CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The MIT's men's heavyweight
crew concluded its outstanding 2009 season with a strong showing at
the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta in Henley-on-Thames, England.
Competing in the Ladies' Challenge Plate event for eight-man
shells, Tech defeated a powerful crew from London's Molesey Boat
Club, before falling to eventual champion Brown University in the
second round.
The Engineers flew to London 10 days prior to the start of the
regatta and held several training sessions at a secluded boathouse
owned by the Royal Air Force in Dansefield. One week before the
Henley final, Tech entered and won the Elite 8 event at the Reading
Town Regatta. MIT's spare pair of freshmen John Busche and Chris
Jones won the intermediate pair event.
The team then moved to the Royal Regatta site for its final days
of preparation. As the varsity eight trained, the Jones and Busche
pair participated again in the spare pair race. This event occurs
several days before the regatta officially opens and gives the
spare oarsmen from each team a chance to compete. Jones and Busche
crushed all comers, easily defeating duos from strong American
teams, such as Princeton and Bates, to win the small but classy
silver goblet.
In the first round of Ladies' Plate racing, MIT drew Molesey Boat
Club, a London club that had stacked its boat with two Olympic
medalists and several Oxford/Cambridge boat race veterans. There
were a few gray hairs in the Molesey boat, but also decades of
international racing experience. Tech started fast and gained most
of a boat-length on Moseley in the first quarter of the race.
Molesey pushed back strongly, but could not catch the Engineers,
who won by a third of a length.
In the second round Tech drew Brown, which had captured the
Eastern Sprints crown and placed fourth at the IRA National
Championship, notching the highest ranking among east coast crews.
Brown drew away about 400 meters into the race, and never looked
back, winning by two-and-a-half lengths. The Bears went on to
defeat all other challengers to win the Ladies' Plate on the final
day of the regatta.
Despite its ultimate defeat, Tech's rowers performed well and
gained valuable experience in their first international regatta.
The Henley team was comprised of:
Cox - Steve Young
Stroke - Luke Urban
7 - Rane Nolan
6 - Tom Larsen
5 - James Stenard
4 - Kevin Kelley
3 - Steve Wesel
2 - David Jenicek
1 - Lucas Goodman
Spare pair - John Busche and Chris Jones