UW sweeps wins at Windermere Cup

SEATTLE — University of Washington men’s and women’s rowing teams swept up wins at the 38th annual Windermere Cup and Opening Day Regatta on Saturday. Large crowds packed in at Montlake Cut to watch the races.

The number two-ranked Washington men’s rowing team earned its 28th Windermere Cup with wins in all four men’s collegiate races. In the final race of the morning, the Huskies’ varsity eight won the race with a time of 5:45.830, roughly two lengths of open water ahead of the Italian eight, which crossed in 5:55.041. Wisconsin was another five seconds back, crossing in 6:00.351.

UW men’s rowing also took home the Erickson Cascade Cup and will go on to compete at the final Pac-12 Championships and the IRA National Championship Regatta in the coming weeks.

Washington women’s rowing team wrapped up the regular season with convincing wins in the Windermere Cup and Erickson Cascade Cup, beating crews from the Italian National Team and the University of Wisconsin in the feature race and winning their 27th Windermere Cup.

The veteran Husky varsity crew held off both the Italians and Wisconsin Badgers and pulled away at the end to win with a time of 6:32.310, about a third-of-a-length of open water ahead of Italy (6:37.903). Wisconsin finished in 6:50.543.

Joining the crowd were six cast members from the new film, “The Boys in the Boat,” based on Daniel James Brown’s book following the story of the UW’s men’s crew that won gold at the 1936 Olympic Games.

UW men’s rowing coach Michael Callahan said about the day, “It’s one of the biggest crowds I’ve seen on land for a long time. I was impressed by the turnout today. Seattle came out for this. Having ‘The Boys in the Boat’ actors there brought some extra publicity on for the team the whole year, but it’s awesome to have Seattle here just supporting the team so well.”

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