The Head of the Schuylkill delivered once again. The annual autumn regatta, which prides itself on its inclusivity, welcomed crews from around the world and across the spectrum of the sport, from collegiate and elite racers through to masters, veterans, and high school athletes.
It continues to be a popular choice: the 56th edition drew 2,300 crews for racing over the 2.3-mile downstream course. Of those, it was The University of Pennsylvania who set the pace on their home water. Penn won both men’s and women’s championship eights on Saturday. The men's A crew stopped the clock at 10:43.61 while the women's A crew finished in 12:19.58.
The men's race was a Penn procession. Penn B finished second, 9.4 seconds back in 10:53.03, and La Salle took third in 10:57.56. Drexel and Temple followed, and Penn C came sixth. The result repeats the 2024 and 2025 order at the top, when Penn A and B also finished one-two with La Salle in bronze, as our preview noted.
It was a confident performance from Penn's women, who won by a wider margin. Temple's A crew finished second in 12:40.14, 20.6 seconds down. Behind third-placed Georgetown, Penn B was fourth and Penn C fifth.
The red and blue Penn men took first, second and third in the championship pair and also won the championship four and the frosh/novice four. Penn’s women also won the championship four, the collegiate single and the club eight. By the close of the weekend, Penn left with every men's, women's and overall points trophy in both the collegiate and open divisions. They certainly didn’t squander their home advantage.
Sunday's junior split
Sunday's high-school racing came down to Greenwich Crew and RowAmerica Rye in both varsity eights for the Mayor's Cup. In the 63-boat boys' field, Greenwich beat Rye by less than four seconds. Princeton National Rowing Association/Mercer finished third, Montclair High School fourth and Saugatuck Rowing Club fifth.
In the 37-boat girls' event, Rye reversed the order and won by just over five seconds. Saugatuck took third and DC National fourth. Rye's second girls' eight finished fifth.
A week earlier, Rye’s women had retained the women's youth-eight title at the Head of the Charles, after a third consecutive USRowing Youth National Championship in June. Rye’s women continue to go from strength to strength.
Rye's strength in depth
Rye's development crews were as strong as its first boats. Wins also came in the boys' and girls' varsity coxed fours and boys' frosh/novice coxed four, along with the John Hartigan Trophy for both JV and lower-boats eights. In the girls' JV coxed four, Rye swept the top three places. Rye won the high-school men's points trophy. Niagara Community Rowing took the women's and overall high-school trophies, both of which Rye had won in 2025.
Singular-minded
The Redgrave Challenge men’s championship and lightweight women’s singles both went to Penn AC scullers with international pedigree: the men’s title went to Kevin Cardno, who represented the U.S. in the quadruple sculls at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, and Claire Friedlander, who placed fifth in the lightweight women’s single sculls A-final at Worlds in Amsterdam this year, won the lightweight women’s race. Suzanne Maddamma of Steel City Rowing Club won the women’s championship single, and James Mirrer of Western Reserve Rowing Association took the lightweight men’s title.
