg to win, by a slim margin, over Craftsbury Green Racing Project A, with Conshohocken Rowing Center Inc. close behind them.
— Luke Desmaison
