Elite US eights entry hits wall

CAMBRIDGE -- Princeton Training Center (i.e. the US national team) nearly had the men's championship eights won in one of the Head of the Charles Regatta's most prestigious races yesterday.

But then things went horribly wrong.

On a gusty day, with the Eliot Bridge jammed with spectators, the oars on the left side of the boat struck the concrete wall on the left side of the bridge's middle arch.

With rowers trying to pull their oars out so they wouldn't snap and some fending the boat off with their hands, the crowd roared as five boats passed the stalled entry.

Though part of the national rowing team, this was not the entry that won the Olympic gold medal in Athens in August.

Cambridge University, which had been trailing the US team the whole race, ended up winning in 10:43.026.

The Dutch Rowing Federation was second, more than three seconds behind, and Princeton University was third, nearly 11 seconds behind the Dutch.

Eventually moving again, the US entry finished sixth in 11:12.709, more than half a minute behind the leaders.

US coxswain Marcus McElenney blamed the gusty day for his bad luck trying to negotiate the bridge, but said the boat was very hard to steer.

"We were using a boat that didn't turn too well," said McElenney. "So we were going a little fast when we came under the bridge. With the wind gusting, it was pushing our bow to starboard. The boat, from point to point, is that much faster, so we were taking a gamble and it didn't work. Stuff happens."

In the championship fours race, the US entry won in a squeaker over Harvard. The race appeared to be even as the boats went under the Eliot Bridge and sprinted for the finish. But the US team from the Princeton Training Center (12:12.430) tripped the electric eye just 23-hundredths of a second faster than Harvard.

The coxswain in the US four-man boat was Pete Cipollone, the regular eights cox who was on the Athens gold medal winner. He said the regular eights crew did not race here because it had not trained. "After Athens, we didn't want to train at a level we had to to do well here," said Cipollone, a 33-year-old from Ardmore, Pa. "We felt if we were going to race together, we were going to do it right or not at all."

Along with Cipollone, two other members of the gold medal team -- Dan Beery and Jason Read -- rowed in the fours, along with Garrett Klugh and Jamie Schroder. They all thought the race was a breeze, even though they had not trained together.

"We rowed up to the start line, turned around, and just got cooking," said Cipollone. "We felt great and were just out there having fun. We started 13th but had no problem catching other crews on the turns. Other crews stay to the outside and you can cut right by them on the inside. It's pretty easy. Stroke for stroke, this is the best regatta on the planet."

In women's championship fours, the London Training Center (i.e. the Canadian national team) won its third in a row, beating the Vesper Boat Club from New Jersey, 13:32.448 to 13:37.528.

In third place -- almost 13 seconds back -- was the University of Victoria from Canada.

In women's championship eights, the national team of the Netherlands, ASR Nereus (12:06.663), finished two seconds ahead of Princeton University, with Yale six seconds back in third place.

In men's senior veteran singles, Richard Kendall, 74, of Ontario, won his sixth straight here. Though Kendall says he prefers a longer course, the conditions were not bad. The 3-mile-long course had been shortened by half a mile Saturday because of windy conditions.

"After you got under the Weeks Bridge, the headwind became a tailwind," said Kendall.

Kendall finished in 15:41.675, nearly a minute faster than Christopher Collins of Virginia.

In men's grand master singles, 50-year-old Dennis Ruane of Pelham, N.H., nipped Craig Leeds by less than a second, 14:56.213 to 14:57.066.