The Berkeley Beacon

Issue date: 10/26/06 Section: Lifestyle

Media Credit: Jamie Reich Spectators watch from a bridge over the Charles as rowers make their way down the river during a race last weekend.

Commanding shouts were heard on the Charles River last weekend.

"Up!"

"Split!"

"Turn around!"

Is it a dance team practicing?

No, just Yale's female rowing team lifting their 58-foot-long, 210-pound row boat.

The Head of the Charles, the world's largest rowing regatta, kicked off Friday, Oct. 20 with a laser light show and continued through the rest of the weekend.

The organizers expected 250,000 spectators to follow the events and, thanks to the good weather and a clear blue sky, their expectations appeared to be satisfied. Many people gathered on the bridges and banks of the Charles River to watch the rowers as they moved in perfect unison back and forth while the boats slid gracefully through the water.

The starting line of the course was by the BU Bridge and the finish line was three miles upstream at Herter Park in Brighton. The boats passed Cambridge, the areas around Harvard Square, Allston and Harvard University.

Near the water's edge, Fabrizia Adang, 21, and her friend Vicky Bird, 21, both students at Wellesley College, enjoyed the race in the autumn sun. It was the third time Fabrizia had been a spectator at Head of the Charles.

"It's fun to watch the rowers," Adang said. "It's a nice atmosphere and a lot of people. It's very relaxing."

"Head" races are a class of regattas, generally three miles long. Winners of each race receive the honorary title of "Head of the River." In Boston, the winners of each event are dubbed "Head of The Charles."

Head races are unique as rowers start in a single file, one after another, instead of side-by-side. The boats start 10 to 15 seconds apart from each other. It takes approximately 15 to 21 minutes for the largest boat to get from start to finish.

The Cambridge Boat Club has organized this annual event since 1965. During the first year's race, fewer than 100 rowers participated, but the event has grown tremendously.

This year, 8,200 rowers from 40 states and 16 countries participated. In total, 1,600 boats competed in 52 events, in everything from Championship Doubles to Veteran Singles, for people over the age of 60, and races for those under the age of 20.

Continued...

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