The BU women’s lightweight rowing team competing at the 2022 Head of the Charles Regatta. “It really becomes this event that brings the rowing community together,” says Malcolm Doldron, director of women’s rowing.

International Sports

On Your Mark, Get Set, Row

BU rowing teams take on the Head of the Charles Regatta this weekend

The rowing world will turn its focus to Boston this weekend, when approximately 11,000 rowers from around the globe take to the Charles River for the 58th annual Head of the Charles Regatta. The event, with 75 total races, runs from Friday, October 20, to Sunday, October 22, and is the world’s largest three-day regatta, attracting roughly 400,000 spectators each year. As always, BU will be at the heart of the action—in more ways than one.

BU’s DeWolfe Boathouse, nestled along the banks of the Charles across from Central Campus, marks the start of the three-mile course. And on the river, the Terriers’ three rowing squads—women’s lightweight and men’s and women’s openweight—will all compete in the regatta, along with several BU alums. 

“It’s a celebration of sport,” says Malcolm Doldron, director of women’s rowing. “It’s an event that brings together the best rowers from inside the country, outside the country, and all across the globe. And it provides a very even platform for everyone to measure themselves against.”

The BU varsity rowing teams will participate in 11 events over the weekend, and several BU alumni will race for the BU-affiliated DeWolfe Rowing Club. Many of the program’s alums will travel to Boston for the event, too, creating something of a Boston University rowing reunion.

“It’s just a really great opportunity to see that group come back and share their stories and interact with the current team and the new staff,” Doldron says. “I think that’s the beautiful thing about the Head of the Charles, that it’s this reunification of the BU rowing community. That’s what really makes it special and that’s why we choose to continue to participate in it year in and year out.”

The regatta is a series of head races, time trial competitions where teams set off at staggered starting times and race against the clock over a longer span of water, unlike the shorter “sprint” races that primarily make up the Terriers’ regular season schedule in the spring. Nonetheless, the Head of the Charles helps BU’s teams build momentum and gain valuable experience ahead of the spring slate, even if the competition is months before the regular season.

“It’s a good gauge of where we’re at,” says Mary Foster, first-year women’s lightweight head coach. “For any athlete, any program, it gives a good idea of where your strengths and weaknesses are.”

While the Terriers will be facing off against Olympians and other top rowers from across the world, the Head of the Charles is effectively a home race for BU, and the team draws confidence from its experience rowing daily on the Charles. 

“There’s definitely an energy that [the Charles] brings to us. We get to practice on it all the time,” Foster says. “That’s something that on a course as tricky as the Head of the Charles definitely is an advantage.”

That home advantage is especially important, considering the Head of the Charles course features several difficult turns that require precise execution from inside the boat. 

“When there are other boats on the course and other people moving at different speeds, it can be challenging to get your boat where you want it to be on the course,” Foster adds. “For coxswains, or rowers who may not have an understanding of the course, they may not be able to think three steps ahead and set themselves up to take the best course and the best line. Our coxswains are well-versed in the course. We talk about it all the time.” 

But above all, the BU coaches agree, the Head of the Charles is a celebration of the sport on a big-time stage.

“There’s this huge amount of masters and club rowers, where it’s almost like a bucket list thing to do,” says men’s head coach Tom Bohrer, a former Olympian, who, in addition to coaching the men’s squad, will be competing in the Men’s Grand Master/Veteran Singles race on Friday morning along with boatman Russ Cone. “It really presents our sport well.”

Doldron echoes those thoughts.

“It becomes a bit of a rowing festival and spectacle,” he says. “There are fans lining the shorelines, people returning to see their clubs and alma maters race, alumni from all over the globe. It really becomes this event that brings the rowing community together, and BU is at the heart of that rowing community for this weekend.”

The Head of the Charles Regatta is Friday, October 20, through Sunday, October 22. Admission is free. Fans can watch live coverage on Youtube and on the Head of the Charles website. Follow BU’s teams on X (formerly Twitter) @TerrierMROW, @TerrierWROW, @Terrier130ROW, and @BUGameDay. Find the complete racing schedule here.