Cambridge to row in Windermere Cup

Published 12:01 am Thursday, May 5, 2011

SEATTLE — The first time the University of Washington crew program came up with the idea of the Windermere Cup, it was all about competing against the world’s best.

The nationally-ranked UW men wanted to know where they ranked internationally, and so a team from the Soviet Union was invited

to take place in the inaugural Windermere event in 1987. That was during the heart of the Cold War, and so the invited guests had to be given a police escort as they moved around the UW campus.

“I don’t know what we were supposed to be protecting them from,” said Bob Ernst, the UW women’s coach who is in his 37th year with the program. “Maybe somebody would come out and hug them.”

Twenty-five years later, the Windermere Cup is not only an annual event but has become a can’t-miss tradition on the Seattle sports landscape. The event coincides with Opening Day for the local boating season, creating a unique atmosphere that has made quite an impression on the opponents — both in the U.S. and abroad — that have been a part of Windermere history.

The tradition continues Saturday, when the Huskies host three crew teams — the most notable of which comes from Cambridge University in England. This marks the first time since 1992 that Cambridge will attend the event and comes a year after UW hosted longtime Cambridge rival Oxford at Montlake Cut.

“We know how Oxford did last year, and we want to do significantly better than they did,” Cambridge men’s coach Mark Edward Beer said of Oxford’s loss to the Huskies in the Varsity 8 men’s race. “From that point of view, there will always be bragging rights. There are always ways to compare ourselves to Oxford.”

The Cambridge men’s team is comprised of 20- to 27-year-olds, many of them post-graduate students and none of them on athletic scholarships. But Cambridge will be missing two members of its varsity eight team because of academic conflicts, and, when combined with the long road trip and a much shorter course than the British program is used to, Beer considers his team an underdog to the Huskies.

“If we can get up over UW, that would be a pretty impressive result,” Beer said. “We know they’re quick; we think we’re quicker.”

Every Windermere Cup has included at least one international team — a list that includes 15 countries from six continents. It’s become an internationally-known event, and one to which current UW rowers look forward.

“It’s just amazing,” said Mathis Jessen, a native of Hamburg, Germany, who is scheduled to compete against Cambridge as part of UW’s Varsity 8 team Saturday. “When I got here, the Windermere Cup was unbelievable because you had noise and cheering — the whole way down the course. I’ve never experienced anything like that.

“I’ve competed in world championships, and the last 100 meters are loud and crazy. Here, you basically have it the whole way down. Sometimes you can’t even hear your coxswain.”

UW junior Erin Lauber, a former walk-on from Edmonds who is part of the Husky women’s Varsity 8 boat, has seen the Windermere Cup from both sides. She attended several of them while growing up — both of her parents rowed at UW — but didn’t truly appreciate the event until she was a participant.

“I equate it to being on a football field, just the constant cheering that you don’t really get in any other regatta,” said Lauber, who was recently invited to compete for a spot on the national under-23 team. “They hold you to a different standard. Just the mass of people, and the level of competition from bringing people in from overseas, you can’t compare that to any other race.”

Ernst, who has been a part of more Windermere Cups than anyone, said the allure of the race is easy to explain.

“It’s the greatest free show in town,” the Edmonds resident said Wednesday.

While Wednesday brought some of the most beautiful weather this area has seen in months, Ernst wasn’t worried about any climate changes affecting attendance.

“There’s going to be thirty- or forty-thousand people at this event, even if it’s pouring outside sideways,” he said. “… Seattle people are always up for the party. When you get a party and sports together, it’s whatever the opposite of the Bermuda Triangle is. Well, maybe it is the Bermuda Triangle.”

It’s a party. It’s a boat race. It’s an international event.

Whatever it is, the Windemere Cup has become a Seattle tradition.

“It’s first class, and it’s a special event for our community,” Ernst said. “That why it has lasted.”