Packard Cup Race Report

One of the Dartmouth senior captains, upon accepting the Packard Cup for his crews win in the Varsity Eight, made the comment that he had raced Syracuse for four years and it seemed like every race came down to a couple of seats.  This year would prove no exception as 3 of the four races were decided by less than one second.  While ultimately the results were not what we wanted, there was not a whole lot of backing down from the challenge from any crew out on the water. 

Varsity Eight: 
Dartmouth 5:36.6
Syracuse
5:37.5


This course can be a bit tricky off the start as the current tends to move your bow to the starboard side and you have to keep readjusting.  We didn't have a very clean start and had to steer a bit to get back on our point.  Dartmouth was out early to a half length lead and when we shifted to pace it looked like we may have been a bit eager to get the margin back instead of just sticking our rhythm.  We would take some seats back and they would push back out.  With 500m to go it was still about 3/4 of a length and we started our sprint around 400m to go in an effort to get back on even terms.  We were inching up on them all the way to the line but ended 0.9 seconds short.  

This was a very tough loss for the guys to take.  A good effort all the way down the course but we can't afford to be even slightly off on our execution.  If you have been following my race reports for a few years, you know I try to tell it like it is.  This is a hard working bunch of guys and this losing streak we are on is gutting them.  We have got one more shot to get this right at the Sprints and I know these guys will leave it all out on the water.  Execution, execution, execution.....

Second Varsity Eight:
Syracuse 5:37.3
Dartmouth
5:37.7

This race started out much like the varsity race.  Dartmouth was out to a couple seat lead and then used a push around 700m in to move out to the a full length by the 1000m mark.  Our guys stayed in it, though, and had the lead down to 2/3of a length with 500m to go and I thought Dartmouth was starting to pay for their efforts in the first 1000m.  We started the Sprint early and started inching back and then with about 200m to go we got some real pressure on them and snuck by in the last 3 strokes.  A solid race by these guys and a nice job of keeping faith through the 3rd 500m.  The confidence gained from getting it done in the last 500m should come in handy at the Sprints. 

Third Varsity Eight: 
Dartmouth 5:43.8
Syracuse
5:46.7

Once again Dartmouth had the early lead of the line by a few seats..  Our guys drew even about 500m in and pushed out to about 2/3 of a length by the 1000m.  I could tell we were pushing hard in the third 500m but we couldn't seem to put Dartmouth away.  That can come back and get you and around 600m Dartmouth started to move.  It looked we were paying a price for all of our hard work in the first 1000m.  About 300m to go and Dartmouth was even and continued to pull away for the final margin.  I know Coach Stangel challenged his guys to go after the first 1000m and they did that.  A bit more efficiency in the 3rd 500 and they will keep it going all the way to the line.

Fourth Varsity Eight: 
Dartmouth 5:49.6
Syracuse
5:50.2


Our 4V had the best start of all the Syracuse Crews and got out to the early lead.  The kept going hard and had a full length at the 1000m.  To Dartmouth's credit they didn't back down and had the margin down to about 2/3 of a length at 500m to go.  The guys fought hard and Dartmouth kept moving into us but we didn't make it easy.  They slipped through us in the last few strokes to take the win.

Keep the faith.  The guys are working hard.