“It’s fun to win, I’ll say that.’’
After last year’s two-second shortfall against the Huskies, who went on to beat the Crimson again at the IRA championships, it was a satisfying bit of payback and a suitable anniversary celebration. The college has been around for 375 years and Parker is in his 50th at the helm, still feisty and focused while undergoing cancer treatments.
“Harry’s had a rough time these last few months but he’s handling it with his typical persistence,’’ said stroke Patrick Lapage. “It means the world to us to do it for him.’’
His oarsmen thought they had a grand chance last year when seven men from the Henley champion boat returned. But they had to play dodge ’em all the way up the 3-mile course after starting 15th, and when the Crimson clicked oars with Penn AC amid a logjam at the Eliot Bridge, their chances vanished.
This time Harvard was ideally positioned, starting behind Washington and ahead of Cal. That allowed coxswain David Fuller to open the throttle early. “That was a big help,’’ said 7-man Matt Edstein. “About a mile down, Dave said, ‘We’re moving on Washington.’ That gave us motivation.’’
As the Crimson kept motoring, they kept gaining on the Huskies while they watched the Golden Bears recede. By the time the crews came around Dead Man’s Curve with less than a mile to go, Harvard was closing fast and finally drew even. Going by was another matter.
Washington didn’t win the title twice in the last three years by waving rivals past them, and they didn’t do it yesterday. “Absolutely not,’’ said Lapage. “Once we got up to them they dug in and we dug in.’’ Though the Huskies pulled away before the finish, Harvard had made up enough ground that it knew that it likely had the victory under the elapsed-time format.
