Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-24
WHY AMERICANS LOSE.
College Crews Row Against England's
Pick at Henley. - :

One OF quartet Of Cornell graduates who
have been on tramping tour of England
and the continent writes as follows to the
Buffalo Express, describing his Impressions
of the royal Henley regatta:
The English Henley is different in al
most every respect from our regatta on
the Hudson. In the first place. the course
is but a mile and three-fifths long and the
Thames Is so narrow that only two crews
can row is each race Since there are seven
trophies now being rowed for, including
everything from single souls to Fights. and
many entries for each of these races, the
regatta becomes a three or four-day affair.
THE first days OF the regatta are sup
posed to do away with the ,preliminaries,
but often some of these contests are more
Interesting than the races of the final day
That was the case this year, when the Yes
pers and the Leanders met In the semi
FINALS. This was really the race of the re-
gatta, for If the Vespers could defeat the
Leander eight it was admitted that they
would have no difficulty In disposing of the
Belgian crew, which had already worked
mp to the final.
LAS before. the American oarsmen met
defeat but not until they had given the
Englishmen a hard brush. 1t was much
closer race than the final the next day.
when Leander easily Gefea ted the Belgian
eight by two lengths.
This was the twelfth time that the Lean
der crew had won the grand challenge cup
IT Is this Leander crew which has defeated
every American eight that had crossed the
II
Henley. 1t Is q different kind of a crew
from our college eights. for Ii is a rowing
club crew and is made up of the best oars
men OF the two big universities of oxford
and Cambridge. All of the men are older
and more mature than the oarsInen in the
college crews in America. One has only
TO see the Leander crew paddle up the
stream to the start to realize that no Amer
lean college crew viii ever stand a chance
against 1t. If. for example. Coach Charles
H.. Courtney at Cornell could make UP
crew of the eight best oarsmen he has had
during the last ten years. let US say and
send them across after they had been prop
erly trained together. then there might be
a close race with the Englishmen. But
as II is America might as well keep her
crews at home.
The greatest difference between the Eng
lish Henley and our regattas is from the
spectators point of view. In the first
place, there is no observation train. You
can see the races either from the shore
or from the water. On the land you may
either sit in grandstand erected near the
finish or. what is much better. stand on the
shore and run along, If you will. when you
See the crews approaching. On the water
there are households hroored beside the
course and thousands of punts. row boats,
canoes and every other kind of small water
craft, including even ebony gondolas float
ms about. Indeed, the Henley is nothing
bug a big water picnic. When a race Is
not being actually rowed the little Thames
is a solid crush, every boat humping into
dozens Of others, now and then some one
capsiZing, but all given and received good
naturally. for 80 out of every 100 are out
not TO see the races. but to have a jolly
good outing, or, If they are women, to show
their new Henley gown. Then comes the
clang of the warning bells, the course clears
itself remarkably quickly and the race is
on"