Norwich bulletin., 1914-08-25
VARSITY CREW RACES ARE TOO LONG
That's What Courtney of Cornell Thinks And He Would Like to Cut Out the Mile.

Charles E. Courtney, CornelPs famous rowing coach and the dean of Ameri- can rowing instructors. is heartily in favor of some kind of an American Henley in which the rowing schedules would cover several days and in which the finals would be reached by a process of elimination through heats.
 He does not think that the present method of holding regattas are en- tirely satisfactory and he would well come some plan by which the varsi- ty races were cut down in length. Nothing could be better for rowing than doing away with the four-mile varsity race" said the old man. Tt is too long distance for college oarsnen and should be shortened. have advocated this for years and will be one of the persons most pleased by any change in this direction. I also Pthink that the holding of heats would be a good thing. I am in favor of a series of races by which the less power full crews would be eliminated. Of course this could not be done in long race. I think that a system of heats would provide fairer competition and better sport all around
 Courtney was asked if he would consent to have the Cornell varsity crew row the Henley distance. He said that he had no objection to the | Henley distance, but 1t is believed that | he would prefer a varsity race for | two miles. Such a race he thinks, | would bring out all there is in the various crews, and the winner of such | a race would be fairly entitled to | championship claims. Cornell rows a | number of two-mile races each year; | in fact it is becoming a fixed belief in | certain quarters at Ithaca that the | Cornell crew takes on too many pre- liminary contests before the Hudson
 regatta On the other hand, if the | final race should be for two miles only | 1t is believed that the task of training
 and holding the men in top form
 would not be as difficult as it is now l Should any such American Henley
 scheme be proposed, however. it is be-
 lieved that strong arguments will be made Tn favor If the two-milc course
 on Cayuga lake It is considered by
 some oarsmen a far better two-mile course than that on Carnegie lake. foI | instance The courses on which the races would be rowed are seldom used
 by Cornell crews in practice. Indeed l in the usual training on Cayuga the Cornell crews stick close to the west l shore on account of its shelter from
 the wind. It would not be until very late in May that the Cornell crews 1 would go over on the east side, which is the regatta course, but nevertheless
 the home crews would have an ad- | vantage over the visitors. For this | reason and because Ithaca is so fal I that a change to Cayaga will be made | Compared to Carnegie lake, however | Cayuga is a far better place for 8 regatta, the Cornellians point out, be-
 cause it would offer a splendid train
 ing ground for as many crews as cared to come here. Cayuga is 40 miles Ions
 and at various points on the wesi | shore are hotels where crews could establish training quarters and practice
 in complete isolation if they cared to
 Moreover. Cayuga Is big enough and
 broad enough to accommodate any
 number of crews and a grand stand
 could be built along the race-courss
 that would, give accommodations fol
 any number of people. And the Cayugs lake observation train at the presen time runs about as many cars as tha
 at Poughkeepsie. There were 40 cari
 filled to capacity for the Cornell
 Princeton Yale races. However, if tn,
 other colleges insisted on staying a
 Poughkeepsie, as they undoubtedl,
 will, Cornell would accept their decision and send her crews to the famou.
 course And the fact that Courtne,
 is heartily in favor of this plan makes
 it likely that Cornell will be urging l
 next yea