HENLEY-ON-THAMES – The Big Red lightweight varsity eight defeated Durham University by nearly four lengths this morning to advance to the round of eight in the Temple Challenge Cup at the 175th annual Henley Royal Regatta. The Big Red will face Algemene Amsterdamsche Studenten Roeivereniging Skøll tomorrow at 10:40 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time (5:40 a.m. EST).
 
Additionally, the heavyweight 4- won its first race of the regatta by defeating a mixed crew from Cambridge University and Columbia University by two-and-one-quarter lengths in the Visitors' Challenge Cup. The crew will face Leander tomorrow at 11:45 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time (6:45 a.m. EST).
 
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Coach Kennett
The most disappointing thing about losing yesterday was the way it happened. Normally you lose either because you meet a better crew, or you goof up yourself and allow a lesser crew to beat you. Yesterday was neither, it was out of our control so we never got to show the world our speed. I don't think this group was ready to win this event yet, but we certainly would have been far better than our times and results showed. That was the frustrating part. Thank goodness this is a young group, because during dinner they already asked how they get back … Work and win; work and win a lot.
 
That event along with several other big events have made this trip become a long one for me. I know the guys are having a great time except for the sickness and loss. Other than that we are doing well. Lots of rowing and focus to rowing makes this just an amazing trip. The initiative is working. More strokes than freshmen will get until mid-October already taken. Exposure to one of the greatest rowing events in the WORLD. They will never forget this experience, and I have made it very clear they will work to make it back as a champion.
 
The lightweight eight had its own problems. Next year's captain broke his rib. For the last two days we have gone over the rules, and thought of our best replacement for him. There were many options, from letting him row and deal with the pain, use a spare, or take a freshman heavyweight and add him to the boat. In the end Coach Kerber picked to take the stroke of the freshman eight and put him in the boat. Today Joel Cooper came down the course helping the lightweight eight to their second day of victory! They advance to the round of eight tomorrow. 

Meanwhile the other event that starts today … The 4- in the Visitors Cup. This event is the equivalent to the Ladies Plate in the men's 8+. VERY intense, usually pretty high caliber crews with good coaching. For Cornell it was the chance to take some varsity heavyweight guys over and train them in a way they are not use to (small boat) and ask them to perform at a high level. It was an opportunity that we give on a limited basis during the school year, and now we made it huge. The selection for this boat was very heated. That in itself was great and hopefully will help us this coming year. I was going into unknown territory myself. The boat is comprised of four sophomores, so this experience is huge in terms of the long term development of the varsity boat.
 
At Henley I've watched a lot of great boats rowing (for all the greats there are 10x terrible though), and one of my favorite is to watch all the 4-'s practice. Of those the Leander Boat Club is the best. After watching them, I was shocked. In comparison we are terrible. We had trouble steering, moving smoothly, gaining rhythm, keeping length etc. The guys have made corrections all month, and finally today they get the chance to test it out. I did not have a lot to tell them other than, "Don't be careful, race, pull really hard and race".
 
The day was perfect blue sky, with a high velocity cross head wind. It was raging. The stands were FULL. There were HUNDREDS of boats on the river watching the racing. I felt terrible for the guys about warming up except that we had practiced several times at really busy traffic just for this day. We were on the launch, sitting on one side of me was 3x Olympic rower Kate (Australian GOLD MEDALIST in women's 2-), and the umpire was Matt Pinsent!
 
The boat we were racing is from Cambridge. They were basically the same size, with a little more experience than us, but a little less power (the coach and I discussed the stats of the rowers). Off the blocks we pulled a little to the boom, but we were solid. Cambridge was a flatter rowing crew, and far cleaner, but our guys were stronger and tougher. We were not as clean, but what we lacked in exactness, we made up in hard pulling! By the Island we were ahead. At the ¼ mile we had a deck, Barrier we had ¼, at Fawley ¾, and then we were able to maintain our speed, and they were not and we walked away. Amazing to see them do that. I had in my head our rowing was so rude and crude compared to the rest of the world, that I almost forgot my favorite thing … PULLING. Nothing trumps hard pulling. 
 
So they did it!! A win. What a simple act of having your guys boat cross the line first can do for your psyche and confidence. To see them smile, to see the spring in their step. Suddenly life was really good. We are enjoying tonight. Tomorrow's schedule comes out after 8 p.m. so I cannot tell you race times, but we do know we are racing none other than the Leander 4-. On paper they are probably 8-10 seconds faster on the erg, they row far cleaner, and they have about four more years rowing per man than we do. It will be a huge challenge. If nothing more we can use it to continue our climb. If we are not going to win, I would like the guys to race one of the best so we know what we are trying to achieve. We will develop ourselves to be even faster.