With two mouthwatering invitationals across the country and a smattering of tasty duals on the menu, it was a feast of racing this weekend in the United States.
Redwood Shores Challenge
In the third major invitational on Redwood Shores this season, we were treated to #1 California and #7 Stanford, hosting significant opposition from #3 Brown, #8 Yale and #11 Syracuse as well as an eight representing the local California Rowing Club training centre, with two Olympic medallists on board.
The weekend opened with a bang, as Stanford upset Brown by 3.6 seconds on Saturday morning, opening conversations around complete West Coast dominance for the year. This conversation was quickly moderated as Yale (who lost to Brown in Sarasota) got the better of the Cardinal to even the score.
Other notable results include Syracuse getting very close to defeating Stanford, Yale’s second varsity group becoming the first collegiate boat to get the better of a California lineup all year, and the California RC crew defeating the Golden Bears’ first eight by just 0.1 seconds.
Schuylkill Invitational
On the other coast, several contenders for IRA Championship spots met in Philadelphia in a series of three-wide matches. The highlight of these was the opening encounter as #17 Georgetown and #19 La Salle were separated by 0.6 seconds, both upsetting #15 Navy by at least five seconds each.
Elsewhere, Holy Cross put up a stellar performance to make a real claim to a pot on the start line in Pennsauken, #18 Temple continued to impress, and Navy’s first eight eventually achieved their first victory of the Gladstone era over Drexel and the travelling University of San Diego.
Childs Cup
On the dual racing scene, the pick of the races was at Overpeck Park in northern New Jersey as #5 Princeton and #9 Penn were hosted by #14 Columbia. Ultimately, this remained mostly a showdown between the two higher-ranked crews, but they put on a show across the day as Penn overperformed expectations, finishing just 3.3 seconds off the victory in the blue ribband event, while claiming victory among the second varsity groups.
Other Duals
Elsewhere, the racing went largely as expected, with #6 Dartmouth claiming commanding victories as they visited #12 Boston University in the Charles Basin, while #2 Washington defeated #20 Oregon State on a neutral course by the state line.
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