Dartmouth Opens Season at Head of the Charles

Sunday, October 20

Cambridge, Mass.

9:00 AM

Dartmouth College

Head of the Charles

Photo by: Doug Austin

Dartmouth Opens Season at Head of the Charles

10/20/2019 4:48:00 PM | Women's Rowing

By: Charlotte Brackett

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Dartmouth women's rowing team officially opened the 2019-20 season on Sunday at the 55th annual Head of the Charles Regatta.

First held on Oct. 16, 1965, the Head of the Charles is the largest two-day regatta in the world, with 11,000 athletes rowing in over 1,900 boats in 61 events. It attracts roughly 400,000 spectators during regatta weekend and needs over 1,400 volunteers to make it run smoothly.

"As one of the youngest crews in the Championship 8 event with three freshman, four sophomores and one senior rower, I think our youth definitely showed in our inability to find a consistently strong rhythm and manage the nerves and pressure of racing against the best of the best," interim head coach Kelly Harris said. "The Championship 4 had a great race. They were sitting in sixth place coming into the last turn before our bow seat's oar popped out of the oarlock and caused them to come to a complete stop. Having not entered this event in the recent past, this was a solid result for the program.

"We talk a lot about raising the bar for Dartmouth women's rowing and how we can and will move the needle for this program as we measure ourselves against our league competitors," Harris continued. "In these first five weeks of the season, we've seen good improvement on the water and on the erg. But the climb is steep and we'll need to keep taking big steps up as we look ahead to the Foot of the Charles, as well as our winter training trip in six weeks."

First in the Championship 4+, Dartmouth placed ninth (18:26.23). Coxed by Grace Hannam and stroked by Justine McGuire, the Big Green finished behind Syracuse (18:19.20) and a few seconds ahead of Cornell with its time of 18:33.61.

Dartmouth came 29th in the Championship 8+ with a time of 16:55.06. Coxed by Katie Erdos and stroked by Carter Nelson, the Green crossed the line seven seconds ahead of Bucknell (17:02.122).

Next up for Dartmouth will be the Foot of the Charles on Nov. 16.

Championship 4+
Grace Hannam (C), Justine McGuire (S), Ava Koros (3), Anna Glasgow (2), Claire Campbell (B)

Championship 8+
Katie Erdos (C), Carter Nelson (S), Rebecca Thomson (7), Molly Katarincic (6), Hanna Davis (5), Lucy Handy (4), Allison Smith (3), Aoibheann Holland (2), Ellie Urdang (B)