Nobles Rowing Community Powers Down the River in 60th HOCR

Over the course of the weekend, more than 60 Nobles students, alumni, coaches, and even parents in the rowing community participated in the 60th annual Head of the Charles Regatta (HOCR). This year, HOCR accumulated 2,685 entries across 74 different races, preserving its title as the world’s largest rowing competition and Boston’s second-largest sporting event, after the marathon. 

Girls Crew Coach Ella Steim said, “For me, it’s often a weekend of serendipity to see and catch up with people in the rowing community from many periods of my life, whether it’s people that I rowed with, people that I’ve coached with, or just people that I don’t really see very often.”

Similarly, Girls Crew Captain Ruby Delinsky (Class I) mentioned how participants in HOCR range from middle schoolers and high schoolers to top collegiate athletes, Olympians, and even veteran rowers, upwards of 90 years old. “You have people from all over the world and all different types of rowing … [HOCR] brings together everyone in the rowing world,” Delinsky said.

Certainly, HOCR brings Nobles alumni back to the Boston area.

Eager to watch her past teammates race, Cate Hamilton (N ’25) said, “The best part about Nobles is that you come back and you still feel like you’re part of it … I miss being part of the team, but people always say Nobles Girls Crew [NGC] for life, and that’s super true.”

Nobles sent four crews to HOCR this year, after a fall season of balancing afternoon programs and battling the unpredictable weather for training. 

“We’re really only practicing once or twice a week,” Talia Klevens (Class II), who was the bow seat in the Women’s Youth Eight, said. “This year, especially, we did not get that much practice in our lineup, which was rough.”

Racing against crews from clubs and high schools across the world, it was important for the Women’s Youth Four – Kate Somerville (Class III), Olivia Peters (Class II), Brenna Thomas (Class I), Ruby Delinsky (Class I), and Clara Wildeman (Class I) – to leave a mark on the course. 

“Nobles had a historic crew season last year. It proved that nationally, a school [crew program] can be very successful,” Peters said before the race. “Going into this, we want to hold ourselves to that standard and keep proving that a school can be successful, compared to clubs, which are practicing all the time with no restrictions.”

The Women’s Youth Four placed 16th out of 86 boats, powered by Wildeman’s calls to defend “our course, our river.”

The Women’s Youth Eight, coxed by Gaby Guzman (Class III), placed 74th in their category of 86 boats, with a time of 18 minutes and 49 seconds. Though it was difficult to train consistently in the fall season, Klevens expressed excitement about being able to showcase the boat’s hard work during the race. 

“It was awesome that we beat Winsor, who is our biggest rival in the spring season,” she said. 

HOCR is a head race, so instead of competing side-by-side, each boat starts the three-mile course down the Charles River in 10-20 second intervals, with the fastest time winning. Challenges with this format occur with the sheer number of boats; coxswains often need to shout to a nearby boat before passing them, while simultaneously motivating their rowers.

For the rowers, a head race provokes uncertainty.

“In other races, you’re going right up next to your competition. You know what you have to do to beat them. During head races, you have no idea what’s happening,” James Bourell (Class III), a two-seat for the Men’s U17 Four, said. “It makes it hard to know what you have to do, how hard you need to push yourself … over such a long race.”

Bourell’s boat, which included Leo Davidson (Class II), Elliot Davis (Class II), Henry Hazen (Class III), and Grace Curran (Class II), stood out in their division, placing third out of 30 boats. Racing in the same lineup that earned them a silver medal at the USRowing Youth National Championships this past June, the boat was favored to perform well.

Before their races,  Davis mentioned how the boat huddles up to spread support, saying, “Everyone thinks about pulling for each other on the water.” 

The Men’s Youth Four boat consisted of Riley Gordon (Class I), Tucker Monroe (Class II), James Hazen (Class I), Ben Levering (Class II), and Sebastian Guzman (Class I) and placed 61st out of the 86 entries in their category. Gordon’s powerful calls got the boat past the 2000-meter mark, before which they had continuously attempted and eventually succeeded in passing a club team, Notre Dame Crew. Notre Dame Crew had started the course just after Nobles, so undoubtedly, it was a tight race between the two crews, as Notre Dame’s time ended 11 places higher than that of Nobles.

Overall, all four of Nobles’ entries into HOCR this year put out strong performances on the water.

Looking ahead to the regular crew season in the spring, Delinsky said, “We care about placing high and beating other schools [at HOCR], but the fall is really when it’s a battle with ourselves and how we’re going to set the tone for the spring season.”