Each year, roughly 9,000 athletes from around the world gather to race 1,900 boats on the Charles River in the world's largest and arguably most prestigious crew race. Some aged as young as 14 and as old as senior citizens, all with varying experience, descend upon the city of Boston for a head race of roughly three miles.
Over 60 competitions across a weekend comprise the Head of the Charles Regatta, the equivalent of the Boston Marathon in both popularity and difficulty for those who row. For Boston College, it's the hometown race, a chance to put the bows to launch against some of the world's best, on the river they row every week.
This year, the Boston College club crew team placed two male varsity eight bows in the water against 42 other boats in the College Eights race. The "1V," or top BC boat, finished eighth, while the "2V," or second varsity, finished 25th. In crew, Varsity Eight is the most prestigious of the collegiate rowers, and, like relay teams in track, are considered the fastest or second fastest of the team.
BC's 1V boat comprised of John Scaduto, Kevin Bielawski, Christopher Xianju Peng, Matthew Piekarski, Brock Menard, Eric Rauckhorst, Benjamin Oleniczak, and Shane Gregoire. The 2V boat was made up of Jeffrey Klofas, Nicholas Muller, James Lucey, Edward Twohig, Thomas O'Boyle, Anthony Perasso, Peter McDermott, and Evan Gatti. The two coxswains steering the vessels were Emma Hanlon (1V) and Tracy Nunziati (2V).
The Boston College club crew team is a team not funded by the Eagles athletic department but that competes against fellow crews at both the club and varsity level. Originally founded in 1987, roughly 100 rowers now comprise both a men's and women's team in both the fall and spring seasons.
Founded 50 years ago, the Head of the Charles serves as the highlighted event for both the team and the region. Boston College rows out of the Community Rowing Boathouse facility in Brighton, and the HOTC usually brings out large crowds to root on the team. This year, the team enjoyed Superfans rooting them on from the Eliot portion of the race, the equivalent of Heartbreak Hill in relation to the end of the race.
Join us in congratulating Boston College crew on their success at the Head of the Charles, and GO EAGLES!