HENLEY, England -- The Mercyhurst men's crew team upset two-time Henley champion Galway Rowing Club this morning in the opening round of the Visitors Cup Challenge at the prestigious 2009 Henley Royal Regatta.
Mercyhurst used a very fast start to propel the varsity four to a length lead by the barrier over Galway Rowing Club composite crew. The Lakers' boat maintained the lead through much of the race before the Irish faded in the last minute, with the final verdict coming by three lengths to cross the line in a time of 6:55. The boat was only a second off of the record set by Oxford university in 1998.
"The guys were very nervous today," said head coach
Adrian Spracklen. "Henley is a very intimidating place to row. A lot of the pressure is off now with our first win and we are looking forward to our race tomorrow. That race will be either an English crew or a German composite entry. It feels great to win and it is great for the College."
The Galway Rowing Club was one of four seeded crews in the Visitors Challenge Cup and won the event in 2002 and 2005.
"Drawing a seeded crew in the first round is certainly unlucky," said Spracklen. "But, that is the nature of racing at Henley. It's either win or go home."
The Lakers avoided a one-and-done scenario with the victory and will move on to the quarterfinals where they will face the winner of Nottingham University vs Ruderclub am Wannsee & Hanover, Germany. That race is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. G.M.T. (1:05 p.m. ESU). Nottingham was one of two crews that had to qualify for entry into the 16-crew draw. To view the entire draw for the Visitors Cup Challenge, please click
here.
Fans can follow all of the action live on the Internet at the official Henley Royal Regatta Website by clicking
here. At the live results page, fans can follow the action via SMS, RSS, Twitter and in text-only website format.
Mercyhurst looks for its first-ever Visitors Cup as they battle crews from across the world, including Germany, Ireland, Czech Republic and Australia.
Two boats race in a knock-out draw format, with only the winner advancing to the next heat -- a format unlike that of multi-lane international regattas. The course also is 112 meters longer than the standard international distance of 2,000 meters.