Second varsity eights: That was rough. Stanford burned hard and led by a full length for most of the race, but Washington charged really, really impressively in the last 700 meters to win by seven seats (which is about 80% of a length). This is like UW trailing by 10 pts in basketball until maybe the last 5 min of a game...and then winning by 8 pts. This is gonna sting in those Stanford rowers' memories, but many of them are freshmen, so this is at least valuable experience for them.
Let's be honest, in rowing, it's rather difficult to give up a length's lead like that in such short time.
The varsity eight event will decide the championship.
They're clearing the venue because of the possibility of lightning, and the varsity eight grand final will be delayed for who knows how long. Normally a lightning delay means pausing racing until it's been 30 min since the last strike within a 10 mile radius (that's one convention, I'm sure there are others).
On the positive side, Stanford's varsity eight will know the results of the other two races and can react accordingly. It's very likely that the second varsity eight didn't know the result of the fours race. This next one's for all the marbles.
But can the crews keep their legs loose/fresh and manage their nerves? A lot of rowers tend to take caffeine right before a race for a slight boost. That effect will have worn off by the time racing resumes (and yes, there is only one more race left). I just want that varsity eight to know that they can't hang their catches because that's sort of what hurt the other two Stanford boats.
Let's be honest, in rowing, it's rather difficult to give up a length's lead like that in such short time.
The varsity eight event will decide the championship.
They're clearing the venue because of the possibility of lightning, and the varsity eight grand final will be delayed for who knows how long. Normally a lightning delay means pausing racing until it's been 30 min since the last strike within a 10 mile radius (that's one convention, I'm sure there are others).
On the positive side, Stanford's varsity eight will know the results of the other two races and can react accordingly. It's very likely that the second varsity eight didn't know the result of the fours race. This next one's for all the marbles.
But can the crews keep their legs loose/fresh and manage their nerves? A lot of rowers tend to take caffeine right before a race for a slight boost. That effect will have worn off by the time racing resumes (and yes, there is only one more race left). I just want that varsity eight to know that they can't hang their catches because that's sort of what hurt the other two Stanford boats.