Annie Coppock, who will compete in the club singles tomorrow, makes ready before her practice run on the Charles River yesterday. (Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff
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TOMORROW
GRAND-MASTER SINGLES (50+) (7:45 a.m. men/8:12 a.m. women)
Mike Stolper defends his title against former champion Dennis Ruane and Bob Eldridge, who was third last time. Margarita Jekabsons-Zezza, who won in her debut in the category last year, will be pushed by Amoskeag clubmates Diane Davis and Charmie Curran.
SENIOR-MASTER SINGLES (40+) (8:39 a.m./9:02 a.m.)
After dethroning nemesis Greg Benning, who’s rowing a double this time, BU coach Tom Bohrer is odds-on to repeat, with 2008 runner-up James McGaffigan giving chase. Ellen Kennelly goes for a record sixth title, pressed once again by Susan Brown and CB Sands-Bohrer.
SENIOR-MASTER EIGHTS (50+) (9:26 a.m./9:45 a.m.)
Team Attager, the crafty octet of race officials, goes for four men’s titles in a row against the 1980 RC (the would-be Moscow Olympians) and England’s Leander BC. The women’s 1980 BC is up for a three-peat, with former victors Martha’s Moms in hot pursuit.
SENIOR-MASTER FOURS (50+) (10 a.m./10:14 a.m.)
The men’s 1980 RC also has a trifecta in sight, with Rocky Mountain RC and Minneapolis RC in the way. So does Watercat RC, which will be dealing again with Minnesota Coaches and Saugatuck RC.
SENIOR-MASTER DOUBLES (50+) (10:30 a.m./10:46 a.m.)
Should be a great duel between defenders Peter Kermond and Scott Roop and two-time former champs Raimund Haberl and Rob Slocum, who didn’t compete last time, plus Peter Webster and Robert Mills. Linda Brumder and Evelyn Hamann, who knocked off five-time winners Joan Linse and Susan Kinne a year ago, will take on category newcomers Ingeborg Stekl and Fran Tuite.
ALUMNI EIGHTS (11:06 a.m./11:22 a.m.)
A new event for the old-schoolers. Harvard’s Rude and Smooth BC, which has become more of both with age, will wrangle with Princeton’s Fat Cats and other eternal rivals. The women’s field will be diverse, ranging from MIT to Stanford.
CLUB SINGLES (11:36 a.m./11:53 a.m.)
Wide-open men’s race with former champ Tim Vogels, Jeffrey Alex, and Sam Batchelor all in the mix. On the women’s side, Amelia Booth and Riverside clubmates Lara Thompson and Gretchen Horner Wright will be prodded by precocious US junior teamer Nicole Bielawski.
CLUB FOURS (12:10 p.m./12:33 p.m.)
Riverside BC chases its third men’s crown in four years, but will need to hold off three-time champ Union BC, former winner Big Foot Moving Club, and University of Pittsburgh. Riverside’s women look to defend their crown against Clemson and the Baltimore RC.
CLUB EIGHTS (12:57 p.m./1:16 p.m.)
Harvard, with two boats entered, guns for a third straight against returning runner-up Northeastern, former champions ASR Nereus of the Netherlands, BMA BC, and Yale, whose women are defending their crown against Lake Union and Austin RC.
MASTER DOUBLES (1:34 p.m./1:46 p.m.)
Mike Smith and Dan Gorriaran are shooting for seven straight with Andy Card and Justin Moore, last year’s runners-up, giving chase. Teresa Zarzeczny-Bell and Saiya Remmler, who crushed their own course record last year, will tangle with familiar rivals in Cathy Coffman and Hilary Kerner, Janet Bellantoni and Izzie Brown, and Mary Mazzio and Cindy Matthes.
MASTER FOURS (1:59 p.m./2:12 p.m.)
Cambridge BC goes for a record fifth straight in an event that has had only three champions since 1998, facing
MASTER EIGHTS (2:30 p.m./2:48 p.m.)
Kent Mitchell RC seeks to defend its men’s title against two-time former champ Penn AC and RV Rijnland of the Netherlands. With women’s victor Minneapolis RC absent, Marin RA and Cambridge BC will fight it out, along with former winner Lake Union.
CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLES (3:07 p.m./3:21 p.m.)
Should be the best battle in event history as US teamers and defending champs Peter and Thomas Graves take on German world champs Stephan Kruger and Eric Knittel plus three world-class mixed doubles from the Great Eight - Alan Campbell-Marcel Hacker, Iztok Cop-Warren Anderson, and Tim Maeyens-Ondrej Synek. With last year’s top eight women’s finishers not back, Lizzy Boyle and Katie Seston of the New York AC inherit the No. 1 starting position.
COLLEGIATE FOURS (3:39 p.m./3:54 p.m.)
Michigan’s men go for three in a row against Trinity, which they edged by a whisker last year. Simmons could inherit the crown vacated by Western RC if it can hold off former titlist Marquette and William Smith.
CHAMPIONSHIP SINGLES (4:15 p.m./4:29 p.m.)
New Zealand’s Nathan Cohen defends his title against countryman and world champ Mahe Drysdale, with Malcolm Howard and Lassi Karonen also in the hunt. Lots of world-class challengers for defender Gevvie Stone on the women’s side - Emma Twigg, Margot Shumway, Esther Lofgren, and Jane Rumball.
SUNDAY
SENIOR-VETERAN SINGLES (70+) (8 a.m./8:20 a.m.)
Richard Kendall, still indomitable at 79, goes for his ninth title in 10 years. He’ll be disputed by new kids Bennett Jones, last year’s veteran’s winner, and Harvard heavyweight coach Harry Parker, plus former champ Carlo Zezza. Eve Green, at 77, is looking for her seventh crown, with former champions Laurette Rindlaub and 82-year-old Mary Elizabeth Stone.
VETERAN SINGLES (60+) (8:39 a.m./8:59 a.m.)
With Jones up and out, the men’s heir apparent is James Dietz, the former Olympian and seven-time championship singles winner. Brooke Stevens, who won five women’s veteran crowns, has a 64-second handicap edge at age 68 to counter returning runner-up Maryanne McCormick.
YOUTH DOUBLES (9:20 a.m./9:31 a.m.)
Alec Buckenheimer and Andrew Campbell, last year’s runners-up from New Canaan, Conn., inherit the favorites’ mantle, while Blood Street Sculler Erin Bennett and Catherine Mazes look to be the top women’s entry.
YOUTH FOURS (10:09 a.m./10:41 a.m.)
Canadian powerhouse St. Catharines hopes to equal Navy’s record of four straight men’s titles, with South Niagara RC its prime rival. With defender Shenendehowa opting out, the women’s race is among Winsor, former champ Long Beach Junior Crew, and Peddie.
YOUTH EIGHTS (11:15 a.m./11:44 a.m.)
Eton College crosses the pond again to defend against runner-up Everett RA in the men’s event, while Community Rowing only need paddle downstream for the chance at a record fourth straight women’s title, with Marin RA the main obstacle.
MASTER SINGLES (12:15 p.m./12:32 p.m.)
Adam Holland defends his men’s title against former champ David Gabel and Sean Wolf, who was second last year. The women’s race will be seriously competitive with lightweight titlist Heather Moon and Liane Malcos, second in the 2008 championship single, graduating to challenge defender Lisa Weise.
COLLEGIATE EIGHTS (12:55 p.m./1:13 p.m.)
Another Little Three battle between defender Williams and three-time winner Trinity, which the Ephs knocked off last year. The Williams women, who cashed the double in 2008, go against two-time champion Trinity and Bates.
LIGHTWEIGHT SINGLES (1:55 p.m./2:11 p.m.)
Cody Lowry, the returning runner-up, is the man to beat and two-time victor Richard Montgomery, Alex Zosuls, and Ivan Baldytchev will give it a go. With two-time champ Heather Moon now a master, former US teamer Lisa Schlenker is the top woman in a field that includes Kristen Hedstrom, Catherine Infantino, and Stef Sydlik.
LIGHTWEIGHT FOURS (2:29 p.m./2:40 p.m)
Yale’s men look to repeat against two-time champ New York AC and Riverside BC, while two-time victor Undine Barge Club looks for another women’s title in the absence of defender Brock University, with Riverside and Community Rowing the main barriers, along with Ridley Graduates.
LIGHTWEIGHT EIGHTS (2:58 p.m./3:10 p.m.)
Princeton is favored to become the first successful men’s defender since archrival Yale in 2001, with Navy and former champion New York AC in pursuit. Vesper, which disposed of three-time titlist Riverside last year, is back to face IRA champion Wisconsin and Queens University, last year’s runner-up.
CHAMPIONSHIP FOURS (3:24 p.m./3:37 p.m.)
US Rowing is odds-on to win its 10th men’s title since 1997, with returning runner-up Wisconsin stalking, along with local crews from Harvard, Northeastern, and MIT. With seven-time titlist Rowing Canada not around this time, the United States could win its first women’s title with two boats entered - US Rowing and Old Glory BC, a quartet of scullers.
CHAMPIONSHIP EIGHTS (4:09 p.m./4:26 p.m.)
Washington, the defending Head and IRA champions, will have a graduate-level task in Germany’s world champions, 11-time titlist US Rowing, the French national team, several British boats, and the Great Eight, an all-star alignment of world-class scullers who won the Head of the River race on the Thames this year and will be rowing as Tideway. The women’s Great Eight, another international composite including Olympic gold medalists Susan Francia and Erin Cafaro and competing as ASR Nereus, will be up against the world-champion Americans and defending titlists London Training Center, the Canadian national squad.
John Powers 
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
