Rack The Boat; Virginia Stays Alive In Temple Challenge

Henley-on-Thames, England — The beauty of the Henley Royal Regatta — besides the rippling River Thames, the plush enclosures and the chic attire — is in its straightforward verdicts.

You lose, you and your boat go home.  Plain and simple.

As day by day passes at Henley, less and less boats are racked in the spacious boat tent.  On Wednesday, every row was filled with shells.  By Friday, more were gone.

The ultimate experience for any Henley crew is returning its boat to the tent and knowing it will still be there the next day.  This morning, the University of Virginia’s varsity eight — a club program trying to steal the big dogs’ bone — returned its shell to the rack following a quarterfinal race against the University of London.

It will still be there on Saturday morning.

“Feels so good to put the boat back in there with a number on it,” said Virginia coxswain Allie Plettner.  “We’re still alive.”

London hung alongside Virginia for much of today’s Temple Challenge Cup quarterfinal, but UVA made a strong push over the final 500 meters to win by 3/4 of a length.  Virginia’s time of 6:17 was the second-fastest of the day behind Harvard’s new course-record of 6:12.

“We’re really excited and happy because we can actually perform better than we raced today,” Plettner said.  “Although we had a pretty good race, there’s still a lot we can improve on.”

Virginia, the fourth-place finisher at the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta in mid-May, will face ASR Nereus (Holland) in tomorrow’s semifinal.  Nereus, last year’s Temple Challenge Cup runner-up, advanced with a 1 1/4 length victory over R.S.V.U. Okeanos (Holland) in 6:21.

“They’re fast,” Plettner said plainly.  “We better be on the ball.”

For both Virginia and Nereus, tomorrow will mark the fourth race in as many days.  The pressure only grows as each day passes.  The UVA crew, which has already posted the school’s greatest showing at Henley, tries its best to avoid the 24-hour circus of emotions that come with competing on such a grand stage. 

“We really try to stay calm,” Plettner said.  “It’s not too bad right after you finish the race, but you wake up the next day and you’ve got butterflies in your stomach.  We were really happy today’s race was in the morning.  It gives you less time to ratchet up the nerves.”

Tomorrow’s race time is TBD.

Cal-Berkley's lightweight eight and Harvard's freshmen eight will meet in the other semifinal of the Temple Challenge Cup.  While Harvard posted a new course record today, Cal managed to record new record times into the Barrier (1:44) and Fawley (2:58).

With only four schools remaining, Virginia’s senior-laden crew now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the finest college boats in the world.  For a club program that centers its season around competing in the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta grand finals, a trip to Henley’s finals would represent a landmark moment.

“There’s five of us in that boat that have already graduated,” Plettner said.  “Every time we go out on that water we wonder if that will be the last time we row for Virginia.” 

Let the 24-hour circus begin.

Listen to the highlights of today's race here.

Virginia's Varsity Eight

Bow - Mark Bezold, Sr.

2 seat - Scott Stuard, So.

3 seat - Sean Fagan, Sr.

4 seat - Steven Lee Kramer, So.

5 seat - Matt Miller, Sr.

6 seat - Alan Kush, Sr. 

7 seat - Ben Hammond, So.

Stroke - Jon Furlong, So.

Cox - Allie Plettner, Sr. 

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