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Ridenour and Backer finish 6th at the Head of the Charles

21 October 2009
elizabeth.wolfe
Last Wednesday Stephanie Ridenour and Adelaide Backer departed Brentwood in the morning to arrive in Cambridge, MA for the annual Head of the Charles Regatta. They were able to borrow a boat and oars from the Harvard-Radcliffe Crew and rowed out of Weld Boathouse. The race is a 4.8km head race through various bridges and winding hairpin bends. The girls came 6th in the youth double, missing 3rd by 3.5 seconds. Of the thirty entries of clubs and schools from all over North America, Backer and Ridenour finished first out of all the high schools entered. Two of the doubles ahead of them were junior national team members from Canada and the United States. This was an incredible achievement for these two athletes. While they stayed in Cambridge, they also toured their prospective universities: Harvard, MIT, Yale, and Brown. Overall it was a really awesome trip.
There were a number of Old Brentonians also competing at the Head of the Charles. Spencer Crowley (Class of 2007) rowed in the University of California Berkeley's varsity eight. They finished second in the Championship 8+, beating the defending champions, University of Washington by 0.2 seconds. Spencer's eight was the fastest collegiate eight. The winning crew was a collection of the best rowers in the world coming together to race in the "Great Eight." Noah McColl (Class of 2006) stroked the Yale lightweight four to a 4th place finish but first collegiate crew in the event. This is the second year in a row Noah has won this event. He is in his senior year at Yale. Cam Gilham (Class of 2007) rowed in the University of California Berkeley Championship 4+ event. His crew finished 5th overall and were the third collegiate crew in the event. Natasha Hollingsworth (Class of 2009) rowed for Queens University placing 7th in the Collegiate Eight. Greg Hughes (Class of 1992) and head coach of Princeton University Men's team teamed up with Harold Backer (Class of 1980) and junior boys coach at Brentwood, in the Alumni Eight event and finished 8th.

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