Arguably the greatest festival of rowing on Earth, Head of the Charles Regatta returned this year after a two-year break and delivered another incredible weekend of racing. Despite travel restrictions limiting many foreign crews from coming over to compete, entries were full and the quality was as high as ever.
WinTech Racing & King Racing had a flotilla of boats taking to the Charles and were bolstered by numerous strong finishing places in their respective categories.
For the first time the event spanned three days, with para and some masters events taking place on the Friday before the first full day on Saturday. On Friday, masters and veterans up to the 70+ category raced, and Chinook BC, rowing in a Wintech shell, picked up a fantastic second place in the Men’s Grand Masters Double. Capping off the morning’s racing was the Mixed Para Inclusion Double, won by Houser and Scott from Athletes Without Limits, also in a Wintech. These two events alone are a fantastic example of the power of rowing and Wintech to inspire and cater for any athlete.
Always a highlight of the HOCR, the alumni eights raced on Saturday, with crews representing some of the top US colleges going head to head. In the women’s event, Boola Boola – also known as the Yale alumnae – finished a fantastic second place, in a newly released King SE 8+, a couple of places ahead of the Washington alumnae, also in a King SE. With nearly 100 entries across the two events, the alumni eights category is certainly catching on and HOCR may find the idea poached by events across the world in years to come.
The Men’s Championship Single was notably won by Ben Davison, who rowed in the Men’s Eight in Tokyo, and placing second was Eliot Putman rowing for Penn AC, in a WinTech heavyweight Medalist FLX shell. Another impressive showing from the young talent at Duke University as the ladies took to the course finishing 2nd overall in their bowmount King 4+. The remainder of the masters raced on Saturday, with another Chinook crew coming out on top in a King in the Women’s Senior Masters Eight.
On Sunday, the Youth crews took to the course, along with the remainder of the Championship crews.
In the much-anticipated Youth Eights, Greenwich Crew dominated, winning both the Men’s and Women’s events. King 8+s featured in half of the top six across the Men’s and Women’s categories, with RowAmerica Rye (third) and Saugatuck (fourth and sixth) in the Women’s and RowAmerica Rye (third), Saugatuck (fourth), and OARS (sixth) in the Men’s. The King shells clearly doing a great job to propel the junior athletes to achieve fantastic results at the Regatta.
Wins came in the Men’s Youth Coxed Four, with RowAmerica Rye seeing off their competition with a few seconds to spare. The Men’s Youth Coxed Quad, was taken by Maritime RC coming out on top ahead of local club CRI in their King 4x+. A win in the Women’s Collegiate Double with FIT dominating the field in their LW WinTech 2x.
A strong showing of speed came from the Women’s Championship Four with Vesper boat club finishing 2nd place in their bowmount WinTech, 11.8 seconds behind the boat from the United States Training Center- Princeton.
Finally, a win came for Club Nautico De San Juan in the Directors Challenge Mixed Eight, who won with a handy 34 second margin over Chinook, also in a King SE. When you travel, you travel to win.
The first of the blue-ribband events was the Men’s Championship Eights, where the Huskies, bolstered by returning Olympian Simon van Dorp, held off their East Coach competitors to win out by only two seconds. Dartmouth punched above their weight, beating Yale and Harvard both of whom were stacked with international and Olympic talent.
The women’s event came next, and this time it was Stanford who took victory ahead of Princeton and Yale. The top five crews beat a crew from the Canadian national team, featuring some of the athletes that won gold in Tokyo.
As the sun set on a fantastic weekend of rowing in Boston, new victors were crowned, and competitors began to reflect on their HOCR experience. Win or lose, travelling to the home of rowing in the USA to compete in the largest river-based event in the world, must be an overwhelmingly enjoyable experience and one made all the more special by the absence of a staging in 2020.
| Event | Club | Boat | Result |
| Mixd Para Inclusion 2x | Athletes without Limits | WinTech 2x | 1st |
| Women’s Senior Master 8+ | Chinook | LW King | 1st |
| Women’s Collegiate 2x | FIT | LW WinTech | 1st |
| Men’s Youth 4+ | RowAmerica Rye | MW WinTech | 1st |
| Men’s Youth Coxed 4x | Maritime RC | MW King | 1st |
| Director’s Challenge Mixed 8+ | Club Nautico De San Juan | MW King SE | 1st |
| Men’s Grand Masters 2x | Chinook | LW FLX | 2nd |
| Men’s Clubs 1x | Maritime RC (Casey Fuller) | HW FLX | 2nd |
| Women’s Alumane 8+ | Boola Boola (YALE) | LW King SE | 2nd |
| Men’s Championship 1x | Penn AC (Eliot Putman) | HW FLX | 2nd |
| Women’s Youth 1x (U17) | Redwood Scullers | SLW WinTech | 2nd |
| Director’s Challenge Women’s 4x | Unaff. (Chinook) | LW WinTech | 2nd |
| Women’s Championship 4+ | Vesper BC | MW WinTech | 2nd |
| Director’s Challenge Mixed 8+ | Chinook | MW King SE | 2nd |
| Women’s Club 4+ | Duke | LW King | 2nd |
| Women’s Youth 4+ | RowAmerica Rye | LW WinTech | 3rd |
| Women’s Youth Coxed 4x | RowAmerica Rye | LW WinTech | 3rd |
| Women’s Youth 8+ | RowAmerica Rye | LW King | 3rd |
| Men’s Youth 8+ | RowAmerica Rye | MW King | 3rd |
| Men’s Lightweight 8+ | Princeton Uni. | LW King | 3rd |
| Men’s Clubs 1x | Pittsburgh | HW COBRA | 4th |
| Women’s Alumane 8+ | U. Washington | MW King SE | 4th |
| Women’s Youth 4+ | PCRA | LW King | 4th |
| Women’s Youth Coxed 4x | Maritime RC | LW King | 4th |
| Women’s Youth 8+ | Saugatuck | SLW King | 4th |
| Men’s Youth 8+ | Saugatuck | MW King | 4th |
| Women’s Youth 8+ | Saugatuck (2nd boat) | SLW King | 6th |
| Men’s Youth 8+ | OARS | LW King SE | 6th |
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