• 10/20/2009 7:00:00 AM
BOSTON — The Head of the Charles regatta normally indicates New England is in the heart of fall. That wasn’t the case on Sunday as a northeaster turned the river into a winter-wonder land.
The high school crews rowing in the world’s largest regatta, however, were lucky to get off the river before the annual autumn carnival turned into a white out.
“It was really strange, I am more used to nice foliage but the snow was interesting,” said Winsor School senior coxswain Erin Driscoll after steering her crew to a second-place finish in the youth women’s fours on Sunday, a few hours before two crews of international all stars calling themselves the Great Eights teamed up for the first time at the Head of the Charles. “That was amazing. That was probably one of my favorite crew events ever, especially to watch the Great Eights, that was awesome.
In the 45-year history of the world’s largest regatta, which drew 8,842 athletes, 1,884 boats and about 300,000 spectators over the weekend, it has only snowed two other times.
“It’s pretty crazy out there, no question,” said Lisa Stone, who coaches the Boston-based Winsor School. “I’m glad they rowed without the snow. They didn’t have to worry about hypothermia.”
Despite enduring a driving, sideways rain, the all girls’ school was one of the most successful Massachusetts high school crews on Sunday. The Winsor School’s crew in the women’s eights traveled the 3-mile upstream course in 18:27.104 for a 17th place finish.
In the women’s fours, the Winsor School boat — which consisted of junior Gianna Guarino, senior Lisa Luo, senior Katherine Ernst and senior Susannah Shipton in addition to coxswain Driscoll — started second in the race. They led the race briefly before finishing with a time of 19:38.29.
California-based Marina Aquatic Center Junior Rowing finished about three seconds faster than Winsor School.
“We raced our best race,” Driscoll said. “I honestly don’t think it had anything to do with us. Sometimes there are faster crews. It was not so much our being three seconds slower as they were three seconds faster.”
Winsor School, which led the race until the Riverside Bridge, just under one mile into the course, was also second in the same event last year. They were fifth in 2007 and also in the Top 10 the previous year.
“It was kind of a bummer,” Shipton said. “We were hoping for a win but you have to take everything in stride. A lot of crews don’t ever place as well as we did. We can be appreciative of that but it’s always nice to end with a win. But we’re grateful for what we have.
“It was definitely very dramatic. There was some wind, mostly it was cold. The cold was the problem. The rain is not so bad. It was mostly spraying on the powerhouse stretch where it probably was the windiest. It didn’t start snowing till later, it was just hailing when we went.”
Ryan Banks, who coaches the powerhouse Watertown-based youth program out of Community Rowing, Inc. (CRI), was also surprised by the snow.
“It was definitely unexpected,” Banks said. “I think we were definitely lucky because it was supposed to be real bad weather Saturday and Sunday. On one hand people were happy Saturday was nice all day but Sunday was definitely tougher.
“Forty mile per hour head winds definitely made for difficult rowing. I think everyone had a good time and enjoyed a different experience.”
For the first time in three years on Sunday, CRI did not win the youth women’s eights at the Head of the Charles. The boat filled by Priscilla Livingston, Maja Chelstowska, Rebecca Shaffer, Julijana Englander, Paige Madden, Alexandra Todorvic-Jones, Ali O'Connor, Jen Stockwood and cox Caroline Kiritsy finished second.
“They’ve had a good year, they’ve won five out of the last six or seven years so they’ve done really well and they continued in that tradition, which is great,” Banks said of his youth women's eights, which submitted a time of 17:31.626, about six seconds slower than Maritime Rowing Club. “I am sure they were disappointed. They want to win every year. Every year its different competition and that boat that did win was a very strong crew, they had a good race.”
CRI — which had more boats (29) racing over the weekend than any other club — also had 11 other youth crews racing, including in the women's double. Rae Taylor-Burns and Madeleine Johnson finished eighth in that race with a time of 21:42.214. CRI's youth men’s eights had a sixth place finish with a time of 15:58.060.
Another notable youth performance from a Massachusetts’ team was submitted by the Wayland-Weston Rowing Association, which finished eighth in the youth women’s eights in a time of 17:53.802 and 15th in the youth men’s eights (16:16.668).
In the end, however, the 2009 Head of the Charles will be less remembered for what times the rowers rowed than for what they rowed through.
“Yeah definitely [the snow] will be something people talk about as well as the Great Eights,” the Winsor School’s Shipton said. “That’s also a big deal for the river too. That’s nice publicity; it’s nice they were able to pull those boats together.
“With this regatta definitely comes just sort of a mystic. There’s something about the Head of the Charles, it’s the biggest regatta in the world. There’s something about it that can’t be matched.”
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