This 2020 fall racing season has been truncated for collegiate rowers, many of whom have left their collegiate affiliation to race under local clubs (many of whom are currently competing live, especially in New England). Most virtual races have eliminated the Collegiate category entirely, but the 56th Head of the Charles' Global Remote Event, 4702, gave the Scots the opportunity to check in on their current competitive status by racing other college students across several events. (Many of these students raced unaffiliated in order to protect themselves and their coaches from a potential violation of NCAA rules regarding competition during the pandemic, but this article will refer to them based on the school they attend even if they chose to represent unaffiliated). There are no official prizes or qualifying spots offered this year, but it still presented a fun chance to race crews we might never otherwise have been able to. All the boat classes were lumped into one results list encompassing eights, quads, fours, doubles, pairs, and singles, but even so, the Scots managed to hold second place finishes in both the Men's and Women's collegiate category. The men's double of Grant Veurink (Sr.) and Luke Pacchioli (Jr.) finished their on the water piece of 4702 meters in 17:50.4, two seconds ahead of the next double (an unaffiliated entry bowed by Luca Basile of Holy Cross). They finished ahead of University of Calgary's quad and double, and ahead of a four from South Carolina. Middlebury and Williams, whose entries we were particularly excited about, did not submit times.
Veurink raced again, in the collegiate single category, along with teammate Stephen Kaelin (Fr.). Due to some timing software challenges, we're not entirely sure where the two of them should have placed, but they certainly helped to pace teammates to a solid finish.
The women's 4x has had a very fast fall here at Gordon, with the addition of freshman Lucia Hopkins, who joined Hallie Nee (So.), Emma Shearer (Jr.), and Mattie Schoenfeld (Jr.) in a blazing charge down the virtual course on Sunday. The women finished the course in 17:48.7 (training against the Men's 2x paid off!), which left them in second out of 21 entries. They finished about two minutes ahead of the other quad entered (Calgary), but even more impressively, 16 seconds faster than the eight from the same school.
Hopkins and Nee teamed up again yesterday to race the double, which also proved to be the fastest entry in it's division; the double from South Carolina finished well over five minutes after the Scots. Shearer and Schoenfeld used their second run to gain some singles racing experience, which can be challenging even in a dynamic live racing environment, even more so in a remote event. Emma finished 17th overall, 9th out of the singles, ahead of scullers from Brown, Columbia, and teammate Mattie, who finished 18th. Athletes from the University of Washington, Yale, Halifax, South Carolina, Brown, Dalhousie University, and Columbia finished ahead of the Gordon girls singles.
The unique thing about virtual racing is that all of the courses are different, so someone may have had very fast water or current and another crew may have been racing into a headwind or had challenging turns. In the Men's category, this is most likely the contributing factor in the victory of Oregon State's single sculler, who would have shattered course records for team boats in his single had he been able to execute the same time on the course in Boston. The women's category overall was won by St. Paul's Girls' School alum Carla Humphris, who has spent time on the UK's junior national team and similarly would destroy course records should she be able to replicate her performance in 2021 on the Charles instead of the Thames.
Overall, the HOCR 4702 event was a great way to remind us that when the pandemic ends, there will be crews sitting on the line waiting for the flag, and in the meantime, they're all getting faster regardless of their training situation or coaching opportunities. The Scots race next at the Virtual Head of the Fish (which will be giving out awards for top finishers, increasing motivation) on October 30th and 31st.
