The Battle for the Rock

Just about the time freshmen oarsmen "begin to think that rowing five or six days a week in exhausting workouts might not be their cup of tea, they are quickly sequestered off to some room in the upstairs of the Union for dinner and some home crew movies. Inevitably a film about Red Top pops up.

Red Top is the Belle Reve of training camps: a Southern plantation transplanted to the shores of the river Thames. And for 45 years or so Harvard crews have journeyed on down to New London just after final exams to relax and prepare for the oldest intercollegiate event in the country, the Harvard-Yale race.

The look around Red Top these days isn't quite what the film showed due to the fact that the camp went vacant last spring. But when four Harvard eights descended to its fabled grounds last week Harry Parker quickly enlisted their talents to spruce the place up.

For those oarsmen who do succumb to the alluring film, Red Top quickly emerges as a highlight of the rowing experience. The 16-mile trek out to the lighthouse and back, a typical early-morning fare in the workout menu, is somehow slightly sweetened by the thoughts of an afternoon round of croquet, lawn bowling or broth following the early evening row. Red Top puts back the old-styled gentlemanliness into rowing.

"We're really aware of the tradition in Harvard rowing when we're down here," said captain Blair Brooks. "It's a good way to wind down from the year and even though we've only missed last year, it seems like we haven't been here for a real long time. It's even not that bad helping to fix the place up: it's good to feel part of something."

There is a miscellany of other Red Top traditions such as the Harvard-Yale coxswain race, this year won by Harvard, and the managers and cooks softball game. However, the main attraction next to the actual race is the pointing of the rock.

When the Crimson arrived last week the famed boulder near the finish line was bearing the fresh marks of Yale point. By race day the traditionally (seems to pop up everywhere, doesn't it?) conservative Harry Parker had had enough. As J.V. four man Dave Bixby put it. "The sight was intolerable to him."

Storm Troopers

Like troops storming the beach at Normandy, Parker commanded four boatloads of rowers to take the rock. While Al Shealey and Co, were showing off their painting skills, freshman coach Ted Washburn was holding opposing Yale forces at bay. Action actually got a little hot and heavy with near fisticuffs resulting (Washburn's launch suffered a broken windshield from a frustrated and defeated Eli).

But when the race finally got under way the rock wore the work of the eventual victors, in the form of a prominent white H.

That sequestered evening freshman year never mentions the encounters with mosquitos or emphasizes the gruelling interval workouts, but once hooked there are few complaints. Concurrance with Parket is unanimous, "It's good to be back."