THE SPORT OF ROWING Rowing U.S.A.: “At 1,250 meters, Lewis made a strong move into second place, drawing Wood and Biglow along. At 500 meters to go, Lewis moved into a half- length lead over Bouscaren, Biglow and Wood.”7244 Halberstam: “Lewis had surged ahead, going by so quickly that Bouscaren could not respond. That seemed to stagger him mentally for a moment, and now as he looked out he saw both Wood and Biglow beginning their sprints. It was hard for him to find more energy, and he had a sense that he had gone out too fast.”7245 Biglow: “Brad was far away from me. I was in a far right lane, and he was in a far left lane, and the finish line at Princeton is at an angle to the shore so it’s really hard to read.”7246 Colgan: “Montesi was screwed out in Lane 0, which was dead slow. I was in Lane 1, and Biggie was in Lane 2 or 3. Brad had Lane 6, which is a big advantage in Princeton.”7247 Wood: “That’s interesting about Lane 6 being an advantage. I was never too aware that Princeton was unfair, though it does ring a bell that at high water there could be some lane difference, and the Trials were early enough in the season that maybe there was some water running over the dam. “At the time I don’t remember thinking about it – probably one of those things you try not to be aware of.”7248 Biglow: “I came from way behind, and I was thinking, ‘I can’t let Brad Lewis win! I can’t let Brad Lewis win!’”7249 Halberstam: “It seemed wrong to Biglow that Brad Lewis should be the sculler. It offended his Biglovian sense of order and hierarchy. It was easy to picture 7244 Reith, op. cit. 7245 Halberstam, pp. 129-30 7246 Biglow, op. cit. 7247 Colgan, op. cit. 7248 Wood, personal correspondence, 2009 7249 Biglow, op. cit. Tiff as the single sculler, but Brad Lewis was different. “With 500 meters to go, Biglow set out to catch him. Probably Biglow would have tried to win anyway, but his feelings about Lewis gave him more reason.”7250 Rowing U.S.A.: “Coming into the last 25 strokes, Lewis led with Biglow moving and Wood taking over third. In the last ten, both Biglow and Wood tried to catch Lewis with a last surge. Biglow succeeded. Wood didn’t.”7251 1 John Biglow 4 Joe Bouscaren 5 Sean Colgan 6 Jim Dietz 7 Greg Montesi 2 Brad Alan Lewis 7:28.00 3 Tiff Wood 7:27.10 7:28.10 7:32.05 7:32.10 7:34.10 7:37.60 Wood: “The heat and the semi-finals at the Trials had gone . . . perfectly. I was in the semi where they ended up having four people go to the final, so ostensibly it might have been thought of as being a really hard race, but it was a race that I felt in control of, and that’s somewhat unusual for me. Often I get nervous about not being far enough ahead or whatever, but that was one where honestly I did feel very much in control and watching these other people fighting it out, wondering what was going to happen but never feeling threatened by it. “It wasn’t to me a hard race. There have been people who have postulated that as the oldest person there maybe I didn’t recover as well as everyone else, and that was the problem the next day. “In the final, I had the most incredibly awful race. Five strokes into it I felt like I couldn’t find the rhythm. I couldn’t get it going. “If there was one thing that was wrong in my single sculling career, it was inconsistency. It took me a long time to 7250 Halberstam, p. 131 7251 Reith, op. cit. 2022
