The sun was shining and so were the Huskies at the 31st Annual Windermere Cup on May 7.
Both the men’s and women’s varsity eights set Montlake Cut 2,000 meter course records to claim the Windermere Cup over the men’s and women’s Shanghai High-Performance rowing teams. Washington also took home the Erickson Cascade Cup in the men’s and women’s races with open-water victories.
The crowd was electric and racing conditions were perfect at the 2017 Windermere Cup. Washington ultimately swept all 10 collegiate races on the day with open water victories in each race.
The Washington men’s varsity eight time of 5:27.48 broke a 20-year-old Montlake Cut course record set by Washington in the 1997 Cal Dual (5:30.0).
“We got to show the crowd a really fast race,” said men’s head coach Michael Callahan. “This is a hard place to go fast. The water is cold and it is usually windy. But we had great conditions and we had a good race. Having our fans pack the Cut made all the difference.”
The Washington women’s varsity eight also set a new Montlake Cut course record with a time of 6:07.03, beating the 30-year-old record set by the Soviet Union National Team in the inaugural Windermere Cup (6:11.73) in 1987.
“I had no idea the record had been in place for so long,” said women’s head coach Yaz Farooq. “We had two highly motivated eights on the course that day and they were throwing everything they had at it. It was a thrill to see them go so fast and to set a new course record.”
Washington Rowing extends a very special thank you to Windermere Real Estate for their generous support.
