Sept. 29 , 2004
MARIETTA, Ohio - The men's crew 2004 fall rowing season kicked off Wednesday (Sept. 29) with the first race of the 10th annual Fall Pairs Racing League.

The 2003 champion pair of Chuck Gowdy (Egg Harbor, NJ/Holy Spirit) and Rob Johnson (Margate, NJ/Atlantic City) captured first place in race one with a time of 43:08.

The race, an 11 kilometer stretch from the boat ramp to the House of Wines buoy and back to the boathouse, had a stroke cap of 18 (3:1) for the competition.

Evan Tsourtsoulas (Kastoria, Greece) and Matt Henwood (Malvern, PA/LaSalle) finished in a close second, three seconds off the winning pace.

A total of 16 boats competed in the first of league's seven races, which will conclude with the Fall Pairs Championship Saturday (Nov. 13).

The men will have their first outside competition this weekend (Oct. 2-3) when they travel to Washington D.C. for the Head of the Potomac and Ventnor, NJ for the "Shore Boys" Regatta on the Back Bay.

Race 1:
Stroke Cap = 18(3:1)
Conditions: ripping current, calm, wakes
Results: