Harvard's Blade

Yale's Blade

The Harvard-Yale Boat Race or Harvard-Yale Regatta is an annual rowing race between Yale and Harvard universities. First contested in 1852, annually since 1859 except during major wars fought by the United States, The Race is America's oldest collegiate athletic competition, predating The Game by 23 years. Originally rowed on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire, it has since moved to the Thames River, New London, Connecticut. Although other locations for the race have included the Connecticut River at Springfield, Mass. and Lake Quinsigamond at Worcester, Mass., the Thames has hosted The Race on all but 5 occasions since 1878 and both teams have erected permanent training camps on the Thames at Gales Ferry for Yale and at Red Top for Harvard. The race has been exclusively between Harvard and Yale except for 1897 when the race was held as part of a three boat race with Cornell on the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, New York, where, although it lost to Cornell, Yale was deemed the winner of the Harvard-Yale race.^[1][2]

History

On May 24th, 1843, with the arrival of the Whitehall in New Haven, Yale University founded the first collegiate crew in the United States.^[3] A year later, Harvard founded their boat club.^[4] These boat clubs served primarily a social purpose,^[5] until Yale's 1852 issuance of a challenge to Harvard "to test the superiority of the oarsmen of the two colleges".^[6] The first Yale-Harvard Boat Race—and the first American intercollegiate sporting event—took place on August 3rd, 1852. In this two-mile contest, Harvard's Oneida prevailed over Yale's Shawmut by about two lengths, with Yale's Undine finishing third. ^[7] The first place prize was a pair of black walnut, silver inscribed trophy oars. The trophy oars were awarded to Harvard by General Franklin Pierce who in 1853 became the 14th President of the United States of America. Today the 1852 trophy oars are the oldest intercollegiate athletic prize in North America.^[8]

While the first race was held over 2 miles (3.2 km), this was extended to 3 miles (4.8 km) for the races through 1875, and has since been raced over 4 miles (6.4 km). The Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race is the only longer side-by-side rowing event in the world, though slower stream makes the Yale-Harvard Race one to three minutes longer.^[9]

"The Rock" at Bartlett's Cove during the 2006 Yale-Harvard Regatta

Originally the race was just between the varsity crews but there are now 3 events on the day: the 2 mile (3.2 km) freshmen race, the 3 mile (4.8 km) junior varsity and the 4 mile (6.4 km) varsity race. The varsity crews compete for the Sexton Cup, the junior varsity for the F. Valentine Chappell Trophy, and the freshmen for the New London Cup. The Hoyt C. Pease and Robert Chappell Jr. Trophy are awarded to the team that wins the majority of these three races.

Typically the day before the freshman, junior varsity and varsity races, there is a 2 mile (3.2 km) race between the spares for both crews. These "combination" boats are made up of second freshman boat and third varsity boat rowers (i.e. the "combi" or "combo" race). The winner of this race gets the James P. Snider Cup, as well as the right to paint its school's colors on the "rock" at Bartlett's Cove for the next day's races.

Currently Harvard leads the varsity series at 88-54, the second varsity (JV) at 68-37, and the freshman series at 64-39-1. Harvard also holds the upstream record with its time of 18:41.9 in 1995. Yale's fastest upstream time (18:45.5) was also posted that year. The Crimson set the downstream--and Thames River course--mark of 18:22.4 in 1980.

Yale Varsity bow four 2007

Results^[10]

Varsity Race

• Harvard: 89 wins
• Yale: 54 wins

Junior Varsity Race

• Harvard: 69 wins
• Yale: 37 wins

Freshman Race

• Harvard:65
• Yale: 39
• Dead Heats: 1

3V/2F Combination Race

See also

• James P. Snider Cup, awarded to the winner of the 3V/2F Combination Race
• Gales Ferry, the training site for Yale's Crew
• The Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge (UK)
• The Challenge Boat Race between Queen's and McGill (Canada)
• The Great Race between University of Waikato and Oxford or Cambridge (New Zealand)
• Head of the Charles Regatta
• Harvard-Yale football games (The Game)
• List of Harvard-Yale football games

Notes

1. ^ "USRowing" (aspx). Retrieved on 2007-01-17.
2. ^ "Harvard-Yale Regatta" (html). Retrieved on 2007-01-17.
3. ^ "Great Moments in Yale Sports", Yale Alumni Magazine, March 2001.
4. ^ Lewis, Guy. The Beginning of Organized Collegiate Sport, American Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 2, Part 1. (Summer, 1970), p. 224.
5. ^ Lewis, Guy. The Beginning of Organized Collegiate Sport, American Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 2, Part 1. (Summer, 1970), p. 224.
6. ^ Veneziano, John. "America's Oldest Intercollegiate Athletic Event".
7. ^ "Great Moments in Yale Sports", Yale Alumni Magazine, March 2001.
8. ^ [1]
9. ^ "Harvard-Yale Boat Race Turns 150", Harvard Magazine, May-June 2002.
10. ^ An incomplete listing compiled from various sources [2] [3].

References

• Lewis, Guy. The Beginning of Organized Collegiate Sport, American Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 2, Part 1. (Summer, 1970), pp. 222-229.

Further reading

• Mendenhall, Thomas C. Harvard-Yale boat race, 1852-1924, and the coming of sport to the American college (1993)
• Whiton, James M. "The First Harvard-Yale Regatta," Outlook, LXVIII (June 1901), 286-89.
• Zimmerman, Justin. "The Calling." A documentary detailing both the very first Regatta and the modern sport of crew. Official Site

External links

• The Harvard-Yale Regatta, from Harvard Crew website
• Harvard Crew
• Yale Crew
• First Harvard-Yale Race