Steady rain throughout the day could not dampen the spirits or speed of the Bowdoin Navy at the 34th Textile River Regatta in Lowell, MA on Sunday. With 10 boats in 6 events, we pulled in 3 gold, 2 silver, and a bronze for a great day of time trial racing.
In the Novice Men’s Four Bowdoin opened the haul with 2nd and 3rd behind UMASS Lowell. The Novice Women’s Four followed with a gold in spite of a jumped slide in the last 1000 meters. The Men’s Lightweight Four rushed to a :44 margin over rival Wentworth to claim another gold. In a very competitive field the Novice Women’s Eight took 4th.
We had three entries in the Men’s Open Four. A strong Riverside Boat Club from Boston won the event, but our First Boat was close behind in second, ahead of WIT, Tufts, and Wesleyan among the field. Our Second Boat dueled the last 1500 meters with our Third Boat, a group of Bowdoin alums; the alums took 6th and the Second Boat 10th in the most entertaining finish of the day.
The Women’s Open Four is always a loaded event at this regatta but our first boat met the challenge and won the event to repeat last year’s victory. Radcliffe was second and WPI took the bronze. Our Second boat came 15th.
Next Sat. the Navy travels to Worcester for the Quinsigamond Snake Regatta, the last tune up for the Head of The Charles on Oct. 19-20.