HENLEY-ON-THAMES, England — Five U.S. crews, including two from Harvard, reached the finals at the Henley Royal Regatta on Saturday.
In the Grand Challenge Cup for international eights, Harvard's top varsity boat — undefeated in college racing this year — held off England's Cambridge University. Harvard won by one-third of a length and faces a Dutch Olympic team in the final.
Harvard's second varsity eight beat a composite Swiss crew by 1 3/4 lengths in the Ladies' Plate for sub-Olympic internationals and will meet Leander Club today. England's Leander beat Boston University in the other semi.
St. Paul's School of Concord, N.H., won its race against England's Pangbourne College by two lengths in the Princess Elizabeth Cup for schoolboy eights. England's Abingdon took the other semifinal.
Cindy Bishop of the Riverside Club, Cambridge, Mass., topped England's Lorna Norris in the Princess Royal Cup for women international single scullers and meets South Africa's Rika Geyser in the final.
Princeton, facing a composite crew from the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria in the semis of the Remenham Cup for women's eights, started well in a strong, swirling headwind and finished 3 3/4 lengths ahead.
Princeton takes on a composite English crew — Thames and the University of London — in today's final.
Three other U.S. teams lost.
The U.S. Naval Academy was downed by the Netherlands' Proteus by a length in the Temple Cup for student eights. Thomas Graves and brother Peter from Hartford's Bantam Boat Club lost by 2 1/2 lengths to England's Rob Roy in the Double Sculls Cup. In the Queen Mother Cup for international quadruple sculls, the Bantam club was beaten by members of Ukraine's national team.