On a day characterized by strong headwinds and crosswinds, the men's heavyweight rowing team faced Boston University on Fish Creek in Saratoga Springs, New York, in a close and quick regatta. After a loss to Harvard the prior Saturday, the No. 13 Red split the meet against the No. 12 Terriers, showing off what it spent the week working on.
The Red’s standout performance was in its 2V8+, in which it edged out the Terriers by a second, the final time for The Red being 6:11:384. On the other hand, the 1V8+ was right behind the Terriers’ A boat but ended up finishing 5.3 seconds behind in a competitive race, with a final time of 6:02:280.
In a surprising turn of events, the 3V8+ race had a disqualification of the Terriers, who were impacted by the crosswind that had them drifting between lands twice. While not causing any collisions, the Red claimed the victory due to this disqualification, even after being approximately two seconds behind. The Terriers finished with an official time of 6:15:170, while the Red finished with a time of 6:17:020.
In the 4V8+ race, Boston University ended the race just around seven seconds before the Red, with the Terriers reaching the finish line in 6:27:441 and the Red at 6:34:661.
Historically, these teams have competed against each other frequently, in which the results have varied greatly. Between the 2025 IRA National Championship, in which the Red won both finals with its 1V8+ and 2V8+ boats as well as the 2025 Eastern Sprints, where the Terriers took ninth place overall, while the Red took 11th overall. These competitive programs have been head-to-head for years.
Up next, the Red will return to Ithaca’s waters on the Cayuga Inlet on Saturday to face Syracuse and Navy for the Goes Trophy. The time of the event is still to be determined.
This event will be incredibly competitive as the Navy and the Red are fighting to leave with the trophy after five years of dominance from Syracuse.
