Although the fall season is generally a training time for the Dartmouth crew teams, competitive spirits begin to flow when the famous Head of the Charles race in Cambridge, Mass. approaches each October.
This weekend three men's lightweight boats, one men's heavyweight boat and two women's boats will travel to Cambridge, Mass. to compete against several national and international collegiate and club crew teams.
"To do as well as we can is our general goal," lightweight coach Dick Grossman said. "To expect to win it is very unlikely, but instead we want to be competitive and race well primarily against Harvard, Yale and Princeton, who are perennially the top teams in the Ivies."
After placing a four-man boat in third place at the Head of the Connecticut two weeks ago, the lightweight men are hoping to make some impact at the races this weekend.
"We're looking quite good," Grossman said. "I think there is a little more depth this year, and we may be a little bit stronger come spring."
The men know there will be limitations, since many strong rowers will be on leave for the Spring term and Davy Kitchel '95, one of the team's best rowers, will be competing in his summer club against the Big Green.
In the heavyweight division only one four-man boat will race, so competition for positions on the squad has been tight. The men broke into three boats and raced off yesterday to determine who would go. The added competition has helped the Big Green to regroup after two disappointing races last weekend.
"It has worked perfectly," heavyweight coach Scott Armstrong said. "It certainly has gotten three different groups to get together and has gotten them to work extremely hard to get an opportunity to go."
A slow start is not uncommon for the Big Green due to Dartmouth's late starting date, so the men are not concerned about past results as they look to the future.
"Fall rowing, in general, provides the foundation that we are going to build on," heavyweight captain Mark Scott '95 said. "This isn't really our racing season since we haven't been rowing with our usual lineups. We usually do a lot better towards the end of the fall."
The Big Green isn't stressed with slow starts, though, for the fall is primarily a time to train and build endurance.
"In reality, it is the spring that counts and not the fall," Armstrong said. "We like to get in some hard training with a lot of enthusiasm, but it is mostly a development period. We work more on technique and aerobic base than we do on peaking speed."
While the men have limited expectations, the women have a different outlook going into Saturday's race. After placing two boats in the top ten of over 50 boats at the Head of the Connecticut, the Big Green look to make an impact at the Charles.
"We felt at Connecticut we were struggling in the boat with technique," co-captain Nicole Palczer '95 said. "The past two weeks we've been working hard on that, and we're looking forward to applying what we've learned down at the Charles."
Practices have been strenuous, but the Big Green are ready for a fight this Saturday.
"We're excited about the race and the competition," co-captian Erica Ruliffson '95 said. "It's obvious from the competitive pieces we've done in practice that we're looking forward to pulling hard and competing with other boats."
One youth boat (women under the age of 19) and one championship boat will race for the Dartmouth women's team.
"Our strength this fall lies with the '97 class, so the youth boat will be stacked for the Charles," Ruliffson said. "We stand a strong chance to win that event. The champ eight boat should be a solid boat, as well, and there's no reason not to expect a good finish."
For a race as big as the Head of the Charles, intensity will not be difficult to find.
"This is the biggest race of the fall," Palczer said. "This is where we need to prove ourselves to the other teams for spring. We think we can do well."
