Boating News
The boat race
By Joe Palladino
In late autumn they compete in football and call it THE Game. In late spring they go out on a river in eight-man shells and call it THE Boat Race.
If it strikes one as amusing that Yale and Harvard claim a domination that is absolute over everything within their ivy-covered universe, at least there can be no mistake about this: the annual Yale-Harvard Regatta -- or Harvard-Yale Regatta, depending on the color of your tie -- is without question the oldest collegiate athletic competition in the nation.
The 2002 boat race, which takes place Saturday on the Thames River in New London, marks the 150th anniversary of the event. This is the 137th race since the series began in 1852, and participants are fond of saying that only world wars can postpone THE regatta. The participants' penchant for hyperbole notwithstanding, this much is certain: When the sun rose over New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee, the site of that first race on August 3, 1852, it truly was the dawn of college sports in America.
Harvard won by four boat lengths, and the Crimson, who own the grandest rowing tradition of any university with the exception of Cambridge and Oxford, boast an 83-53 series advantage. They have won 14 of the last 16 races. This weekend's schedule has the freshmen race starting at 3:15 p.m., followed by the junior varsity race at 4 p.m. To use the parlance of the sport, the varsity race should launch at 5 p.m.
For a Yale man, participation in the oldest of all sports traditions in America can be a defining athletic achievement, if you win of course. Garrison Smith, Yale class of 1995, was unable to claim that distinction. A Vermont native, Smith is now a Watertown resident and coach of the rowing team at The Taft School. He competed in the Yale-Harvard Regatta four times.
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