Marietta women set to race at this weekend’s Head Of The Charles
Pioneer Navy’s Varsity 8 will compete in the Collegiate Eight

Oct. 19, 2006
MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College women’s rowing team travels to Boston, Mass., this weekend (Oct. 21-22) to compete at the 42nd annual Head Of The Charles Regatta. The Pioneers will sends their Varsity 8 to compete against the collegiate division’s elite in the Collegiate Eight race to be held on Sunday (Oct. 22) at 12:41 p.m.

“The atmosphere at the Head Of The Charles is like no other,” said Pioneer Head Coach Karen Glowacki. “It will be a new experience for almost the entire boat. Fans will fill both banks, causing a three-mile adrenaline rush.”

Marietta will race its Quantum shell, the Matt Morris, with the same lineup as at the Head of the Genesee—stroke Dee Dee Wilkey (Erie, Pa./Collegiate Academy), Sotiria Anagnostou (Mishauvaka, Ind./Culver Academy), Deb Dreyer (Middleburg Heights/Midpark), Caitlin Piotrowski (Dublin/Dublin Jerome), Lyndsay Offenberger (Marietta), Jessica Peatee (Toledo/Central Catholic), Meg Foraker (New Lexington/Culver Academy), bow Anjouli Dapice (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Catholic) and coxswain Katt Mackin (Dublin/Dublin Coffman).

Marietta took 16th in 2000, the last time it raced in the Collegiate Eight race. A registration error forced the Pioneers to enter the Championship Eight in 2004 and they finished 41st; Marietta would have placed 28th in the Collegiate Eight that season.

In 2006, the Pioneer women have set their sights on the other 20 Division III schools at the regatta. Marietta’s goal is to land in the top 10 among that competition and place in the top 50% in the overall standings.

“The women have had a solid fall so far,” Glowacki said. “The boat is rowing very relaxed and producing a lot of power as a result. We have gained speed since the Head of the Genesee and the team expects to have a great weekend of racing.”

While Sunday is race day for Marietta, the men and women’s team will have a chance to meet Pioneer Navy alums and friends of Marietta rowing in a special Alumni event on Saturday. The gathering will take place at the Harpoon Brewery (www.harpoonbrewery.com) from 6 p.m.-8 p.m.

Head Of The Charles Regatta, the world's largest two-day rowing event, was first held on October 16, 1965. The race was established by the Cambridge Boat Club members D'Arcy MacMahon, Howard McIntyre, and Jack Vincent, with the advice of Harvard University sculling instructor Ernest Arlett. Arlett proposed that a "head of the river" race similar in tradition to races held in his native England, be held on the Charles River. "Head" races, a class of regattas, are generally three miles long, boats race against each other and the clock, starting sequentially approximately fifteen seconds apart. Winners of each race receive the honorary title of "Head of the River" or, in this case, "Head Of The Charles."

Over the past 42 years, the Head Of The Charles regatta has grown tremendously. Today, more than 7,500 athletes from around the world compete in 26 different race events. The Regatta grew to a two-day event in 1997 and now attracts up to 300,000 spectators during the October weekend.