Drysdale and Guerette big names at The Charles

Crews warm up near the start line of the Head of the Charles

Cool weather, a bumpy start and tail wind conditions faced over 3,000 rowers on the first day of the five kilometer Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, United States.

Racing on day one of two days began with the oldest rower competing and closed with a win by the United States' rising star in the single. Eighty-five year old Stephen Richardson of New Hampshire took on 23 others in the 70+ men's single while 25 year old Michelle Guerette of the United States romped home to win the women's championship single at the end of the day.

Guerette became the first American woman in 20 years to win a World Championship medal when she took bronze in the single this year and since moving into the single from last year's Olympic quad, Guerette has shown that the bronze was no fluke.

?This race course is challenging and the conditions put me a bit off,? said Guerette after the finish admitting it was an advantage to be rowing on her home course. ?It is certainly different to the quietness of training in the single. I wasn't quite used to having all of the crowds and noise.?

Behind Guerette, Great Britain's Olympic medallist Debbie Flood finished second followed by Brett Sickler of Washington DC.

In a stacked men's championship single race Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand started just behind two-time Olympic medallist, Slovenia's Iztok Cop, catching up with 3km rowed to go head-to-head against Cop. Under-stroking Cop by two beats per minute, Drysdale managed to push ahead.

?I had been sitting behind him (Cop) and had to make a decision so I went to the outside,? said Drysdale who clashed oars with Cop before taking the lead. Drysdale, who has been training recently in England, admitted that he did not mind the conditions. ?This is quite docile compared to the Tideway.?

In the final results a missed buoy penalty meant that Drysdale finished first by only one second.

Early morning masters singles race on the Charles

Cop also succumbed to United States lightweight champion, Steve Tucker. Tucker, like Guerette, had the home course advantage and came to the Head of the Charles fresh from a win at the Armada Cup last weekend in Switzerland.

The regatta opened on Friday with a flurried 350 metre men's eight sprint touted as London vs. Boston. On the London side Leander Club and Cambridge University raced against Boston's Northeastern and Harvard Universities.

Leander had packed their boat with four Olympic gold medallists while Cambridge University was made up of six different nationalities of international caliber rowers. Rating a high 48 ½ strokes per minute, Leander took the lead over a strong challenge from Northeastern University. 

Racing continues on Sunday with a mixture of masters, collegiate and championship events.

For a full list of results go to: www.hocr.org

The World Rowing team values feedback.