SEATTLE - Washington Rowing, along with Windermere Real Estate, welcomes the Dutch national women's team and the collegiate men's champions of Great Britain (Oxford Brookes University) and Canada (University of British Columbia) to the 32nd annual Windermere Cup, scheduled for Saturday, May 5, 2018.
 
The annual spring rowing event on the Montlake Cut is held in conjunction with the Seattle Yacht Club's Opening Day parade, which signals the beginning of boating season in Seattle. The entire event is a joint effort between Washington Rowing, the Seattle Yacht Club and Windermere Real Estate, with Windermere serving as the title sponsor of the main racing event.
 
"The Windermere Cup at Opening Day is a rite of passage for spring in Seattle," said OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate. "We look forward to it every year and are very proud to have this 33-year-long partnership with the University of Washington and Seattle Yacht Club."
 
Oxford Brookes will be making its first-ever appearance in the Windermere Cup, while the Dutch women are returning for the first time since 1994, when they finished second to the UW. UBC has never before competed in the race.
 
The Dutch women's national team placed its eight in the grand final in last year's World Championships in Sarasota, Fla., and in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, finishing sixth in the world on both occasions. The Netherlands also won the quad sculls at last year's World Championships.
 
The UW's women's roster includes one student-athlete from the Netherlands: sophomore Tommie De Rooij, who has rowed for her country at the junior national team level. Washington's men's team includes three Dutchmen: Michiel Mantel, Bram Schwarz and Simon van Dorp, all of whom have national team experience.
 
"The level of competition Windermere brings here continues to amaze me," said Yaz Farooq, UW women's head coach. "Racing a national team of this caliber is inspirational for all of our women who hope to race on the Olympic stage in the future. The entire team is looking forward to this challenge, made even better that it is in front of Husky fans on our hometown course."
 
Washington's women won the 2017 NCAA Championship, third fourth, while becoming the first team ever to win all three grand finals at the 21-year old NCAA regatta. All nine members of the UW varsity eight that won at NCAAs return in 2018.
 
The men's Windermere Cup race will essentially match the defending collegiate champions of Great Britain and Canada against the Huskies, the dominant U.S. men's program over the decade.
 
Oxford Brookes has experienced tremendous success at the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta , having won the Ladies' Challenge Plate last summer, besting U-23 gold medal and IRA varsity eight-level crews. Brookes has also won the Temple Challenge Cup at Henley three of the last four years. Oxford Brookes rowers have been staples of the Great Britain Olympic team, earning medals in the men's eight in four of the last five Games.
 
Since 2000, Oxford Brookes, which was founded as Oxford School of Art in 1865, is the only British university to win the Temple Challenge Cup (2004, 2014, 2016, 2017). Washington won the Temple Challenge Cup in both 2010 and 2012, and the Ladies' Challenge Plate in 1981 and 2003.
 
The University of British Columbia men's crew won the Canadian University Rowing Championship for the third time in four years last spring. The Thunderbirds also won the team championship in 2005, meaning that they've won four of the last 13 Canadian titles.
 
"This is as big of a collegiate rowing race you will find anywhere this year," said UW men's head coach Michael Callahan. "I expect it to be one for the ages."
 
The Husky men have won seven of the last 10 Intercollegiate Rowing Association varsity eight national titles, finishing as runner-up by less than one-tenth of a second in 2017. Six of nine men in the IRA varsity eight lineup return in 2018.
 
Washington's men and women open the 2018 season March 3 at Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, Nev., vs. Dartmouth and Santa Clara (men) and USC (women).
 
Windermere Cup History & Information
The Windermere Cup got its start 31 years ago, in 1987, when Windermere Real Estate founder, John Jacobi, joined up with the University of Washington to create the annual rowing event. They wanted to bring the best team in the world to Seattle's Montlake Cut, which at the time was the Soviet Union. That occasion marked one of the few athletic competitions for the Soviets inside the U.S. in 25 years, since relations were strained during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet Union brought both its men's and women's crews and won both races in convincing fashion. After that, the precedent was set for what has become one of the world's premier rowing events, and certainly a staple of Seattle's rowing community.
 
Washington's men have won the Windermere Cup 23 times in 31 seasons, while the UW women have also won 23 out of 31, including the last 11 in a row.
 
The 2018 Windermere Cup will include a number of events during the week leading up to race day. The Seattle Yacht Club's Opening Day parade through the Montlake Cut will immediately follow the racing. Further details will be announced at a later date. For more information visit windermerecup.com.