The Minneapolis journal., 1902-06-21
THE VARSITY RACES
Rain in the Morning Followed by
Clearing Weather. ~
STATUS OF THE BETTING
the EiEht-Oareds
Race. --~s1. s.--t

Poughkeepsie, N. Y, June 21.-A
drenching rain and nasty gray sky with
out single rift in it to justify the hope
OF clearing greeted the weather, sharps
this morning when thev looked out to see
what the indications were for to-day's
boat race. When the rain would slacken
bit, out from the small crowd In. the
hotel corridors would go a squad OF hope
ful college men gazing skyward.
For the freshmen eight. Wisconsin was
this morning a decided fayorite, and even
Cornell hackers, who are usually quick
to take bets. especially when odds are Of
fered, were asking for to l, with Wis
consin the favorite. In the varsity, Cor
nell is a strong favorite. and although In
some cases the field was offered against
Cornell at good odds, there were few
takers. - -
The only wager of importance laid was
one OF $1,000 by Pennsylvania adherents
that their varsity crew would beat George
town, the Georgetown adherents taking 1t
at an advantage Of to 1. The $1,000 was
offered by a single individual, and the
$500 which was laid on Georgetown was
raised by pool Of Georgetown support
ers. .--' .... --.. ~.
Coach Courtney Of the Cornell crews
said this morning that while he consid-
cred his varsity crew very fit, he did not
share any outside predictions of sure VIC
tory. He thought it was going to be
very hard-fought race, and would not De
won until towards the end of the last
mile He talked this to his men, prefer
ring that they should go out with tne
feeling that they would have to row the ne
race for all they were worth to win.
Curiously enough, although there are a
good many Columbia college people mere,
there is little If any money being placed
on Columbia to win. In pool made last
night on the varsity race IN which Corneii
sold for 49, Wisconsin for 81 and rem.
sylvania for IS, Columbia sold Tor y.
This is strange, in view OF the fact tnat
Coach Hanlon has talked very favoraply
Of his men and believes they will .1nake<a
great showing. ;.
The unknown factor in the race Is
Georeetown, It's varsity crew has roWed
very fast over the four mile course, Dut
the general impression among the rowing
sharps is that while she will be very
formidable for three miles. she viii not
be able to keep the pace to the hnish
Syracuse does not seem to figure In the
"before the race predictions" and Penn
sylvania, whose crews always have made
a big showing, and in several instances
have won on this course, was getting very
little consideration among those VINO
were picking winners.
Towards 10 o'clock, while there was no
abat ement Of the rain, there came up a
nasty wind from the south. It blew
straight up the course and even with the
flood tide, kicked up quite swell, por-,
tending that when the tide ebbbed and
III the wind continued to blow from the
south there would be such conditions that
the race could not be roWed.
| At noon the rain had stopped and the
| wind, which before was blowing from the
| southeast, shifted to due south. The
choppy water had subsided and the. river
was sme 9th.
| There was no sign of sunshine, but old
river men expressed the opinion that the
rain was over and that 1t would be fine,
clear weather by the time the first race
was called.
Ellis Ward, the Pennsylvania coach,
sprang surprise on his own men as swell
as on the entire rowing colony this morn
Ing by rigging his shells with aluminium
lwashboards. This is an innovation IN the