Men’s crew races at Royal Henley Regatta
MIT represented for the first time in 6 years in world-renowned regatta
MIT Men’s Lightweight Crew recently competed at the internationally-renowned Royal Henley Regatta in England. The regatta, which dates back to 1839, plays host to participants from across the globe, including Olympic champions. This was the first time in six years that a team from MIT’s rowing program was represented at this prestigious event.
An MIT team comprising Berk Ozturk ’16, Jesus Mathus ’17, Jeremy Stroming ’18, David Danko ’15, and coxswain Yooni Kim ’16 competed at the Prince Albert Challenge Cup. They were pitted against a team from Newcastle and needed a qualifying rank in the top 12 out of 38 teams in order to compete in the next round. Despite fighting off a strong headwind and keeping Newcastle at bay, MIT ended just seven seconds short of the qualifying mark.
MIT also competed in the Temple Challenge Cup (8 rowers and a coxswain) where they battled the Princeton 3V heavyweight team. The Engineers had their best race performance of the season but were outpaced by three and a third length by their physically-stronger counterparts.
This was the first time in decades that a lightweight crew had represented MIT at the Henley Royal Regatta and thus, despite the defeat, coxswain Ali Finkelstein ’16 observed that “every person stepped out of the boat with a smile on their face and pride in their hearts.”