Cambridge’s Kallfelz wins women’s singles
Emily Kallfelz of the Cambridge Boat Club, who started 20th among 25 entrants, outsculled Olympic champion Emma Twigg to claim the women’s singles championship Saturday afternoon at the Head of the Charles Regatta.
“Most people would agree that being able to row on this body of water every day is definitely helpful,” said Kallfelz, who made up seven seconds over the final mile to beat the New Zealander by four seconds in 19 minutes, 4.170 seconds.
Her victory capped a comeback season for the US teamer, who missed last year’s race with a back injury.
“It’s been a bit of a wild ride,”said Kallfelz, who stroked the quad at this summer’s world championships. “But it’s been really fun to be back.”
Ezra Carlson, who’ll row in the US boat in Sunday’s championship eights, took the men’s singles crown after finishing fifth last year.
“I knew I wanted to improve on that result so I was excited to come back and race it again,” said Carlson, who defeated
Chris Carlson (unrelated) by 17 seconds in 17:28.753. “And this year went well, obviously.”
Carlson, who competed for Craftsbury Green Racing, inherited the title from former Washington teammate Ben Davison, who opted not to defend.
“Honestly I’m a little bummed that he’s not here this year,” Ezra Carlson said. “He’s a great competitor and a great friend. I always look forward to racing him when I get the chance. I’m sure he’ll be back trying to take the win away from me next year.”
Germans take double
Germany’s Marc Weber and
Jonas Gelsen claimed the men’s doubles championship, beating US rivals Thomas Phifer and
Sorin Koszyk by five seconds in 16:01.349. They’re the first foreign champions since Croatian brothers Valent and Martin Sinkovic set the course record in 2014.
Had top-seeded world titlist Oliver Zeidler and Hannes Ocik
not scratched, the Germans likely would have finished 1-2.
In the women’s event, US team member Savannah Brija and Kate Horvat dunked Margaret Hedeman and Cara Stawicki
by more than 33 seconds in 17:50.316.
Not messing around
US Rowing, which won the last two championship men’s eights titles before the global pandemic scrubbed the 2020 regatta, brought a stacked boat for Sunday’s race. The lineup includes five members of the crew that just missed the podium at the world regatta — Harvard grads Liam Corrigan and Pieter Quinton; Michael Clougher of Canton, Mass.; Michael Knippen and Chris Carlson; plus Henry Hollingsworth from the four.
While the American women aren’t fielding an eight, they’re heavy favorites to retain their crown in the fours with a quartet composed of Charlotte Buck, Alina Hagstrom, and Kelsey Reelick from the global eight that just missed the podium, and Madeleine Wanamaker,
who won bronze in the pair. Good day for racing
Saturday’s ideal racing weather, flat water and a whisper of wind, made for 15 shattered course records. New standards were set in the men’s club singles (Adriaan Venter), senior master singles (Tom Graves), men’s master doubles (Nathaniel Kelly-Jake Watkins), men’s senior master eights (Ex Nemo ‘A’), men’s grand master eights (Upper Yarra), alumni eights (Washington), men’s master fours (Ex Nemo), men’s (Delaware) and women’s (MIT) alumni fours, men’s club eights (Harvard), the women’s master singles (Gevvie Stone), women’s senior master singles (Shannon Kaplan), women’s grand master eights (Lucky Charms ‘A’), women’s master eights (Capital), and the mixed para inclusion double (Andrew Todd-Johanna Beyer).
The record revision likely will dwindle on Sunday afternoon when the wind shifts to the northeast and rain is due. Shift praised
After some initial pushback from senior rowers last year when their events were switched to Friday morning, the three-day schedule is here to stay after a successful reprise this weekend.
“There were a few grumblings in the beginning. ’Oh, Friday, really?’” said Fred Schoch,
the regatta’s executive director. “Now they say, ‘Thank you for making the change because we can spend the rest of the weekend seeing our friends.’ ”
The races, which went from 7:45 until 10:16, were finished early enough to allow crews to get in precious tuneup time.
“One of the unique features of the Head Of The Charles is that we allow practice,” Schoch said. “If you go to any other Head race you show up, rig, and race. You don’t get to practice unless you come a couple of days early.”
Money performance
After the 2020 event was canceled, the regatta lost several sponsors last year.
“We had to dig ourselves out of a pretty good hole,” observed Schoch.
So it was fitting that two new sponsors are medical firms: vaccine maker Moderna and Blue Cross Blue Shield.