The varsity squad from Columbia University competes in the Poughkeepsie Regatta in 1896. Columbia College Dean, John Howard VanAmringe, Columbia Class of 1860, was Commodore of the Columbia Boat Club at the time — unlikely that he was in the boat — do the math…
Folks…
Fall racing begins for the Blue Crews this weekend. Coach Steve Perry will lead the Navy LWs to his inaugural regatta as Head Coach as tradition returns to the Hudson River and a re-row of four miles of the Poughkeepsie Regatta {forerunner of The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championship Regatta} that was held here from 1895 to 1949.
For more than 50 years, the Poughkeepsie Regatta was one of the biggest sporting events in the United States.
On Saturday, the tradition will be revisited on the Hudson River.
The varsity squad from Columbia University competes in the Poughkeepsie Regatta in 1896. Columbia College Dean, John Howard VanAmringe, Columbia Class of 1860, was Commodore of the Columbia Boat Club at the time — unlikely that he was in the boat — do the math…
Folks…
Fall racing begins for the Blue Crews this weekend. Coach Steve Perry will lead the Navy LWs to his inaugural regatta as Head Coach as tradition returns to the Hudson River and a re-row of four miles of the Poughkeepsie Regatta {forerunner of The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championship Regatta} that was held here from 1895 to 1949.
For more than 50 years, the Poughkeepsie Regatta was one of the biggest sporting events in the United States.
On Saturday, the tradition will be revisited on the Hudson River.
Saturday’s regatta is part of the area’s year-long Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial celebration and will feature many of the crews that comprised the original regatta. The race’s original stewards – Cornell University, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania – will compete. Joining them will be past participants Navy and Syracuse, as well as local crews from Marist, Army and Vassar.
The Poughkeepsie Regatta also provides an experience that is quite possibly unlike any other that the crews will encounter this season. While most fall races are usually head-style races against the clock, this race will be a side-by-side competition for four miles. Harvard and Yale Varsity HWs compete annually over this distance on the Thames River in New London in America’s oldest intercollegiate event. Should be exciting, particularly as they line up all of the crews across the river and row it as one race in the fashion of the early regatta.
Nick Baker, who led the Navy LWs last season, is now the Head LW Coach at Penn and will bring his Quaker squad to compete in Poughkeepsie, as well.
Navy LWs will then travel to Fairfax, Virginia to race 5,000 meters in The Occoquan Challenge on Sunday in Championship 8+ and 4+.