Women's Crew Prepares For Their First-Ever Head Of The Charles Regatta
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The world's largest two-day rowing event will take place on the Charles River this weekend as rowers from around the globe will travel to Boston for the 48th Head of the Charles Regatta. The Merrimack women's crew will compete in their first-ever Head of the Charles on Saturday in the women's club 8+.
The Head of the Charles Regatta is in its 48th year as over 9,000 athletes, 300,000 spectators and 1,400 volunteers will head to the Charles River for the event. The first event featured about 100 competitors and has grown to over 55 events this year.
The women's club 8+ race will feature 34 boats, mostly division I and III teams, and will be run at 1:35 pm on Saturday. Some of the other boats participating in the same race as the Warriors are University of Tennessee, University of Connecticut, UMass, Northeastern, Holy Cross and Boston College. The Merrimack boat is bow #28, which means they will be the 28th boat to start in their event and it is a time trail event.
The Merrimack 8+ boat will consist of coxswain Cary Bannan (Hingham, Mass.), Haley Pare (Coventry, RI), Kaylee McKenna (Georgetown, Texas), Aubrey O'Neil (Pawcatuck, CT), Lydia Staschke (Guilford, CT), Jessie Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass.), Stephanie Beaudry (Lowell, Mass.), Stephanie Giordano (Leominster, Mass.) and Tamara O'Donnell (Billerica, Mass.). Eight of the nine participants for Merrimack are underclassmen as O'Donnell is the lone senior competing in the event.
The Head of the Charles course starts at the Boston University Boathouse and runs approximately three miles upstream, past the Harvard University campus. The route goes under the combination of a railroad trestle bridge near BU, the BU Bridge and five triple-arching bridges on its way to the finish line. For information on the course, click here.
For a full schedule of events, click here.
For fans that are not able to make their way down to the Charles River for the Regatta this weekend, there will be a live webcast of the event. For more information, click here.
The Head of the Charles also provides a shuttle bus that runs on a continuous loop around the parking areas and course. For information on the shuttle bus, click here.
More information on the event can be found on the Regatta website http://hocr.org/.
