On Saturday, Oct. 17, the Harvard Law School men’s crew raced in the 45th Head of the Charles, securing its position as the dominant law school on the river. The Head of the Charles is the world’s largest two-day rowing event, involving more than 7,500 athletes and 300,000 spectators from around the world. The HLS crew deftly navigated the three-mile course in 17 minutes and 47 seconds.

The HLS oarsmen hail from Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Romania, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA. The crew was not without its cultural differences. “In Brazil, rowing is like walking in a sunny park when compared to this New England weather,” said Rio-native Gustavo Ribeiro ’10 about confronting morning frost on the docks. Romanian Gregor Jotzu ’10 was taken slightly aback by the crew’s substantial training regimen, but felt “it was a great honor to be part of the HLS boat, although this sometimes meant choosing icy winds at 6am over LLM parties the night before.”

The oarsmen unanimously selected Kate Walro ’12 as their the coxswain, and as HLS crew MVP.  A former member of the Radcliffe varsity, Kate’s immense knowledge of the Charles allowed the boat to ain the inside advantage on the crucial Weeks Bridge turn. Lorenz Haselberger ’12, the crew’s newly recruited port-side stroke, said, “Kate allowed us to shut down the BU crew twice.”

Fourth-year rower and team veteran Andrew Klaber ’10 remarked, “The HLS crew’s Head of the Charles performance was strong to quite strong. There were a number of motivating factors at play; foremost, we were pulling hard for our superb new Dean, Martha Minow, our beloved former Dean, Elana Kagan ’86, and our 44th President of the United States, honorary oarsman Barack Obama ’91.”

Looking back at this past fall’s effort, captain and second-year rower Alain Goubau ’11 feels optimistic about the future, “We have a lot of young blood on the team that will carry the torch in the years to come and ensure that the long, storied tradition of rowing at Harvard Law School continues. Special thanks to the HLS administration, in particular Dean Cosgrove, for providing continued support in these difficult economic times.”

This year also saw the successful comeback of crew veteran Christopher Cummings ’11, with Mehmet Akcakaya GSAS ‘10 and Clemens Raemy HBS ’11 rounding out the squad.