Virginia Opens Fall Season at the Head of the Charles Sunday

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Oct. 17, 2014

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.-The Virginia rowing team opens its fall season at the world’s largest regatta, the Head of the Charles, in Boston on Sunday (Oct. 19).

The 50th edition of the Head of the Charles will feature over 2,200 crews and 10,500 athletes in 55 events and is expected to draw a crowd of more than 400,000 spectators over two days.

The Cavaliers will send two boats to Boston this year. Virginia will have an entrant in both the Championship Eights and Championship Fours. The fours will start at 1:51 p.m., while the eights are scheduled to begin at 2:18 p.m. UVa will look to have the top collegiate boat in the Championship Eights for the fourth-consecutive year.

The Head of the Charles course is 5,000 meters along the Charles River, featuring seven bridges, multiple turns and passing in a head-race format. In head races, each crew starts single file about 10-15 seconds apart and the results are based on time. All three of the Cavaliers’ regattas this fall are in this format, which differs from the spring season, where boats line up side-by-side and race down a straight 2,000-meter course.

On Saturday, nine Cavalier alums will comprise a boat that will compete in the Women’s Alumni Eights. UVa assistant coach Brett Gorman will compete for her alma mater, Michigan, in the same race.

Next up, the Cavaliers will travel to Princeton, N.J., for the Princeton Chase on Oct. 26.