7/2/2004 - Men's Lightweight Crew
Navy Crew Reaches Semifinal Round in England
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LONDON, England -- In one of the closest races at the championship, the Navy lightweight crew team held off the National University of Ireland Friday morning to advance to the semifinal round of the Henley Royal Regatta, being contested on the Thames River in London, England. The Midshipmen posted a time of 6:56 to defeat NUI by two-thirds of a boat length.
Through three days of racing, Navy's win was the second closest of the regatta. The only race in the Temple Challenge Cup division that was decided by a smaller margin was a one-half of a boat length win by Oxford Brooks University's 'B' (England) boat over Trinity College (Ireland) during Wednesday's opening round.
Navy's win places the Mids into a semifinal contest against Holland's D.S.R. Proteus-Eretus, perhaps the only boat in the regatta that has been more impressive then Navy's. D.S.R. Proteus-Eretus posted the fastest time by 11 seconds on day one of the competition, then recorded Thursday's second-fastest time. Navy recorded the second-fastest time on Wednesday, while posting the fastest time (by one second) in Thursday's racing. In Friday's quarterfinal round, D.S.R. Proteus-Eretus completed the 2,112-meter course in a time of 6:49 to defeat Scotland's Glasgow University by over two boat lengths and again post the fastest time of the day (by seven seconds over Navy).
Navy will square off against D.S.R. Proteus-Eretus Saturday at 11:20 a.m. in London, 6:20 a.m. in Annapolis, with the remaining semifinal race to feature the Oxford Brooks 'B' entry against Holland's A.S.R. Nereus. That latter boat advanced to the semifinal thanks to a quarterfinal round victory over Harvard Friday afternoon. That race is slated to begin at 2:40 p.m. in London, 9:40 a.m. in Annapolis. The two semifinal winners will then meet Sunday for the championship.
The Henley Royal Regatta first began in 1839 and is one of the oldest and largest regattas in the world. Nearly 500 crews from 19 countries are entered into 19 different divisions at this year's regatta. Navy is competing for the Temple Challenge Cup, which is open to crews representing schools, universities and colleges.
