The Harvard men’s lightweight rowing team will compete at the IRA National Championship Regatta from May 29-31 at Lake Natoma in Gold River, California. The Crimson, who have won 11 IRA National Championships, aim to defend their titles from 2024 and 2025.
Harvard’s varsity returns six oarsmen from last year’s national championship-winning boat, including captain and stroke Ben Lundie. Last year, Harvard secured its tenth all-time title with a win over Dartmouth by more than two and a half seconds. In the second varsity race, the Crimson also claimed a national title with a victory over Penn by 1.3 seconds. The varsity four finished fourth in that event.
Most recently, Harvard’s varsity eight won gold at the Eastern Sprints, claimed an Ivy League title, and qualified for the Henley Royal Regatta. The second and third varsity boats each finished third in their respective races.
Friday’s scheduled race times are as follows: Junior Varsity Eight (Heat 2) at 11:08 a.m.; Varsity (Heat 3) at 11:48 a.m.; Varsity Four (Trial 1) at 2:45 p.m.; with the Varsity Four Semifinal time to be determined. All times are listed as Eastern Time and may change. Saturday and Sunday race times will be published on GoCrimson.com recaps and social media channels prior to each day.
Harvard has announced its boat lineups for the regatta across three categories: V8 coxswain Nathalie Gregg leads a crew featuring Ben Lundie as stroke; the second varsity is coxed by Haley Hicks with Nikhil Ramaraju as stroke; while Ericka Lai coxes the four-person lineup with Matt Lyons as stroke.
Looking ahead, Harvard has qualified for and accepted an invitation to compete in England’s Henley Royal Regatta from June 30 to July 5.
