Just Another Day in the Sun

WORCESTER--They came to Quinsigamond State Park to sit in the sun and swim and eat. Some came to watch the races. And some even came to row.

They came from Boston and Philadelphia and Los Angeles. They wore red and gold and crimson and filled the grandstands and the beach and the grassy hill overlooking the lake.

They came to the shore of Lake Quinsigamond to be a part of the circus--the 41st annual Eastern Sprints. Most were wealthy and preppy and sunburned. Most were excited about the races.

Most.

"It's always a pleasure," Rutgers fan John Hunter said. "I was here last year and I'm here now. I'm really excited about our freshmen lightweights. It's the first time they've ever made it to the finals."

"We enjoy it," said William Gallagher, whose son rows on Pennsylvania's varsity lightweight crew. "I don't know why. It's not a fun sport. It's very intense."

Each of the 17 participating schools brought food and set up brightly colored tents on the hill overlooking the lake. Many had prepared elaborate meals--cakes, cookies, fried chicken and macaroni--for their rowers.

"Our varsity lightweight coach always brings food to these races," Dan Cunningham of Rutgers said. "So this year we decided to throw up a tent and make it official."

Near the boat house, huckster Bill Coon sold Eastern Sprints t-shirts from his own table. For only seven dollars, you could get a lasting memento of your time in the circus.

"Sales are going pretty well this year," Coon said. "It's a good sized crowd, but only average for a sunny day at the Sprints."

Some of the more than 10,000 spectators who turned out yesterday sought relief from 90-degree heat in cooler areas of Quinsigamond--under tents and trees and even in the bathrooms.

Lines for refreshments were long. Thirty people waited to drink water from a hose behind the boathouse. Others--including several dogs--went swimming in the lake.

It was just that hot. Hot in the stands. And hot on the lake.

All crews had to row twice in the day--once in the morning in qualifying heats and once in the afternoon in either Petite or Grand races. Between races, rowers returned to their hotels to eat a light lunch and sleep. If they could.

"There's a half hour of real nerves," Harvard heavyweight Mark Schoeffel said. "But then you can lie down and sleep some."

Before the start of each race, crews carried their boats down the hill to the lake. Coxswains ordered spectators out of the way--"Watch your heads, look out"--while the rowers stared solemly ahead.

"Before a race, I just pray we execute well," Crimson freshman heavyweight coxswain Chauncey Wood said. "If one little thing goes wrong, everything might go wrong. It's all so psychological."

To celebrate their victory and escape the heat, rowers from Harvard's second heavyweight boat placed their gold medals in the first-place bowl, held hands at the edge of the dock and leapt into the water.

"We've got to wash our shirts somehow," coxswain James Crick said.

At the end of the day, decked out with sunburns and smiles, the crowds began to leave Quinsigamond. Rowers piled onto team buses and spectators jumped into cars or simply walked out of the park. Most were excited about the races.

Most.

From where a woman in her fifties--who preferred to remain anonymous--sat, you couldn't see the lake. You could only see the back of the boathouse and the streams of people waiting to drink from a hose.

The woman was wearing sunglasses and sitting in a lawn chair under a tree. She was reading a romance novel and listening to the Boston Red Sox-Texas Rangers game on the radio.

"I'm with someone who's interested in the races," she explained. "I'm not interested in them myself."

She picked up the radio and smiled. "I'm more interested in this."