Cornell, with the ineffective stroke, kept going down, and in i goo did not win a race ; Pennsyl vania was coming up. They first won the second crew race on the Schuylkill, then took the four at Poughkeepsie, Cornell collapsing and Columbia getting second, and finally beat Cornell in a close finish in the Freshman race. Wisconsin sent on eights for both races, and their exceptional Freshman eight won very easily. The Univer sity eights gave another hard and fast contest between Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Cornell led for a couple of miles, but then Wisconsin went ahead and Pennsylvania passed Cornell ; at three miles Pennsylvania had three-quarters of a length over Wisconsin and Cornell started to go in the air ; a couple of the men caught crabs. There were two races, — one between Penn and Wisconsin for first, and another between Cornell and Columbia for third. Coming into the last half-mile, Penn had a lead of a full length when suddenly No. 3 caught a crab that threw him on his back while the oar whizzed over his head and jammed in the lock ; Wisconsin saw the trouble and spurted ; it looked as though Penn sylvania had lost. But the crew kept on row ing, and in an incredibly short time the oarsman had freed his oar and was in the swing once more. Wisconsin had gained a full length, but with twenty mighty strokes Penn had their shell in the lead again and won by three-quarters of a length. These two races, 1899 and 'goo, are the closest four-mile contests that have ever taken place in this country, and served to shatter the notion that a four-mile race is won or lost in the third mile.
Pennsylvania, with three straight victories in the intercollegiate races, became the logical can didate for the Grand Challenge at Henley, and their entry was given and accepted. The crew had Gardiner, the stroke of the eight during the three years of victory, and better than whom there have been none, and five of the men had rowed in winning boats ; of the other three, one man was a Freshman and the other two were Sophomores. The average weight was about one hundred and sixty pounds. Ellis Ward coached them, as he had all of the crews since his return in 1897, and the crew kept the same stroke that they had rowed through the four-mile races, except that where they had rowed thirty-three and thirty-four in the four-mile race, they raised the stroke to thirty-six and thirty-eight in the short Henley stretch.
The managers wisely chose an inn on Rernen ham Hill, about a mile from the river, for the quarters, and thus escaped the enervating valley which had so affected Cornell and Yale. The crew went into regatta week in most excellent condition. For the first day they drew the London Rowing Club and won without effort in 7.oi*, — faster time than any American crew had made ; the Thames Rowing Club was the second opponent, and they were easily beaten, Pennsylvania having a full length at the start and easing down after a lead of several lengths had been gained. Thus they were in the finals against Leander. The Leander Club had selected the best eight possible, and not a single undergraduate from either university was able to make the crew which contained such sterling oars as C. D. Bur nell, the strongest sweep in England, Dudley Ward, C. J. D. Goldie, Etherington-Smith, and other men as well known. They had beaten New College and a crew from Ghent in their trials without trouble. For the first time in his tory the betting people were holding a foreign crew even with Leander.
The final heat for the Grand gave a glorious struggle, but the superior power of the English crew or their better rowing, or both, brought them victory. Pennsylvania had a couple of feet
the best of the start, and down to Fawley Court had their bow perhaps five feet ahead of Leander ; it was a succession of spurts by both crews, and neither rowed below thirty-six at any time. At Phyllis Court it was the same. Neither crew could gain an advantage for more than a moment ; one spurt balanced the other. Just below Phyllis Court Leander put on all their power and gained a length before Pennsylvania could respond, and this advantage gave the Englishmen the race. Gardiner raised the stroke again and again, but not until the last hundred yards could a gain be made ; then Pennsylvania crept up inch by inch, and the boats went over the finish with the Penn bow at the Leander coxswain. Both crews were absolutely rowed out at the finish, and although the time-7.045—was not as fast as Pennsylvania had made the course, yet there was a head wind that more than accounted for the difference. It was a grand race, and the closest, hardest battle that England ever made to keep the cup at home.
While at practice on the course, Pennsylvania, profiting by the experience of the other Ameri can crews, was very careful to do all of their fast work in the most open manner, and gave out the time of every trial. Indeed, there was not the least criticism of their actions, but, in the way of a diversion, a movement was set on foot by the " Little Englanders," headed by Dr. Warre and Mr. Lehmann, to close the regatta to foreign crews ; it met with strong opposition from the actual rowing men, and was defeated, though a later motion that excluded professionally coached crews from competition was passed. Professional coaching was still permitted for scullers, with a delightfully English disregard for consistency.
After Henley, the Pennsylvania crew accepted the challenge of Dublin University to row a three mile race on Lake Killarney ; the Irish crew was a past and present one, but they had not been long together nor had they trained severely enough ; they were coached by Harcourt Gold, the same man who had coached Leander, but could not last the race. Pennsylvania went out for a dozen lengths in the first half-mile and then paddled easily ; Dublin stopped about a quarter of a mile from the finish. This race and the Harvard Oxford race of many years ago are the only international match races of a real collegiate char acter, and the Penn-Dublin is the only one that has ever been won by an American crew.' The intercollegiate regatta on the Hudson this year resulted in the establishment of a new world's record for four miles by the Cornell eight. Courtney, after three years of disaster, had abandoned the new stroke, and was teaching a stroke about the same as that which Pennsylvania rowed ; the long swing was cut down and the slide lengthened so that the legs might be used to the full advantage. It was a longer stroke than Cornell rowed before they went to England and had more swing, but the chief element was the slide, and it was the main source of power. The Cornell oarsmen were strong and heavy, and they were beautifully together. Pennsylvania was represented by a third-rate crew in the absence of the first eight in England, and Syra cuse, rowing for a year or more, sent both a Uni versity and Freshman eight, while Wisconsin did not send on a Freshman crew. The Stewards also added a single scull race, but only one entry came, C. E. Goodwin of Syracuse, who rowed over.