HOCR Results Thoughts

2026 Head of the Charles.

Whitman Eights and TBCRacing Fours (Sound familiar?)

Is this a deja vu post from the Occoquan Chase? Is any of this real? Is time simply an illusion? 

THE YOUTH EIGHTS 

Results largely held steady on the eights side of the house racing this weekend. Walt Whitman continued to be the fastest eights in the region. In the Women's Youth 8+, Whitman had a program-best finish at 10th, finishing ahead of Stotesbury and Mid-Atlantic rivals Montclair and Mount Saint Joseph. This was a big swing from last year when the Whitman Women got clipped by the Mount 2v. 

The Whitman Men were again the top local boat, but by less time than the model would have anticipated. They also had their best finish (16th) since starting a fall program 5 years ago. Gonzaga and DC National both trailed by 17 seconds (Gonzaga's official margin was 22 seconds after a 5-second penalty). That's a 7.9 second improvement for Gonzaga over their 25.9-second gap at the Chase, after adjusting for the shorter course. 

Jackson-Reed closed the gap in both the Women's and Men's 8+. The Women went from 46 seconds behind Whitman at the Chase to 15 seconds behind on the Charles, and the Men went from 54 seconds back to 42. Looks like they have gained some speed recently and the Tigers should be a team to watch! 

From RegattaCentral sleuthing, Whitman appears to be opting to train through next weekend rather than racing the Head of the Schuylkill (HOSR), so we'll see if they can maintain their local reign at the Head of the Occoquan (HOTO) in 2 weeks!  

YOUTH AND U17 FOURS

TBC Racing, the Maroon and Blues, once again held strong in the fours. Their Women's U17 4+ finished 3rd, the only youth sweep medal of the region (Coastal Virginia also medaled in sculling; see below). Their Men's 4+, racing as Water Street, had a dominant local performance in the Men's Youth 4+, finishing a strong 12th, nearly 48 seconds ahead of the next local crew. Curious to see if this sets them up for a strong four at Mid-Atlantics or if they are going to transition back into the eights.

 

Prince William Crew and TBC both outperformed their Chase results. Adjusted for the shorter course, Prince William's Men's 4+ was about 45 seconds faster than its Chase time, the biggest over performance of the weekend, and TBC's was about 20 seconds faster.

 

The St. John's College HS Women's 4+ had the biggest over performance among the girls' fours, finishing 40 seconds quicker than the model would expect. Is this an over performance, or a model error from racing even line ups earlier in the year? 

 

OTHER EVENTS OF NOTE

• Coastal Virginia took 3rd in the Women's Youth 1x, a medal for the region in sculling.
• Annapolis Junior Rowing finished 8th in the Men's U17 4+.
• PBC Men's 2x in 12th place. Best finish of the PBC Juniors this year. 
• PBC Men's 4x+ and Women's 1x both finished 13th, and the PBC Women's 2x was 17th.
• Rivanna's two Men's Youth 2x finished 17th and 19th, separated by only 8.5 seconds.
• Bishop Ireton had a tough last place finish in the Men's Youth 4x+ despite sculling being a new focus of the program. HOCR is hard and hopefully the athletes feel like they learned something! 
• Local Unity Boat Club won the Inclusion 4+