Originally published May 3, 2008 at 12:00 AM | Page modified May 4, 2008 at 2:32 AM

UW men and women win Windermere Cup races

University of Washington men's and women's crews won the featured Windermere Cup races Saturday at the annual Opening Day Regatta.

By Craig Smith

Seattle Times staff reporter

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ROD MAR / THE SEATTLE TIMES

The UW men's varsity eight held an open water advantage over crews from Poland, in red, and the Navy as they passed under the Montlake Bridge. Washington won in a time of 5:49:31.

ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Racing shells head to the Montlake Cut after the last Windermere Cup races were won by the women's and men's crew of the University of Washington.

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University of Washington men's and women's crews won the featured Windermere Cup races Saturday at the annual Opening Day Regatta.

The top-ranked Husky men's varsity rowed the 2,000-meter course from Lake Washington into the Montlake Cut in 5 minutes, 49.31 seconds to finish ahead of the under-23 crew from Poland (5:56.48) and Navy (6:00.59).

On a drizzly, overcast morning, the UW varsity women covered the course in 6:35.17 to beat Navy and the University of Melbourne from Australia. Navy was clocked in 6:50.17 and the Aussie crew in 6:52.38.

The undefeated Husky men's varsity suffered an equipment failure on the way to the starting line and had to make a quick change of boats. A pin holding the oarlock of rower Blaise Didier in place snapped about 1,000 yards from shore as the crew was going through pre-race drills.

The Pocock shell returned to Connibear Shellhouse and the Huskies quickly grabbed their usual boat, an Empacher, off its rack and rowed to the starting line then registered the wire-to-wire win.

UW men's coach Michael Callahan said he was pleased that the poise his crew demonstrated after the unexpected equipment problem.

"We tell them, 'Don't expect everything to be perfect,' he said.

The victory by the UW women snapped a losing streak of three consecutive dual-regatta losses to Washington State, Oregon State and California after a surprising victory in the San Diego Crew Classic.

"They are getting better," said UW coach Bob Ernst. "We're getting it sorted out. The surprising victory at San Diego was a sign that we've got some good athletes but it's going to take all season to get it sorted out. They are good."

UW crews were victorious in all the collegiate undercard events in the 18-event regatta that also featured races for rowing clubs and high schools. UW men's crews rowed in jerseys with pink "W's" instead of purple to show their support for the fight against breast cancer.

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