THE SPORT OF ROWING The Race Bob Cook, still adjusting his stroke after his experience at Henley, was only confident that both Yale and Harvard would beat Cornell. “In the old days of New London, or rather under former conditions, I would say that Yale was a sure winner. But this year Harvard has the fastest crew she ever had. I think Harvard and Yale are evenly matched for tomorrow’s race – at least for three miles. After that, the crew that holds its form and has the endurance should win. “Mr. Lehmann and I agree that both Harvard and Yale will defeat Cornell, and from what he said to me tonight, I believe he thinks his crew has a slight better chance of winning than my crew. Mr. Lehmann has produced better form than Yale possesses, but I think my failure to get as good a steady swing is due to the difficulty I experienced in changing Yale’s stroke this year. For my part, I am in doubt whether it will be Harvard or Yale.”1348 Historian Mendenhall: “On Friday, 25 June 1897, the varsity boats got ready to race under good but not fast conditions before a crowd estimated at one hundred thousand that thronged hills along the course in Poughkeepsie, filling the fifty-car observation train with ‘Jack’ Astor aboard and joining the fleet of yachts and steamers led by J.P. Morgan, Jr.’s Corsair.”1349 The New York Journal: “Harvard was the first to reach her stakeboat. Cornell pulled out next, in her colorless, mechanical, uninteresting way, and nobody paid much attention to her. Finally proud Yale deigned to get into her boat and took her position; and it was 3:44 o’clock, local time. “The referee’s steamer came down within sixty feet of them, and ‘Are you ready?’ 1348 Qtd. by Lundin, pp. 5-6 1349 Mendenhall, Harvard-Yale, p. 218 question was repeated they all were ready, and “‘No.’ Yale was not. But when the ‘Go!’ megaphone. “They were off, amid a roar miles long, followed by a hush, as we bent forward to see who had the lead. Yale started behind Harvard, but they were as nearly level as possible after rowing a dozen strokes. Cornell was half a length to the rear, and would, of course, soon disappear entirely. “Then, for a moment all were even, or else the slant of the course deceived the eye. The race was really very close here, and we were all so intent and anxious that we forgot to make our usual noise. “At the mile it certainly looked as if Cornell were ahead a little, but it must be an ocular deception; the thing was absurd. “At the mile and a half, we were forced to the belief that our eyes were truer than we thought; and now Yale was half a length before Harvard. Yale also seemed to be gaining a bit on the weird and incomprehensible Cornell. But at the two miles Yale had dropped back once more, and Harvard was nearer to her than before, though still last. “Their changes meant desperate spurts that came and died away, but Cornell did not spurt; she didn’t have to; she just rowed on with perfect ease and lightness, and at two and a half miles were two lengths to the good. “Three miles had been rowed; one remained. And here both Yale and Harvard made a final and gallant effort to retrieve themselves. Yale’s effort was the stronger, and it shortened the gap between her and her light-footed enemy, but in vain. As they passed along the roaring and steam- whistling array of yachts, Cornell seemed to start forward afresh; but it was only the others dying away. She crossed the line two lengths and a half ahead of Yale, who led Harvard by a length and a half. thundered through the 356
