The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-06-30
Under His Training the Men Gave Suc- cessfuI Crew the Fright of its Life-DecisIon Was Rather
 Close One.

| confident of an easy victory. but Coacn | Wray sprung a surprise on Yale and to- night his name Is on |hc lips of every lover of rowing as the ming rival ot
 John Kennedy the proiessional coa:h at New London. Wray came to tn! | Thames three weeks ago an unknown coach. He will go back to Boston a: | absolute confidence in Harvard. The
 reason for this is that Yale sent intd the race an eight which she claimed Harvards cry tonight Is, We will lick them next year" To this Yale replies with very serious wagging of tn: heads oe her rowing advisers, who ses trouble ahead
 Last years experience of having q varsity race postponed kept many away from New London this afternon. but
 worth. It was the first time since 1891 that varsity race has been rowed ur stream, and this afternoon the sailing l craft practically formed an avenue foI | four long miles.
 Rowing Against Wind.
 The race was scheduled to he rowed at 4:30 o'clock, and was to start less which threatened to kick up the river early in the afternoon had calmed down and was blowing almost across the
 and It was ,ns hac6 wind aHd to situation they saw there was no chance 1 for fast time
 Yale got the better of the start and
 in the first half dozen strokes shot tn | nose of her shell ahead. Just before the first half mile was finished. Harvarr ran her stroke up and began to eu, first. half mile Harvard was rowing q l thivty-fve strokes. but even at this gait she was unable to get tbe lead
 Yale finished the. the half in 222 aarvasa almost boats length. Harvard kept up her killing pace almost to the mile | flag. where she dropped her stroke to Harvards squirt had It's effect however and she finished the first mile of the race Just two seconds behind Yale. yards. 5:12 The New Haven boat passed the mile and a half flag in s:O1; Harvards time was s:o4.
 ship e ehannei Gs nst @ beieW 1eW" the navy e yard I and Yale got the benefit of the fastest water Yale gained on this half mile just three seconds, or almost a boat $ the navy yard, had the greatest lead l over Harvard which she had at any time during the race. The time for the two miles was Yale. 1o:47; Harvard 10:53. Then the Harvard coxswain called for squirt and his crew respop- ded gamely.
 At the same moment Yale came very Tth Sdd an Ir,ftsd cSlden tS An blues course and 1t was floating so low | in the water that the nose of the Yale shell was within a few feet of 1t when | steered his boat over into Harvards s water just far enough so that Yale's | outriggers passed over the obstruction Costly to YnIe.
 This loss of headway, combined with Harvards spurt, cost Yale two of her six seconds advantage. Yale's time | for two and a half miles was 13:42; Harvards 13:46. Yale's time at the | three mile flag was 16:37; Harvard g
 The last mile of the race was fight never to be forgotten by those fortu- | nate enough to witness it., Just be- yards No. '. who had been rowing a terrific race, seemed to have pumped | himself out, and 1t looked as though he could not possibly hold his form for | the rest of the distance.
 Suddenly Meier seemed to get his | second wind and the crimson stroke went up two points. The Harvard shell began to gain on Yale. Yale 1894; Harvard in 19:39.
 On every stroke the Harvard shell erept up nearer and nearer the Yale
 n0at annad SIddenry S t9e smells were oneg
 for squirt and his crew raised their | stroke to 34, the highest that they
 had been taught to row. Still Harvard was, game; Up went the Harvard l of a mile the brow of the Cambridge shell began to gain inch by inch on
 the stern of the blues boat. The crews were only a hundred yards from | the finish, and still 1t was either's race The crowd became wild with excite ment. The Harvard shell continued to creep up on the Yale boat and every man of the two crews was pulling out | the last ounce of his power when sud denly the flag at the finish dropped and
 Yale was a winner by three-quarters G0a and hnssdd snsn eaeh oher ] though they had won the race Yale was so dazed by the fright which l Wray's crew had given her that she
 Cheers of Yale.
 When the Ellis suddenly realized that they had won the closest race in Yale Harvard boating history, they let l go their cheers until the hills rever- 1 berated.
 As Harvard passed the finish line Meier, at No. {, dropped his oar and | slid down into the bottem of the shell
 A few handfuls of water brought him | to his senses and then the two eights rowed off to their boat houses, the crimson getting as much applause as miles was 22s3 1-2; Harvard's 22:36
 The best time ever made on the | Thames was in 1888 when rowing down
 stream with ripping tide and a
 heavy wind the Yale crew made the l distance in 20 minutes and 10 seconds | Harvard's splendid showing in the i varsity race was not the only consola-
 tion which the crimson got out of to- | days regatta. winch followed her first years training under professional l coach. Coach Wray had the additional | satisfaction of winning both the fresh mems eight and the varsity four oarec | races
 The preparations for the first race | of the day, that between the Harvard Yale four-oared crews. was begun
 promptly at 10:15 o'clock. inc event being scheduled to start fifteen min utes later.
 This race was two miles starting at point opposite the Harvard quar- ters and finishing down stream two miles at the navy yard. In this event l Harvard was to have the east course of the river and Yale the west. l Harvard won the four-oared race by three lengths Harvard's time. official 1l:22 1-5; Yale's time, 1l:27.
 | Both crews made a splendid start and kept practically even for the first ten or twelve lengths Harvard rowed 3S, Yale 36. Both crews splashed | badly the first eighth of a mile Harvard gained and led by half a | length. At the half mile Harvard wa. about three quarters or length lt Yaie then gained oa Harvard until