'Cliffe Crew Captures National Championship

Radcliffe's remarkable crew scaled the final obstacle to the summit of the U.S. women's rowing world June 17, adding the national women's rowing title to its already-long list of achievements, and earned the right to represent the United States in the European games to be held August 23-26 in Moscow.

The 'Cliffe eight, turned back the nation-wide competition on Philadelphia's Schulkill River with surprising ease, finishing a full two seconds ahead of runner-up Vespers in the finals with an awesome 3:15.4 clocking over 1000 meters.

While 'Cliffe coach John Baker had been cautiously apprehensive about Radcliffe's chances prior to the nationals, the 'Cliffe eight, despite a slim .1-second margin over the Vesper Boat Club in the preliminaries on Friday, convincingly proved on Sunday that it was the only legitimate contender for the national crown.

"It was quite an awesome showing," Baker said last week. "We went off at a god-awful pace, and when everybody elses settled, we just kept on going."

Radcliffe's strong start indicated just how much the 'Cliffe eight has jelled since the intercollegiate season began in April. All season, Radcliffe's had been weak off the line, but in the nationals it put all the pieces together, including a solid start.

While no one was clocking the start, Baker estimates that Radcliffe went off at a 45-48 cadence, dropping down to a 40 at the first settle, and rowing the body at a 38. During the regular Radcliffe season, Radcliffe usually settled in the 34-36 range.

About midway through the race, the 'Cliffe eight sagged a little, and when Vesper observed this, the Philadelphia rowing club squad pulled a hefty power ten to challenge for the lead.

But Radcliffe, having maintained a narrow advantage since its fast start, responded to the challenge in championship form. Stroke and captain Charlotte Crane immediately took the cadence up to fend off the Vesper challenge, and from that point, the 'Cliffe was never in danger again.

Observers at the finish clocked Radcliffe at an astounding 43 cadence over the last 400 meters of the race. Radcliffe finished a half-length in front of Vesper. Princeton finished a very close third, a foot astern Vesper.

Radcliffe's two-second margin over the second place finisher was the largest of any two consecutive boats in the race. Vesper and Princeton were separated by a fraction of a second, and the rest of the pack was just as close. The last place finisher, Wisconsin, was barely a length behind the 'Cliffe.

In Philadelphia Baker went with the same line-up that carried Radcliffe so successfully through the intercollegiate season. The championship line-up had Anne Robinson at bow, Ginny Smith at two, Connie Cervilla at three, Kathy Sullivan at four, Jenny Getsinger at five, Lillian Hunt at six, Alison Hill at seven, with Crane stroking. Nancy Hadley coxed.

Of these nine, only one had rowed before this season, a fact that makes the Radcliffe achievement all the more remarkable. Crane, who has been in the program since it took its first halting steps--uh, strokes--two years ago is the sole veteran.

And so, for eight of these nine Radcliffe women (Smith will be unable to make the Moscow trip), the rest of the summer will be spent preparing for Moscow.

And the biggest problem of preparation will be finding the money to make the trip. Radcliffe crew, which has run on a shoestring budget throughout its history and even now gets little from the University athletic budget, must raise $12,000 to cover round-trip costs to Moscow.

According to Baker, who has funded his program largely by solicitation of contributions from alumni and interested crew enthusiasts, the funding of the Moscow trip is "not all set up yet" but he said that many people are working on the problem. "We're kind of going on faith at this point," Baker said. "The Radcliffe College Fund, Sue Lyman [chairman of the Radcliffe Board of Overseers], Chase Peterson [vice president for Alumni Affairs] and Baaron Pittenger [associate director of Athletics] are all working on it. They have told me that they will take care of the funding."

Radcliffe will receive $1000 from the U.S. Women's Rowing Olympic Committee, and Baker expects that the crew will be able to raise $3000-$4000 from the parents of the nine rowers. But from there its touch and go. Baker said that he is not being allowed to conduct a mass mailing for funds, a tactic that was quite successful for the 'Cliffe crew program during the season.

Baker is planning a full summer of training and competition for Radcliffe in preparation for the European trip. He said that along with regular workouts on the Charles, the 'Cliffe plans to compete in the NAAO championships July 14 in Camden, N.J. The NAAOs are the men's championships, but Radcliffe will row against Vesper in the fours competition.

Then, the 'Cliffe plans to enter the Royal Canadian Henley at St. Catherine's, Ontario. The Royal Canadian Henley is sponsored by the CAAO, the equivalent of the NAAO in the United States.

The 'Cliffe will leave for Europe around August 1 and is planning what Baker calls "a full itinerary." On August 4-5 the Radcliffe squad will compete in a regatta at Hanover, West Germany. There will be no eights competition, so the 'Cliffe will race in fours.

Then Baker says he is trying to find a place in northeastern Germany where the squad can stay August 6-20 to train and "see the sights".

The invitation to the USSR starts August 20 and the 'Cliffe squad will fly to Moscow that day. The Europeans competition runs August 23-26. Radcliffe will return home August 27.

The 'Cliffe will be a definite underdog in the Europeans, because Radcliffe is a virtual novice when it comes to international competition, and with the exception of Crane, all the Radcliffe starters are first-year rowers. Furthermore, the 'Cliffe's 140-pound average is considerably under the 175-pound averages of the veteran Russian and East German squads.

"We're going to give it a royal try," Baker said last week. "Everyone will be expecting us to get our asses handed to us. There's really no pressure on us to do well, so anything we do will be just great."