Anne Cutler will race a single scull at the 56th Head of the Schuylkill Regatta in Philadelphia this weekend, 48 years after she first walked along Boathouse Row looking for a club that would take her. She is 67. Women's entries at the 24–25 October regatta now match men's. At the inaugural edition in 1970, 12 women entered among an estimated 180 competitors.
In the summer of 1978, Cutler had just finished her freshman year at George Washington, where the crew team had approached her. Back home in Bethlehem, she wanted to try the sport, so she travelled to Boathouse Row and asked the clubs whether she could row with them. Sophie Socha, president of Philadelphia Girls' Rowing Club and later a US Rowing Hall of Famer, answered the door. Cutler told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Socha's reply was: "Come on down and row with us this summer."
PGRC existed because the river's other boathouses would not admit women. It was founded on 4 May 1938, and women's clubs were not admitted to the Schuylkill Navy until 1968. Socha, who started rowing in 1961, did not soften it.
"When I started rowing, the guys, they didn't want us there and they were very clear about that," she said.
Title IX and beyond
At university, Cutler's team struggled to assemble an eight and to find money for uniforms. Opportunities grew as colleges began enforcing Title IX, and she describes herself as one of the first recipients of a Title IX scholarship. When someone told her she was "too pretty to row", her answer was: "Do you want to see all the medals I have?"
"We couldn't let any of that get in our way. We wanted the opportunity."
For Cutler, today's collegiate crews show the steps the sport has taken : "They come now with their masseuses, sports psychologists, three practice uniforms and you're like, 'Yeah this is progress.'"
A lifetime on the water
Cutler stepped back from racing but stayed on the water, first coaching and then working to help the Schuylkill River.
"I never stopped rowing because part of my life is always being an athlete and living that lifestyle and having that community of people and staying fit," she said. "What can women of my age do, right? At this age, as we're aging, we don't have to stop. We can keep going."
The women's masters and veteran singles block, which includes the 60–69 category, starts at a tentative 9:10am on Saturday. The regatta now draws more than 8,000 athletes to its 2.3-mile course, and women first outnumbered men here in 2013, when more than 3,200 raced.
The club teaches women of all ages, takes new members each spring and charges novices a $950 adult novice programme fee. Each novice starts on the erg and, once she passes a basic skills and safety assessment, is paired with an experienced member who mentors her for the rest of the year.
The pattern is familiar from the Charles a week ago, where Barbara Hogan, 81, won the women's Grand Veteran single for a sixth time, and where Boston University's pioneering crew recalled changing in closets before Title IX money arrived.
"What changed was the attitude of men towards women, and women towards women," Socha said. "The women, then and now, see that it is an open sport that they can do and can try."
For Cutler, the weekend is "a celebration of women, all ages that are out there."
