Stone forms golden boat
Olympic medalist in on winning eight
If Newton’s Gevvie Stone stays true to her word and puts down the oar during her upcoming residency, then she will have certainly gone out with a bang.
Headlining a “great eight” boat that included Olympians and world champions from around the world under the colors of her Cambridge Boat Club, the Newton native added a women’s championship eights title to her credit yesterday at the 52nd annual Head of the Charles Regatta.
A two-time Olympian, Stone was the silver medalist this summer in Rio de Janeiro in the single sculls, and yesterday headlined a crew that covered the 3-mile course that was predominantly straight into a gusty headwind to a 15-second victory in a time of 16:30.368.
After nailing down her record-tying seventh championship singles titles on Saturday, she served as stroke yesterday along with a group that included fellow top level single scullers Kim Brennan of Australia, who won gold at Rio; threetime Olympian Emma Twigg from New Zealand; Canadian Carling Zeeman; Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland; Austrian Magdalena Lobnig; London Olympics gold medalist Miroslava Knapkova; and bow Sanita Puspure of Ireland. Harvard men’s heavyweight assistant Erin Driscoll served as coxswain.
“That’s so fun. They all jumped at (the opportunity),” Stone said of her collection of talent. “Everyone wants to be a part of this. I think it’s so cool.”
The “great eight” boat from the New York Athletic Club and stroked by Grace Luczak, was the runner-up. Yale placed third for the best finish among all-college crews, edging Brown by less than a second.
Stone was not willing to say she’d step away entirely, but insisted she would not compete at the World Championships next summer in Florida.
“I’m definitely applying to residency in June,” Stone said. ““I love rowing and it’s hard to say goodbye to something you love so much”
Stone, who in addition to the seven singles titles and the eights title yesterday, also had three Head of the Charles wins while at Princeton University, and also won as part of a victory for the Winsor School as a senior in high school.
Suffice to say the Head of the Charles has a special place in her heart.
“It’s home,” Stone said. “It’s pressure, but there’s pride and there’s perks of being a local. This is my favorite event every year.”
Double the fun
This weekend’s weather toyed with the competitors, from Saturday’s rain to yesterday’s wind. It was not all doom and gloom, however, as Brennan and Twigg of New Zealand put their names into the course record book with Saturday’s win in the women’s championship doubles.
Brennan, the single sculls gold medalist at Rio de Janeiro and two-time medalist four years ago in London, and Twigg, a three-time Olympian and 2014 world champion in the single sculls covered the 3-mile course in 18:08.700. They were awarded their medals yesterday, when it was announced they had set the race record.
Cup heads north
The Boston Herald Cup is given annually to the winners of the men’s lightweight eights, and the University of Western Ontario proved best among the 14 entries this year. The Mustangs of London, Ontario, were the penultimate starters and passed a slew of earlier starters on their way to a finish of 15:41.440, a little more than a second better than Cornell.
The headwind really showed in the winning time, as it was the slowest since 1989, when Vesper Boat Club of Philadelphia won in 16:13.5.
The school also claimed the women’s lightweight fours, as it dusted the field in a time of 19:02.444, a halfminute faster than defending champion Riverside Boat Club.