The Portland daily press., 1897-07-01
WAS A HOT RACE.
But Cornelrs Freshman Crew Won
1t.

1t.
Piucky Columbia Was Not Far Behind at
the FInish-They Made a Wonderful
epurt in the Last Half AIile-The Time
Was 9 Minutes 21 1-5 Seconds.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y, June 30.-Today
opened very dismally with GLOW. steady
rain falling, but before noon a brisk
breeze from the south drove the clouds
away and the prospects for favorable race
weather became bright.
There were few people here during the
forenoon, the knots of ''rooters" looking
pitifully small in comparison with the
crowds of last week. 1t was hoped, how
ever, that the afternoon trains from New
York and Philadelphia would bring
enough supporters of the different fresh
men crews to keep the oarsmen from feel
ing lonesome. There was plenty of time
for them to arrive, as the race was sched-
uled to start at $50 p. m.
Cornell won by three-fourths of a
length. Columbia was second by one.
third of a length over Pennsylvania. The
official time: Cornell, 9 minutes 81 Is
seconds; Columbia, minutes, 20 3-5
seconds; Pennsylvania, 9 minutes, % 1-5
seconds
The freshman race over the two mile
course here this afternoon between three
American crews rowing with purely
American methods, was one of the most
remarkable in the annals of boat racing
in this country. 1t was great, inspiring,
magnificent. It was unlike any freshman
race ever rowed because, the crews worked
without that erraticalness that usually
marks those events The freshmen of
Cornell, Columbia and Pennsylvania
rowed with their heads as we'll as with
their bodies; and showed science that was
surprising. 1t was anybody's race, and
the fact that but two seconds divided the
first and last crews, and that the boats
Tapped over each other very nearly half,
is evidence of the character of the
struggle. That such a struggle was only
watched by small sized crowd is mis-
fortune for those who missed seeing it.
The time is not record breaking, because
Yale made the same course in nine
minutes and nineteen and one-half
seconds last Wednesday, but both
Columbia, finishing second and Pennsyl-
vania, finishing third. made better time
than did Harvard and Cornell, finishing
in the same place last Tuesday. The
feature of the race was the wonderful
squirt made by the Columbia youngsters
in the last half mile when they closed up
gap between themselves and Cornell so
fast that had there been another eighth of
mile to row they would probably have
been in first place. A second feature was
the remarkable rowing Of the Pennsyl-
vania crew which had been said by its
trainer to be in very bad shape. This
crew is very much inferior crew to the
Pennsylvania varsity crew, and the
critics are wondering whether Ellis Ward
has not got something 'up his sleeve for
Fridays race. The race of today is looked
upon as one of the most creditable ex-
hibitions ever given. The only criticism
is that DR.. Walter Pest, the referee, kept
the crews waiting SO long at their stake
boats with their oars dipped that the
nervous strain took off at least two
seconds from the time.
There was some discussion and some
quibbling over the result, both on the
referees boat and on the press cars. The
Associated Press time for Cornell with
every facility for the greatest accuracy,
was nine minutes, twenty seconds and
three -fifths The first official time given
out was nine minutes and twenty-one
seconds and the corrected time given out
this evening was nine minutes, twenty
one and one-fifth seconds.
Cornell averaged 32 strokes O minute
during the race for normal work, Penn
sylvania "a and Columbia 35. Columbia
claims they would have won the race but
for the crab caught by the stroke, and
Refeee Peet confirms this statement in
part.
After Referee Peet, in his clumsy boat,
which seemed to want the whole river to
turn in, had kept the crews waiting at
their stake boats for some five or six min
utes, the youngsters showing the strain
they were under, the pistol start was
given and the crews were off. Pennsyl-
vania caught the water first with a swift,
strong stroke that showed the nose of her
boat clearly ahead of the others. Cornell
and Columbia started trifle more easily
and Cornell fell slightly to the rear of
the New Workers. All started at 36
stroke, but Cornell, true to her Court
ney training, dropped down to 33, while
Columbia Kept it up at s5, and Pennsyl
eighth of mile, Pennsylvania was lead
ing the Columbia boat by an eighth of
length, while Cornell was quarter of a
length behind the Columbia boat. Cor
nell was rowing easily while the other
two were fighting it out for first place.
But the Cornell stroke had its effect, and
at the quarter of q mile, Cornell had
drawn up even with Columbia, while
still had her quarter
length lead. Down to the half this con-
tinued, when Cornell drew up on Penn
sylvania and away from Columbia
Viciously Pennsylvania hit the water and
the boat seemed to fly in the effort to hold
that lead, but slowly and surely the Cor
nell boat went on inch by inch, showing
out beyond the Pennsylvania Column \
bia, too, was coming along and the Penn
sylvania lead of quarter Of length was
reduced in the next quarter to bare
eighth. Then the Quakers did fight for
life, and down to the end of the first mile
there was terrific race for place. So
this continued for another half mile down
to the mile and half point. First the
nose of the Pennsylvania boat would
begin to draw away from the Column
bia and then Columbia would draw
up on Pennsylvania. Entering the
last it was clearly seen by the
condition of the men in the three boats
that there would be struggle that would
be memorable. At this point, Cornell
had lead of quarter of length over
Pennsylvania and Columbia was an
eighth of a length behind Pennsylvania
Columbia's stroke oar caught crab at
this juncture and lost about four strokes,
but quickly fell in. Cornell had made