The Head of the Charles, crew's ultimate test, proved to be the obstacle that ended the men's heavyweight crew's perfect fall.
The Charles was by no means a failure for the Big Green as they did manage to earn a very respectable fifth place finish among the season's most competitive field.
"We definitely didn't fail," Todd Newman '96 said. "We started in sixth position and we were happy with the fact that we moved up."Newman added that although the team was happy with the result, they were hoping to perform better against their Ivy League rivals.
McGill University, a team comprised of two rowers from U.S. national team and two from the Canadian national team, won the men's heavyweight fours. McGill was followed closely by Harvard, Princeton and Yale respectively.
Dartmouth finished about 19 seconds off the pace of the Yale crew. The large gap may be attributable to a slightly different plan of attack.
"We went out a little bit harder because we anticipated having a tough race," Newman said. "But then during the last mile we had a lot of problems."
Next up for the Big Green crew will be the Foot of the Charles regatta in mid November.
This race, affectionately known as the Backyard Brawl of the Northeast, will feature all of the Boston area crews along with some other regional crews. This race is run strictly for four man boats.
This is traditionally a fun race, run more for bragging rights than anything else, Newman said.
"We'll get one more chance to beat Harvard, and hopefully we can get all three of our boats into the top 15," Newman said.
These last few races have given the team a good idea of what to expect for the spring season.
"Now we know exactly who we're shooting for and what we have to concentrate on during our winter training," Newman said.
