Harvard-Yale Regatta

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The Yale-Harvard Boat Race or Harvard-Yale Regatta is an annual rowing race between Yale and Harvard universities. First contested in 1852, annually since 1859 except during major wars fought by the United States, The Race is America's oldest collegiate athletic competition, predating The Game by 23 years. Originally rowed on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire, it has since moved to the Thames River, New London, Connecticut. Although other locations for the race have included the Connecticut River at Springfield, Mass. and Lake Quinsigamond at Worcester, Mass., the Thames has hosted The Race on all but 5 occasions since 1878 and both teams have erected permanent training camps on the Thames at Gales Ferry for Yale and at Red Top for Harvard. The race has been exclusively between Harvard and Yale except for 1897 when the race was held as part of a three boat race with Cornell on the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, New York, where, although it lost to Cornell, Yale was deemed the winner of the Harvard-Yale race.

[edit] History

The first race was held over 2 miles (3.2 km) but this was changed to 3 miles (4.8 km) for all the races up to 1875, when both universities agreed on the current length of 4 miles (6.4 km).

Originally the race occurred between just the varsity crew but now there are 3 races held on the day, the 2 mile (3.2 km) freshmen race, the 3 mile (4.8 km) junior varsity and finally the 4 mile (6.4 km) varsity match.

Typically the day before the freshman, junior varsity and varsity races, there is a 2 mile (3.2 km) race between the spares for both crews. These "combination" boats are made up of second freshman boat and third varsity boat rowers (i.e. the "combi" or "combo" race). The winner of this race gets the James P. Snider Cup, as well as the right to paint its school's colors on the "rock" at Bartlett's Cove near the north end of the race course.

Currently Harvard leads the varsity series at 88-53, the second varsity (JV) at 68-36, and the freshman series at 63-39-1. Harvard also holds the upstream record with its time of 18:41.9 in 1995. Yale's fastest upstream time (18:45.5) was also posted that year. The Crimson set the downstream--and Thames River course--mark of 18:22.4 in 1980.

See also The Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge.

[edit] Results

  • Harvard: 88 wins
  • Yale: 53 wins

This is an incomplete list compiled from various sources [1] [2].

Date Winner Time Direction
1852 Harvard (2 lengths)
1855 Harvard 22:47
1859 Harvard 19:18
1860 Harvard 18:53
1864 Yale 19:01
1865 Yale 18:42.5
1866 Harvard 18:43.5
1867 Harvard 18:12.75
1868 Harvard 17:48.5
1869 Harvard 18:02
1870 Harvard 20:30
1872 Harvard 16:57
1873 Yale 16:59
1874 Harvard 16:56
1875 Yale 17:05
1876 Yale 22:02
1877 Harvard 24:36
1878 Harvard 20:44.75 Downstream
1879 Harvard 22:15 Downstream
1880 Yale 24:27 Downstream
1881 Yale 22:13 Downstream
1882 Harvard 20:47.5 Downstream
1883 Harvard 25:46.5 Downstream
1884 Yale 20:31 Downstream
1885 Harvard 25:15.5 Downstream
1886 Yale 20:42 Upstream
1887 Yale 22:56 Downstream
1888 Yale 20:10 Downstream
1889 Yale 21:30 Upstream
1890 Yale 21:29 Downstream
1891 Harvard 21:23 Upstream
1892 Yale 20:48 Downstream
1893 Yale 25:01.5 Downstream
1894 Yale 23:45.5 Downstream
1895 Yale 21:30 Downstream
1897 Yale 20:44
1898 Yale 24:02 Upstream
1899 Harvard 20:52.5 Downstream
1900 Yale 21:12.8 Downstream
1901 Yale 23:37 Downstream
1902 Yale 20:20 Downstream
1903 Yale 20:19.8 Downstream
1904 Yale 21:40.5 Upstream
1905 Yale 22:33.5 Upstream
1906 Harvard 23:02 Downstream
1911 Harvard
1925 Yale
1934 Yale
1947 Harvard
1952 Harvard
1954 Yale
Date Winner Time Direction
1955 Yale
1956 Yale
1957 Yale
1958 Yale
1959 Harvard
1960 Harvard
1961 Harvard
1962 Yale
1963 Harvard
1964 Harvard
1965 Harvard
1966 Harvard
1967 Harvard
1968 Harvard
1969 Harvard
1970 Harvard
1971 Harvard
1972 Harvard
1973 Harvard
1974 Harvard
1975 Harvard
1976 Harvard
1977 Harvard
1978 Harvard
1979 Harvard
1980 Harvard 18:22.4 Downstream
1981 Yale
1982 Yale
1983 Yale
1984 Yale
1985 Harvard
1986 Harvard
1987 Harvard
1988 Harvard
1989 Harvard
1990 Harvard
1991 Harvard
1992 Harvard
1993 Harvard
1994 Harvard
1995 Harvard 18:45.5 Upstream
1996 Yale Downstream
June 1, 1997 Harvard 22:06.8 Upstream
June 6, 1998 Harvard 20:32.3 Upstream
June 5, 1999 Yale Downstream
June 10, 2000 Harvard 19:44.4 Upstream
June 3, 2001 Harvard 18:55.6 Upstream
June 8, 2002 Harvard 19:02.5 Upstream
June 7, 2003 Harvard 18:54.4 Upstream
June 12, 2004 Harvard 18:42.1 Upstream
June 11, 2005 Harvard 19:20.4 Upstream
June 11, 2006 Harvard 23:22.6 Upstream

[edit] External links