International Crews take Line Honors at High Point Autumn Rowing Festival presented by Bethany Medical

International & Collegiate programs headlined boat racing for the Dr. Lenny Peters Cup at this year's High Point Autumn Rowing Festival, presented by Bethany Medical. 

Oxford University from England, the Ukraine Olympic team, Duke University, Old Dominion, and HPU were the feature teams among 33 programs overall racing in 394 boats at this year's festival. 

"This was our biggest rowing festival yet," says race coordinator Gene Kininmonth, who added the event still has further room to grow. "Boat entries were up 30% year over year and we had over one thousand rowers at Festival Park this weekend. It was impressive how our volunteers from Triad United Rowing Association were able to seamlessly get everyone into the park and safely run so many boats on the water." 

Participants raced in different boat classes on Sunday based on age and college status. "We saw our biggest growth in entries in the Masters category for adults," Kininmonth said. "We had a big turnout from Atlanta and also Virginia. Some of our Masters who raced were well into their eighties, which is just wonderful." 

The Ukraine Olympic women's eight crew won the Dr. Lenny Peters Cup in a mad dash with crews from Duke University and Oxford close on the stern of their boat. 

In other racing High Point youth rower Calvin Hrycay won the U19 singles event. 

The 'race of the day' was in Round One of the Dr. Lenny Peters Cup, which saw Oxford University take on women's crews from Old Dominion University and the new HPU program. 

"We billed this one as the newest collegiate program in the world (HPU) taking on the oldest collegiate rowing program in Oxford," recounts Kininmonth. "Neither crew would disappoint with the lead changing several times as the boats wound their way around the Oak Hollow Lake course featuring several large ducks." 

Watch the video featuring Olympic race commentator Martin Cross and Emelie Eldracher to see who wins!