The Bucknell Men competed in their first race of the fall season on home water at the Bucknell Fall Invitational on October 5th in Shamokin Dam, PA on the Susquehanna River – competing against crews from Drexel and Lehigh.
The style of racing was rather unusual with various boat classes racing different distances and starting at the same time, with the Varsity 8+’s racing the furthest (approx. 5.5k) and the 2nd and 3rd freshman boats racing the shortest (approx. 5k). With 13 8+’s starting at once, racing was a sight to behold, with fierce competition between all crews. The Bucknell Varsity took an early lead for the first 2,500m, before conceding the lead to Drexel in the last 2k who went on to finish in 19:12, with Bucknell finishing in 19:32, with Lehigh trailing with a 21:29.
The Bucknell 2V faced tough competition from the Drexel 2V and 3V crews, finishing 3rd ahead of Lehigh with a final time of 20:14, 1:07 off of the winning time set by the Drexel 2V and 47″ ahead of 4th place Lehigh.
The Bison Freshman 8+ performed very well by jumping out to a substantial lead in the first 500m and not looking back to finish in 21:07, over 1 minute ahead of the 2nd place Lehigh crew.
The Bucknell and Lehigh 2nd and 3rd freshman boats had tight racing throughout the 5k distance, with the Bucknell 10 man boat winning in 21:56, followed by the Lehigh 2F, Bucknell 2F and Lehigh 3F, respectively.
The Bison men will be in action again when they compete at the Head of the Charles Regatta on October 19-20 in Boston, MA on the Charles River.