The Bucknell Men had their first official outing of the 2014 spring season this past Saturday, April 5th in a double-dual against Temple and St. Joseph’s Universities on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pa. The weather was clear and sunny with blustery cross-head wind conditions for half of the race course gusting up to 25mph.
The first race of the day was between the Bucknell Freshman 8+ and the Temple 3rd Varsity boat, the Bison freshman took a commanding lead in the first 30 strokes of the race and cruised to an easy win with a final time of 6:24.9 to Temple’s 6:53.2.
The second race down the course was that of the 2nd Varsity 8+’s, racing was tight through the first 1000m with Bucknell leading by ½ length and holding margin until the last 500m where Temple was able to power through to take the win with a final time of 6:08.9 to Bucknell’s 6:13.9.
The final race of the morning session was a the much anticipated matchup between the Varsity 8+’s. The crews both made clean starts and margins were very tight approaching the turn in the course at 800m, here both crews were hit with a very strong gust after which Temple was able to edge out to a ½ Length lead that they could maintain for the last half of the race, posting a winning time of 5:54.8 to Bucknell’s 5:56.7.
The afternoon session of racing against St. Joe’s began once again with the Freshman 8+’s, conditions had improved slightly as the wind shifted to more of a cross from starboard side, allowing for flat water on most of the course. The Bison Freshman again jumped out to an open water lead at 1250m to go, and continued moving away for the win in a time of 6:14.8 to SJU’s 6:23.4.
The next crews down the course were the 2nd 8+’s, which transpired much the same as the freshman race before them – with the Bison 2V jumping out to an early lead and moving away to a winning effort in 6:05.4 to SJU’s 6:24.8.
The final race of the day saw the Bison Varsity move out to open water by the 1000m mark and continue to move away for their first win of the year in a time of 6:03 to SJU’s 6:10.6.
The Bison Men will be in action again next week for the Knecht Cup, held on Saturday and Sunday, April 12th-13th in West Windsor, NJ on Lake Mercer.