The Washington times., 1929-06-25

ne epic crew was SOIumDld,< a
which outgamed the pitch and roll
of the most turbulent course a
Poughkeepsie regatta has known in
all history. The race was the A.
mile varsity event for the cham
pionship of America and, possibly,
the world. Never another race pro-
duced the amazing drama of this
one.
A record field Of nine crews
started bravely and hopefully out
upon the tateful journey from
krurn's elbow to the finish. Be>
fore the 21a-nile post was left
astern, one OF them, Massachusetts,
Tech, had foundered with all on
board. At the railroad bridge, an.
other followed. 1t was Syracuse,
which, had gone SO far and could
go no further.
Another quarter. of a mile and
Cornell was in the water a
struggling mass of men and
oars. And the last to go down
was the greatest, California,
the worlds champions of 1898.
Water-logged, from the Smile
mark and unable to answer its
helm, the bear shell finally sue
cumbed to the inevitable within
sight of the finish, its heartbroken
crew still lashing futilely with their
oars as the water rushed into their
laps.
Only Columbia, by a miracle OF
workmanship. was able to outride
the waves. Washington, finishing
second, made the next best at
tempt, but the huskies were more
than three lengths back and reeled
in their stride as the finish was
achieved. Pennsylvania and Wis
consin, the rankest kind OF out
siders, also lasted to the line in
third and fifth places, respectively,
the Navy getting home in fourth
position with signals OF distress
plainly flying. The Navy was some-
thing of an outsider, too.
The point is that outsiders in the
betting were insiders in the lanes.
This. in tabloid, tells the story OF
that boat race, for those nearest t
west shore escaped much OF the'
grief that came with turning uoe:
the result of a delay in the start OF
almost As minutes. Those on the IN
side were Pennsylvania, the Navy,
Washington and Wisconsin. All oil
them finished. Those on the out
side were Cornell, California, Co.
umbia, NJ. l. r. and Syracuse. only
one OF them finished and this one
was the winner, a most Impressive
winner that rode out the storm with
ewes front, heads high and hearts
whole. Columbia was the double
tread, all.weath, crew of this wild
est of all days on the Hudson.
Undoubtedly, it wasn't fair
race for all concerned. NY
Ebright, California coach, feared
the WO. st hours ahead of time
and informed the writer that
there Ould be plenty of hearts
and backs broken by tn Gather -
before the end of the day.
But IL conditions were unfair to
anybody, that body was Columbia.
In No. lane at the start, it was
driven over into Techs position
when the latter begged down and
later, when Syracuse disappeared
below the surface, c. lumbia found
itself finishing on the extreme out
side here the going was presu.- ed
to be the heaviest. And it finished
as though it was padding canoe.
Further than that, Columbia
proved itself to be the exceptional
fifth in the deadly ratio of four
out of five, which had been asked
to pass under the outside span OF
the railroad bridge. Tech didn't
even get that far. Syracuse got
that far but no further and what
happened to California and Cornell
as the rip and tear of the tides
caught them under this span was
such that. great crews as they
were. they couldn't go on to the
finish.
Drama, indeed, when a crew
which Ebright said was as good as
his worlds champions Of a year
ago is left reeling awash in the
trough of a wave and cannot finish
its great race of the season. The
Bears. never prominent after the
first two miles, simply couldn't
make their shell run in lie lossS