River
BOUND
Boston’s Charles River is home to the Harvard
crew team and a mecca for New England’s best
rowers. Novices, take heed: lessons are available
BY STEPHEN JERMANOK
“Go! Go! Go!” I’m chanting, along with hundreds of other
people packed together on the small Weeks Footbridge that
connects Boston with Cambridge, Mass. A mid-autumn chill
is in the air this overcast Saturday, and the trees bordering
the Charles River brim with their finest foliage dress. But I’m
not here to take in the scenery on the shores. Instead, I’m far
more focused on the hundreds, if not thousands of boats plying the waters below in this Homeric scene. Every 15 seconds,
another boater starts his 3-mile race. I spot single and double
sculls, two-, three-, four- and eight-oared crews, many of
them elite paddlers digging into the river to give their college
a noteworthy win in the biggest rowing event in the world.
