Henley-on-Thames, England — Inside the crowded Town Hall in the center of Henley on Saturday afternoon, Florida Tech learned its opening round opponent in the Temple Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta.
This upcoming Wednesday, FIT will be opposed by ... Cambridge University Lightweight Rowing Club. The time of the race will be determined shortly.
The FIT-Cambridge winner will face either St. Hild & St. Bede College (England) or Yale’s lightweight varsity eight the following day. Another Ivy League opponent, the freshmen eight from Harvard, could await in the following round.
“All we know about Cambridge is that they were required to qualify to make it in,” said FIT coach Jim Granger. “We’ve only raced one other boat in the entire field, and that’s Virginia, so it’s a total unknown regardless of who you get.”
Cambridge LRC was originally created only to compete in the lightweight boat race against rival Oxford. The race has occurred in Henley every year since 1975 and Cambridge currently leads the annual series 21-14, despite losing by a narrow margin in this year’s addition last March. Cambridge made up for the defeat, though, by beating Oxford by four seconds just a week later at the Head of the River in London.
Cambridge LRC is coached by John Thicknes, who has coached medal-winning crews at the Henley Royal Regatta, Henley Women’s Regatta and the National Championships. Cambridge LRC has produced multiple members of the U-23 World Championships, the World University Championships and oarsmen from the Club have competed at each of the last three Olympic games.
“There are some pretty tough opponents lined up to advance,” Granger said. “It’s going to be tough to get through Thursday, Friday and Saturday. There will be difficult races, but we’ll see what happens. You just don’t know the makeup of these boats.”
Wednesday will mark Florida Tech’s first appearance at Henley since 1978. Cambridge LRC lost in the first round of the Temple Challenge Cup a year ago against Eton College.
In addition to FIT, Virginia, Yale and Harvard (last year’s runner-up), additional American crews from Hobart and Cal-Berkley are entered in the event.
The University of Washington (not present) is the event’s defending champion.
Virginia, an Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta participant alongside FIT, will face the University of East Anglia (England) in the opening round.
Florida Tech’s varsity eight, the silver medalists at Dad Vail, is comprised of Casey Dalal (Sr., coxswain), Alec Bertossa (Fr., bow), Troy Toggweiler (So., 2 seat), Frank Campione (So., 3 seat), Plamen Ivanov (So., 4 seat), Spencer Freeman (So., 5 seat), David Crooke (Jr., 6 seat), Mindaugas Beliauskas (So., 7 seat) and Jonas Karalius (So., Stroke).
Some Philadelphia-related matchups of interest following The Draw ...
In its pursuit to reclaim the Princess Elizabeth Trophy it won in 2000, St. Joseph’s Prep will face The King's School (England) in Henley’s opening round. The Hawks could potentially face either Winchester College (England) or Shrewsbury School (England) in the second round. The Prep's last appearance at Henley resulted in a quarterfinals appearance where the crew lost to mighty Eton College, which has appeared in the last three Princess Elizabeth finals at Henley, including victories in 2009 and 2010.
Fellow U.S. crews competing for the Princess Elizabeth Trophy are St. Andrew's School (Middletown, Del.) and St. Paul's School (Concord, N.H.).
Malvern Prep’s prized senior quad, which has captured gold at the last five Stotesbury Cup Regattas, will face the winner of Canottieri Sebino Lovere (Italy) and Clydesdale Amateur Rowing Club (Scotland) in the first round of the Fawley Challenge Cup. Malvern reached the quarterfinals in the same event at the 2007 Henley.
Malvern’s “B” quad was able to qualify to compete for the Fawley Cup by finishing in the top eight out of 61 boats looking to advance in time trials. Four U.S. crews were unable to advance in qualifying, including the quad from St. Joseph’s Prep. Malvern “B” will face Yarm School (England) in Fawley’s opening round.
Penn Athletic Club, from Philadelphia’s Boathouse Row, will face Harvard’s varsity eight in the first round of the Ladies' Challenge Plate. Harvard stands as the event’s defending champion.
A complete list of scheduled races can be found HERE.
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