JV gains experience at Henley

From Wed., Jul. 4 until Mon., Jul. 8, while the majority of Yale students were celebrating America's birthday, the lightweight crew team ventured to Henley-On-Thames, England to compete in the Henley Royal Regatta. Though they did not return victorious, the lightweights gained a wealth of experience that should put them in good standing this season.

Last summer, the Yale varsity lightweights became the first lightweight college crew to win at Henley since 1974. But included in the rules of Henley is a provision that the same crew is not allowed to compete in an event they won the previous year. Thus, Head Coach Andy Card had to split the defending champion varsity lightweight boat into two four-man boats.

COURTESY YALE CREW Though the departing seniors failed to claim the Brittania Cup, they did manage to win the Eastern Sprints for the second straight year.

The team's four graduating seniors from 2001 comprised one boat, while the remaining underclassmen formed the other straight four. The members of the varsity team raced as an eight-man crew throughout the collegiate season and into early June, leaving the rowers only three weeks to train in four-man boats before the Henley. Despite the difficult circumstances, this year's lightweight captain, Ian Malloch, SM '02, thought his boat was optimistic about its chances. "There were some other really good boats, but we felt we had just as good of a shot as anybody," he said.

The junior four finished third in its first round heat, losing to Oxford Brookes and Taurus BC. Soon after, the Taurus crew went on to claim the Visitors' Cup. The other newly formed Yale four, the graduating seniors' boat, prevailed over Reading before losing to the eventual champions, Notts County, in the Brittania Cup.

When asked about Yale's unkind draw, one that saw both of its fours lose against the eventual winner in an early round, Malloch said, "The draw didn't screw us. It just made us lose earlier. We would have had to face [the eventual winners] in the end." He also commented, "The experience of rowing as a four at Henley will help the returning varsity members as they prepare for this season."

With the varsity eight engaged in other competition, the JV team was handed the formidable challenge of defending the Temple Challenge Cup. With a solid display of oarsmanship, they won their first two races, defeating British teams Reading and Queen's University Belfast. They then faced a stiff challenge in ASR Nereus, a select team from the Netherlands. The Bulldogs caught a break only 30 seconds into the race, when the Dutch team experienced a broken seat. The Dutch squad elected to pull up lame, figuring the race would be restarted. It turned out to be a strategic mistake. The rules at Henley make no allowance for breakage, so Yale advanced to the next round.

In what turned out to be their final race at Henley, the JV lightweights were pitted against the Harvard heavyweight freshman A boat. The Harvard behemoths had an advantage of 28 pounds per man over the Elis. Nonetheless, Yale jumped out to an early lead in the race. But as the seconds slipped past, Harvard bore down and pulled its way back into the race, eventually winning by one-and-a-quarter lengths. The Harvard team went on to win this year's Temple Challenge Cup.

Though Yale returned without the chalice, it certainly did not return empty-handed. The JV team gained a tremendous amount of experience, important considering that these very rowers must fill the four varsity seats left by graduating seniors. "Apart from the Olympics and the World Championships, the Henley is the most prestigious regatta in the world," Wesley Ng, JE '02, said. "It attracts teams from South Africa, Germany, and Australia. We really benefited from the fact that we were able to row together over the summer, and we got a lot of valuable experience working under pressure. It's only going to make us tougher in the fall."

Derek Leung, ES '03, expressed similar sentiments, discussing how beneficial it was for the JV oarsmen to be able to compete at such an advanced level. "Usually the JV boats don't even get to race against other varsity boats, and we raced with some of the best this summer," he explained. Leung seemed to be alluding not only to the Henley race, but to Reading Town Regatta the week before, where the JV lightweights defeated varsity teams from Dart- mouth and Trinity.

After the summer's series of tough races, the Yale JV team sees itself as having a distinct advantage over rival crews, and its rowers expect to begin the coming year in strong fashion. "Last year there were four JV guys who could have moved up to the Varsity level," Malloch commented. "But with the experience of two months of extra rowing, some of the guys seem more ready to move up, and if not move up, at least have more of an impact and be some of the leaders of the JV team."

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