THE SPORT OF ROWING Just after passing the mile, the Badger boys began splashing badly, but they still maintained their lead. Cornell had worked up to second place and was putting up a strong spurt to catch the leader. The mile and a half was reached with the crews in the same relative positions. The speed shown by the Wisconsin boys was a surprise to everybody. As the crews approached the second mile, the deciding efforts of the crews were made. “The Pennsylvania boys went up with a rush, rowing a 38 stroke, and before the two- mile flag had been reached they had taken the lead from Wisconsin, and the form and speed displayed by the Quakers convinced every one that the race had been decided so far as the winner was concerned. “The Wisconsin boys pluckily held on to second place, rowing a 34 stroke. It was at this juncture that the ‘crack Cornellians’ were seen to ‘shoot their bolt.’ [Cornell Captain] Colson called on the men to go after Pennsylvania. The men responded with a will, but their reserve force, which was so apparent in the New London contest, did not show itself, and while they got up on even terms with the Wisconsin boys, it was seen that the Quakers could never be caught by Courtney’s men. “Columbia in the meantime was unable to keep up with the terrific pace set by the leaders and was no longer a factor in the race. “In the last mile Pennsylvania skimmed over the water like a swallow, her fast stroke fairly lifting the shell from the water, and crossed the line three and a half lengths in the lead. Cornell and the ‘Yarra Yarra’ boys had a desperate fight over every inch of the last mile for second place, the difference between her boat’s nose and that of Wisconsin being less than a length. The announcement of the time would indicate nearly two lengths, but the time keepers were 300 feet away from the finish line. “Cornell’s defeat was a big surprise to the Ithacans, but they bore it in a most manly way. ‘We haven’t any excuse to offer,’ said Coach Courtney. ‘We simply met a faster crew and lost. Pennsylvania rowed a great race, and won fairly and squarely. That is all we can say.’ “Coach Ward is perhaps the happiest man in the state. When seen directly after the race, he said, ‘It was a great race, undoubtedly the best college race ever rowed in America. We won because we rowed the fastest. Cornell deserves great praise for her magnificent race.’”1384 Technique Analysis: Quasi-English versus American Crowther: “The time of 15:51½ is the fastest that an eight has ever [as of 1905] gone on three miles of dead water. “The race demonstrated that the quasi- English style of Cornell Extended Body Swing Style] was wrong, and like the Yale style of the same time, was an unhappy combination of the two systems that could only result in failure when the crew was pitted against where the style was logical and a direct application of the basic principles of the stroke.”1385 Ward: “My stroke differs from any other. It is genuinely American; nothing half-English about it, and it has wiped up a British crew every time it has gone up against one.”1386 To Crowther, the essential distinction between “Quasi-English” and “American” technique came in the length of the slide and the coordination of the legs and back. The British on short slides began their 1384 Pennsylvania’s Varsity Race, The New York Times, July 3, 1898 1385 Crowther, pp. 125-6 1386 Qtd. by Rank, op.cit., p. 50 [Courtney’s 368
