The Big Green had a close victory against Columbia in the Subin Cup at Orchard Beach Lagoon in Pelham, N.Y., on Sunday. The varsity race came down to the wire, as the Big Green men used a strong sprint at the end of the course to win by six-tenths of a second.
"As a coach you don't want exciting races, but we've had at least one exciting race every time," head coach Steve Perry said. "I didn't know who had won until the official results came out. Ultimately we were able to finish with a win so I'm happy. Kudos to the Columbia crew for racing a great race."
With the victory, both the varsity and second varsity boats are 4-1 on the season, with the losses coming against top-ranked Yale on Saturday in Hanover.
The Bulldogs won the Durand Cup in fast conditions, finishing in 5:07.9, ahead of Dartmouth's 5:12.4
"Dartmouth in the past hasn't had a lot of depth, but this year we have 16 oarsmen that are pretty interchangeable," captain Emerson Curry '08 said. "On any given weekend any of us can row to our max potential."
The varsity boat was even with Columbia for the first minute, then built a lead which varied between one and three seats.
The Lions responded with a surge and rowed well in the middle portion of the race to lead by a full length.
Columbia was able to sustain its lead until the final 500 meters, but could not hold off the Big Green crew. The Big Green crossed the line in 5:51.4, while Columbia clocked in at 5:52:0.
"The varsity boat has been working a lot on staying relaxed," Curry said. "We've been getting really tensed out during races and not performing to our potential. We found ourselves in the same position we were in against Harvard, being about a length down, and we just pulled it out with pure muscle."
The second varsity boat won its race with a time of 5:58.3, 13 seconds ahead of Columbia's crew, which came in at 6:11.4.
"The JV rowed an awesome race," Curry said. "Brendan McGeehin '09, who was rowing the stroke for the first weekend, did a nice job of laying down a solid rhythm for the entire boat."
In the novice eight race, the Lions' boat crossed the line at 6:04.4 while Dartmouth finished at 6:14.3.
The Big Green had a difficult schedule this weekend, racing against Yale on Saturday and traveling to New York immediately thereafter. Though racing on two consecutive days is trying, it is common because of scheduling difficulties, and some crews have race twice on the same day.
"It was a difficult weekend for us because it was a double-header," Curry said. "As soon as we were done rowing, we had to de-rig the boats, load up and head out to New York."
Curry attributed his team's ability to have a strong race in the second race to the team's mental focus.
"Columbia has been somewhat of an upset crew this year," Curry said. "They've found a lot of speed as of late. The race was on the shoreline, and there was a six-year-old's birthday party going on, but we were able to focus despite that, and I know our guys wanted the cake."
After the race, the Big Green was presented with the Subin Cup, named for Bill Subin '63, a former Dartmouth coxswain and former Columbia crew coach.
Dartmouth will compete in its last race before the Eastern Sprints when the team hosts Cornell next Saturday for the Baggaley Bowl, named for Bruce Baggaley '63, a former coach for the Dartmouth lightweights.
Cornell has captured the cup 26 times, while Dartmouth has won 16 of the contests.
"Our focus for the next week will be on the middle of our race," Perry said. "We want to get into a smooth rhythm so that we race well for 2,000 meters and we won't have to rely on our sprint."
Last year, Dartmouth beat Cornell in its regular season dual race and edged out the Big Red in a come-from-behind win at Sprints.
"This weekend's Cornell race will be a good one," Curry said. "We've had a decent rivalry going with them as of late."
