Bates crews dominate season-ending CBB Chase
WATERVILLE, Maine — Extremely windy conditions over the last three minutes of the race course pushed all crews to exhaustion, but it was the men’s and women’s eights of Bates that crossed the finish line first Sunday at the CBB Fall Chase.
The Men’s Eight finished the 4,000-meter course in a time of 12:52, well ahead of Colby (13:32) and Bowdoin (13:51). The Second Men’s Eight (14:13) also beat their counterparts from Colby (14:50). The Third Men’s Eight for Bates (15:03), the only boat in the event comprised entirely of freshmen, finished only 13 seconds behind Colby’s second varsity eight (14:50) and third boat (14:50), which included two alumni who rowed in previous World Championships.
The Women’s Eight completed their highly successful fall season in impressive fashion. Their time of 14:27 was not only good enough to defeat Colby (15:59) and Bowdoin (16:04); but it also would have placed them fifth in the men’s event. Accurate times for the rest of the women’s crews were not able to be recorded due to an error with the clock at the finish line.
The final event of the season for Bates is the Inaugural Bobcat Cup regatta, an intra-squad scrimmage that will be held this Wednesday afternoon on the home course. Crews will be racing for the Bobcat Cup, a trophy which seeks to reward the fastest Bates crew in the boathouse based on a handicap time system per boat class.