RowingRelated

The men's second varsity eights coming through the bridge (Photo: B. Kitch)  The 103rd Cal-Washington Dual (or, depending on whom you ask, 'Duel') took place on Saturday, and the results were both surprising and impressive. It was a much closer affair (in most cases) than in recent years, and the two varsity eights races were absolutely befitting of one of America's oldest rivalries. Standing at the bridge (which comes just after the 1k mark of the 2000-meter course), it was nearly impossible to tell the outcome of any of the morning's events, with the exception of the frosh races, as crews battled, clawed, and fought back from early deficits, and in a few cases overturned the early leaders. Also, while the conditions for the first half of the race were ideal—thanks to very protected water—the second half of the course was tricky for rowers and coxswains alike with a stiffening crosswind throughout the day. The women's varsity eight, shown in the video ...

This week's videos come to us from Carnegie Lake, where the Princeton open women took on Yale last weekend, while the lightweight men battled Penn and Georgetown . The women's varsity eights race saw the Tigers take an early lead, and endure several strong moves by a very talented Yale crew to record a wire-to-wire victory—dealing the Bulldogs their first loss of this young season, and keeping the Eisenberg Cup in Princeton for another year.

This week's double-feature comes to us from the Charles River in Boston, where the Harvard men's varsity eight held off Princeton in new head coach Charley Butt's first home race to win the Compton Cup by roughly half a length. Harvard took the look early, but Princeton held on very well, and going into the final 500 meters, the Tigers made a great charge for the line and closed the gap on the Crimson—especially impressive given the challenging conditions and being on the road.

This year's running of Crew Classic in San Diego was marked, more than anything, by large margins in the marquee races, and saw defending champions on the men's and women's sides take titles once again on Mission Bay. While we didn't post picks and predictions for San Diego this year, it was a good measuring stick for our preseason rankings. And, while there were a few surprises, in most cases the results confirmed our suspicions. At the collegiate level, arguably the most impressive performances of the regatta came from the California men and the Washington women—while UW didn't manage to wrestle the Jessop-Whittier Cup from USC's vise-grip, the Huskies and Golden Bears showed off their depth as well as excellent top-end speed over the course of the two-day regatta. The Cal men's varsity eight (RR preseason No. 1) absolutely dominated the Copley Cup final, winning by roughly eight seconds over Northeastern ( RR No. 5), who finished eight seconds ahea...

This week's video comes to us from the Tideway, where yet another Boat Race was marked by a singular incident that proved to be, as Henri Cartier-Bresson might have described it, "the decisive moment." Once again, the race was more closely contested than most thought it would be through the early stages—much like the first half of the now infamous 2012 Boat Race , which was later marred by outside interference, and then by a disastrous clash that sheared off a blade in the Oxford boat—only to finish in a veritable parade. The disappointing thing is that we didn't get to see a true reflection of Cambridge's speed over the full course. It's no-one's fault—take a look at the slow-motion replay in the video to fully comprehend just what a freak accident it was—as a host of circumstances conspired to make for the worst possible outcome: just as Luke Juckett is squaring his blade to the water, Oxford seven-man Sam O'Connor's blade emerges from the...

The 160th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race is upon us, and it wouldn't be right if we didn't throw our hat into the ring and offer a prediction for today's outcome. Given the experience, horsepower, and recent history for Oxford, we're backing the Dark Blue to repeat as champions in 2014, this time by a margin of five lengths. From top to bottom, the Oxford lineup is fantastic on paper, and looks to be living up to that potential given the results from their Tideway fixtures. Cambridge will have a tall task before them, and will no doubt put up a valiant fight, but over the course of four miles (and in potentially rough conditions ) the experience and caliber of the Dark Blue crew will more than likely make this an open water victory. (And, based on the results of our RR reader poll, 80% of you agree.) The race is set for 1755 GMT. The veterans races yesterday saw a trio of victories for Cambridge . You can follow all the action via Twitter ( @theboatrace ), and keep...

A little while ago, we reached another milestone here at RR, and, well, we're pretty chuffed about it. Last month, we crossed the 1 million pageview mark , and we'd like to say thank you for reading, viewing, sharing, commenting, and just generally being a member of what we like to think of as the RowingRelated community. Hard to believe that it all began with this post, our Statement of Purpose , in October of 2010. So, thanks a million, everyone! The weekend ahead is loaded with on-the-water action on both sides of the pond, with the 2014 San Diego Crew Classic taking over Mission Bay, and the BNY Mellon Boat Race pitting rival shades of blue against one another for the 160th time. We'll be on the beach in San Diego to catch the racing in Southern California—look for social media updates throughout the weekend ( see here for the schedule/draw )—and in the meantime, don't forget to vote in our Boat Race poll. Who's your pick to reach Mortlake first this year? ...

With the Henley Boat Races (including the Newton Women's Boat Race —see here for race video ) in the books already, and so much focus on the Tideway in London this weekend, it's important to remember that another heated rivalry was recently renewed just across the Irish Sea, when University College Dublin took on Trinity College in the 2014 edition of the Dublin Boat Races. In the Gannon Cup (men's varsity eight), an exciting race saw Trinity grab and early lead, and hold UCD throughout much of the roughly 2k course on the River Liffey, only to come to a halt when the Trinity four-man Luke Acheson passed out within 250 meters of the finish, allowing UCD to record their seventh-straight win. (According to this report , Acheson was taken from the boat and directly to hospital, from which he was discharged later that day, and has since made a full recovery.)