Norwich bulletin., 1909-07-02

4 OnuSs DedIlfg harvard tndL year only
/ by a scant boat length. While the
crews this afternoon had the benefit
| of the tide they received little or no
| benefit from the wind which accounts
for the slow, time.
| Prominent. People Among Spectators.
/ In tie winning Harvard eight there
were(twe sets of brothers. Roger Cut
| lea the Harvard stroke, is a brother
! VT Eliot Cutler of the Harvard boat,
%while at No and No. 5 the two With
I ingtons of Honolulu rowad. At No
| sat Eliot Bacon, son Of ex-Secre-
ktary of State Bacon, whose two broth
ers had preceded him as Harvard
4 oarsmen, and whose fathes- in his day
! was also a Cambridge oar. Former
| Secretary Bacon, leaning against the
| rail of the referees launch, watched
the race with a grim determination
| until he saw his boy q winner, then
he Joined the group of Harvard men
who hugged each other in their joy.
On the Mirage, the BOAT Of the re-
gatta committee which followed the
race, was Postmaster General Frank
H. Hitchcock, while Secretary of the
Navy George Won l.. Meyer saw the
contest from the u. S. S. Dolphin.
Aboard trains and yachts were many
other prominent people.
Race Starts on the Minute Scheduled.
The race was started almost on the
minute for which it was scheduled,
and thanks to the efforts of Valentine
Chappell, chairman of the regatta
committee, was rowed without a sin
gle mishap. The policing OF the
course, which was lined from start
to finish with all kinds Of floating
craft, was by far the best ff1 the long
history of boat races here on the
Thames.
The Race in Detail.
1t was just nine minutes past six
O'Clock when the crack of Referee
Meikleham's pistol started the. crews
in the race. Along the first mile of
the course there was barely enouoh
wind to rippie the surface Of the
Thames. Both crews got away in
splendid form, Harvard rowing at 80
strokes to the minute, Yale at 3S. Aft
er the racing starts had been rowed
out the Ellis quickly settled down to
SS strokes to the minute, while Har-
ward dropped hers to 36.
AT the half-mile flag Yale had let
her stroke down to 81, but Harvard
had only dropped to "a to the minute
Over this half-mile the struggle was
practically an even one up to within
few lengths Of the flag when Har-
ward began to push the, nose of her
shell to the front. At the flag Har-
ward had a lead Of just one second.
which is less than a third of a boat
length. Over the second half-mile
Harvard increased her lead bv Just
one more second. reaching the mile
flag two thirds of a length ahead of
Yale. Harvard was still rowing "a
strokes to the minute. Yale was back
to 81, though at one time on this half
mile she had lifted her stroke TO 32 to
the minute.
over the third half mile the Crimson
gained another second and at the mile
and half flag, had a lead of practi-
cally 2. boat length Yale was now
sowing 81 strokes to the minute while
Harvard still held her speed at "a. Over
the fourth half mile there was no
change in the positions of the shells
nor in the number of strokes roWed by
either crew
Just beyond the two mile flag off the
navy yard Yale made her st~deter-
mined effort to cut down HaFvard's
lead Wallis, the Blues stroke, raised
his speed to "a to the minute, and for
few lengths it looked as thohgh he
Wenld be able TO catch the Cambridge
boat. But Roger Cutler also had
something in reserve. He, too raised
his stroke two points and by so doing
was able to hold Yale and passed the
two and half mile flag still leading
Yale by three seconds. Yale had been
compelled to drop her stroke back to
32, but Harvard was strong enough to
keep hers at S6.
This was the crucial point in the
race. 1t was on this sixth half mile
that the Crimson first really got de-
cisively away from Yale.
At the three mile flag Harvard had
lead often seconds which. measured
out on the river, was three boat
lengths. Harvard was now rowing 80
to the minute Yale in her effort TO
keep in the race had again spurted I'D
to "a to the minute.
The Blue was not able to hold this
gait long and soon had TO drop back
to 80 to the minute, her normal gait
Harvard, on the other hand had
enough reserve force -f6ahold her stroF~
at 35 to the minute and9therefore con
tinued to gain on the Blue. At the
three and half mile Mag Harvard was
leading by fourteen seconds, havino
increased her leadAby four seconds on
this half mile.
The race was now. barring acci-
dents, lost to Yale. There was, how
ever, no accident. and Harvard con-
tinued to increase her lead at every
stroke. The Ellis wereis still rowing well
together and had enough fight left in
them to put their stroke up to 36 to
the minute. Harvard raised hers to
the same gait and crossed the line
twenty SecOHuS dnRa0 OF I ale, IeaQlng
by practically six lengths. Every man
in the Yale boat finished the race at
his oar and still fighting gamely.
Around the finish crept the long OBJ
servations trains like two large SER
pents stretched out along the banks or
the river Above the trains from hill
top and every point of vantage fiutter-
ed thousands ofsblue and crimson flags.
The highways were choked with auto
mobiles But deRn OH the river was
The most maBnificentspart of the spec
tacle. Crowding in close to the finish
were hundreds Of yachts and launches
of every kind and description. Through
this avenue the crews sped on as can
mons doomed and whistles. and horns
footed No such crowd ever before fol-
lowed the crews to the finish when the
finish has been at the upper end of the
course. In less than a minute after
the race was over the two eishts rowed
off to their quarters. Yale in the Gloom
of defeat and Harvard amid the noise
and glory of victory. to fall into the
arms Of 300 old graduates who had
tunbled out of the observation trains
and hurried down to the Harvard boat
house.
Procession Of Victors Back to New
London.
Then followed the procession OF the