Women's 4+ places 15th, Secures Spot in 50th HOCR

The Varsity Women's 4+ from Illinois raced in the 49th Head of the Charles on Saturday October 19th in Boston MA. The 3 mile course winds between Boston and Cambridge. The race is head race style, with crews starting 15 seconds apart, and the winning crew being determined by fastest time. The U of I crew started with Bow 19 (19th position) after having placed 19th in last year's competition and earning a guaranteed entry for this year. Due to an expansion of the number of events in this year's regatta, fewer at large entries were allowed for the Collegiate Women's 4+. As a result, the crew from Illinois needed to move up and finish in the top 16 in order to retain their guaranteed entry for next year's race.The Women's 4+ was passed by Bow 20 by the BU Bridge in the opening strokes of the race - that crew went on to earn the fastest time and win the event. Undeterred, the crew from Illinois quickly moved up, closing on Vassar (Bow 18, directly ahead of Illinois) by Riverside Bridge. By Anderson Brdige, they had passed Vassar and began to move through Simmons (Bow 17). Approaching the final stretch of the race, Illinois overtook Marquette (Bow 15) while also holding off a charge from the crew from McGill University (Canada) who started in 24th position and finished 2nd overall.Illinois finished with a time of 19:29.399 to earn 15th. Their time was a mere 0.005 seconds ahead of Clemson (Bow 3) who finished 16th in the final qualifying spot, and 1.143 seconds behind University of Chicago (Bow 11) who finished in 14th. The finish is good enough to earn a guaranteed entry into the 50th installment of the Head of the Charles next year.