Women's Crew Wins Virginia Playfair Trophy
April 9, 2000 | Women's Rowing
The varsity women's heavyweight crew broke away from George Washington and Navy in the second 500 meters of the race and rowed to boat length open water victory to win the inaugural Virginia Playfair Trophy on the Potomac River on Saturday, April 8.
With the victory, the Terriers remained undefeated, as they are 3-0 in regattas during the spring season. They opened the campaign with a regatta win over UMass/Amherst and New Hampshire. They followed that up the following week with a victory over Syracuse and Miami.
B.U. was hoping to leave the Potomac with another win as it had a race scheduled against Georgetown in the afternoon. However, poor weather conditions forced the varsity race to be cancelled. In fact, whitecapping conditions swamped the George Washington varsity eight boat as it pushed off the dock for its afternoon race. The GW boat was pushed onto the rocks, and the B.U., Duke, and Georgetown crews and coaches helped get the crew to shore safety.
Before the weather conditions deteriorated, the morning races were run, and the Terriers, George Washington, and Navy got off to a good start. Through the first 500 meters, all three crews were fairly level.
That has been the modus operandi for the Terriers this spring-stay even for the first 500 meters, make their move in the next 500 and row to victory.
On Saturday, the Terriers made their move in the second 500 as they pushed their lead to a boat length at the 1000-meter mark. That's the way it remained at 1500 meters-the Terriers in the lead with GW and Navy level. In the final 500, the Terriers again extended their lead with the final margin being a boat length open water. Their time was 6:50.16, while GW finished in 6:56.61, and Navy was third in 6:59.82.
The second varsity also prevailed in a time of 7:04.80, while Navy was second in 7:10.38, and GW was third in 7:33.04.
The Terriers' first novice continued to show its dominance this spring, easily outrowing GW and Navy. B.U.'s time over the 2000-meter course was 6:55.15, more than 22 seconds faster than runner-up GW (7:17.77), while Navy was third (7:21.46).
While the varsity eight races in the afternoon were cancelled, there were a number of races that were held before the weather became unrowable. These races were shortened to 1750 meters.
The second varsity eight easily defeated Georgetown, 6:21.40 to 6:48.32, while the first novice crew was timed in 6:09.45. The Terriers' second novice eight was also entered in the race, and it finished second in 6:29.62. Georgetown was third in 6:47.86.
