Harvard take out the Great Race

Harvard University have claimed revenge after their horror 2014 Great Race to win the 2015 edition on the Waikato River.

Led by Kiwi James O’Connor, Harvard took control of the race from the start to edge clear of the University of Cambridge and Waikato University.

By winning the indoor erg during the week, Harvard were able to take control of the race by starting in the middle of the river.

That tactical decision saw them run it close with Waikato in pursuit of the early lead, but when Waikato were unable to edge in front of their American rivals they had to drop back to third place, behind the Cambridge crew.

Waikato fought back to pass Cambridge for second position before passing the Fairfield Bridge, but when they decided to cross the river before the Claudelands Bridge their race was all but over.

The west bank was proving faster for crews throughout the day but with Harvard well ahead, Waikato took a risk by crossing the river.

That gave Cambridge the chance to sneak up into second place at the line, while Harvard powered through the final buoys to win.

Harvard coxswain Alex Sopko said once the crew had seen off the challenge of Waikato at the start of the race they simply had to follow their plan.

‘‘We knew we had a pretty good start, so we were excited to show it,’’ Sopko said. ‘‘It was actually much cleaner water than we were expecting for all three crews. We started the crossing a little bit earlier which I think Cambridge weren’t expecting.

‘‘Waikato did what I would have done, which is keep it tight, so there was a bit of clashing, but we were able to pull it through.’’

Sopko said that once Harvard had the lead, they knew their next big challenge would be cutting into the middle of the river for the finish.

‘‘We were trying

to push through as much as possible.’’

The Waikato University women’s crew were far too good for their Australian opposition in the earlier race.

With prime position in the middle of the river to start, Waikato edged into the lead before effectively hitting the brakes, forcing the trailing Australian crews to veer into the centre of the river and head first into the current.

That tactic allowed Waikato to then power away and left the Sydney and Melbourne crews well behind.

Jackie Kiddle was barking out several of those orders during the race, and said the tactic didn’t work as well as they had hoped.

‘‘We thought Sydney would be quite good from the start, they showed that yesterday during practice, so we wanted to try and really hold them out and let Melbourne come up on us,’’ Kiddle said.

‘‘It didn’t work as well as we’d planned. I think I got a little excited and called it too early, but our power helped us really stamp on it when we realised it wouldn’t work quite as well as we’d wanted.’’

Kiddle also made the call to cross the river earlier than the crew had anticipated when the Sydney crew crossed the river and Waikato wanted to mirror that.

‘‘They did come back at us at one point, so I let them know. We wanted more and they really gave it which was great.

‘‘It was quite comfortable at the end.’’

Sydney came through in second place, while Melbourne were a distant third.