Crew hosts top field for Windermere Cup

The stage is set for a tremendous event this Saturday as the Washington men’s and women’s crew teams will compete against not only strong competition, but foreign competition as well.

The Washington men’s crew team will race No. 12 Navy and the Under-23 National Team from Poland, and the women will be competing against Navy and the University of Melbourne. The winner of Saturday’s races will be awarded the coveted Windermere Cup Trophy.

“It’s pretty cool having the Polish guys coming to race,” sophomore Simon Taylor said. “It’s good to have a national team because it will be really challenging for us, and that makes it exciting. I’m looking forward to racing down the cut, having the fans screaming at us the whole time.”

The Polish men’s team will travel to the UW with three crew team members who have placed fifth overall in the Under-23 World Championships in England.

For women’s crew, the University of Melbourne is the 2006 Australian National Champion and the 2007 runners-up. This will be their first visit to the Windermere Cup.

“I know that Melbourne will be really, really fast,” sophomore Kayleigh Mack said. “They are the fastest university in Australia. I don’t know that much about Navy, but I assume that they will be fast as well. We will need to duke it out and go for a really hard push.”

The Huskies have enjoyed great success in the previous Windermere Cup regattas. The men have taken home the Windermere Cup 15 of the last 17 seasons, including four of the last five years, and the women have won 12 of the last 16 Windermere regattas. This year’s race is expected to be quite competitive, especially in women’s crew.

“I think that it’s going to be a really close race between the three crews,” Mack said. “It will be really fun to watch because everyone will be going really hard. It will be a good race for the crowd to get involved in and yell and scream for the Huskies.”

Fans will have a lot to look forward to with this race, which will be broadcast live on 95.0 KJR and on the web at GoHuskies.com.

“They can look forward to a real energetic atmosphere,” Taylor said. “I’m sure that there will be a huge crowd showing up on the banks of the cut. It will be a wild and crazy atmosphere with the Husky band there too.”

Racing will begin at 10:20 a.m. with the men’s age 40 and older eight boat and will culminate with the featured races at 11:15 a.m. (women) and 11:25 a.m. (men). Spectators are encouraged to view the race from the shores of the Montlake Cut.