Oct. 25, 2007

On Sunday, October 21st Mason Rowers participated in the 43rd annual Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2006 Mason recorded a school-best 9th place finish in the Club 8 event. In keeping with the team's recent trend of moving forward and increasing competitiveness, the Patriots entered the highly competitive Championship 8 event.

Mason's varsity 8 covered the course in 18 minutes and 12 seconds, placing them 37th ahead of Boston College and Sacred Heart University. The Championship event featured entries from the US and Canadian national teams as well as many of the country's top 20 collegiate rowing programs.

"We knew going in that this would be a big challenge for us, and we wanted to see how we stacked up," said head coach Geoff Dillard. "It is a true experience for the girls to race in the main event in front of 200,000 spectators; unfortunately I think that is what got the best of us mentally. We did not execute the things we do well and were unable to keep our composure. I want the girls to learn from this experience and move forward."

The rowers experienced yet another dimension of championship-level racing and will see many of the same crews again at this weekend's race at the Head of the Schulykill.