The Atalanta Cup is one of the oldest sporting traditions at Dartmouth, with this classic battle between Dartmouth and Brown initiated shortly after World War II. Dartmouth was victorious in those days and won every year until 1960.
The competition was suspended for a number of years, between 1969 and 1983, but was reinstated when Steve Gladstone, now head coach at defending Intercollegiate Rowing Association champion University of California-Berkeley, began coaching the varsity crew team at Brown. Since 1983, Dartmouth has only managed to win the Cup in 1992 and in 2003.
The U.S. Rowing Varsity Eight Collegiate Coaches Poll ranked Brown No. 7 in heavyweight crew. Dartmouth, which sits in the not-ranked-but-receiving-votes portion of the poll, needs to make considerable improvements before it can make it into the top 20.
"We are never happy with losing," varsity heavyweight coach Topher Bordeau said. "That should be our first, final and strongest impression."
When it came down to the final finish, it was obvious that Brown, at all levels of competition, had more powerful rowers than Dartmouth.
In the first varsity eight heat, Brown finished in 5:09.1, smoking Dartmouth's best, who finished in 5:25.7.
"There are things over the last week we did improve on. We were more aggressive through the third 500 meters. That aggression will be critical to our success," Bordeau said.
The second Dartmouth varsity boat did not fare better against the Bears, finishing over 25 seconds behind Brown's crew. The second Brown boat finished with gusto in 5:11.4, while the Big Green finished in 5:38.4.
Brown also brought a third varsity boat which demonstrated its depth of rowers. The Bears' third crew finished in front of Dartmouth's second boat, with a time of 5:22.7.
Dartmouth's lack of seasoned veterans has been a problem for the heavyweight program.
"It's never easy when you do not have 16 experienced rowers on varsity," senior captain Jeremy Feldman '07 said.
Earlier this season, the Big Green came up one man short in filling two varsity heavyweight boats. After the spring break rowing trip to Tennessee, Dartmouth was forced to bring novice rower B.B Lever '10 to the second varsity boat.
"He was the best fit for the seat," Bordeau said.
Freshman rowing coach Eric Kratochvil was not worried that Lever's jump to a varsity boat would cause problems.
"It is not hurting us because there are guys who are equal to B.B. B.B. is not faster or slower than the other guys," Kratochvil said.
The freshman heavies were unable to stay close to the competition and did not break the losing tradition that stretches back to 1983. Brown finished in 5:13.6, with Dartmouth trailing behind, finishing in 5:30.4, eight seconds faster than the second Dartmouth varsity crew's time.
"Today, we were looking to go 2000 meters as fast as we could," Kratochvil said. "They are getting more powerful. We could get more technically sound, more tough and deal with lactic acid better. Over the next four years, each day is a race of improvement."
The boats launched early on Saturday morning, with the first race beginning at 9 a.m. The wind was negligible, but there was a strong tail current.
Dartmouth will be heading to the Charles River in Boston for the Cochrane Cup on Saturday, May 5, when the Big Green will take on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and No. 8 University of Wisconsin.
