Dartmouth's crew placed well Sunday while competing in the 36th annual Head of the Charles Regatta in Camrbidge, Mass.
The Men's Lightweight 8 finished seventh out of 16 boats in the 16M-event, with a time of 16:14.84. Yale won the event with a time of 15:32.09, followed by Princeton, less than two seconds behind even though they were charged a 10 second penalty. Bantam (B.C.) came in third with a time of 15:49.90.
Coming in seventh wasn't easy for Dartmouth. Columbia offered the intense competition in this event, running over Dartmouth's stroke oar, and breaking it, midway through the competition. Dartmouth was still able to beat the Lions, last spring's EARC champions, with room to breathe.
The men's success can be attributed to their preparation for the event, which is a difficult one to prepare for because of its weight requirement. Each boat must average 160 pounds per person.
"Most of the people in the boat are at reasonable weights but my natural weight is around 180lbs, said team Captain Ben Cotting '01 in an interview with The Dartmouth.
"I had to lose about 10 pounds over a span of about three weeks in order to get under the 170-pound maximum,"
Cotting said preparation was so intense he had to schedule most of his training at 7:30 a.m. before class and at 12:00 p.m. between classes.
The Men's Heavyweight 8 also placed well, beating 46 out of 54 competitors. The Big Green men finished the 20M course in 15:0924. The national team for the U.S. won the competition with a time of 14:26.18. Second was the German national team, nine seconds behind.
Northeastern University took third at 14:46.23. Dartmouth beat Princeton and Yale in this event, who finished 10th and 12th.
The Women's Varsity 8 had a mediocre performance on Sunday, finishing 25th out of 50 boats. The women finished the course in 17:52.89.
With a time of 16:37.52, Princeton took first place in this event. Second and third were ASR Nereus and Deutstcher Ruderverband. Both teams trailed Princeton by less than eight seconds.
The women's race, like the others, was extremely competitive.
The next challenge for the rowing teams is to beat their rivals in the spring season.
Said Cotting of the team's spring opponents, "they are fast, but we will prove to be faster."
