The Henley Royal Regatta: Pirates stay alive

Steve Virgen

ENGLAND - The Orange Coast College crew defeated the University of

Bristol (England) Wednesday, finishing with the third-best time of the 32

boats in the Temple Challenge Cup of the Henley Royal Regatta on the

Thames River.

Coast led the majority of the race and finished one length ahead of

Bristol, in 6:43 on the 2,300-meter course.

With 16 crews remaining in the Temple Challenge Cup, the Pirates will

meet Queen’s University (Belfast) today at 2:30 p.m. Queen’s defeated

Hautes Etudes & E.C. Paris (France) in 6.46 Wednesday.

“That will be a very tough race,” OCC crew coach Dave Grant said in a

telephone interview. “The Irish are always tough. But, we’re pulling out

all the stops to make this thing happen. I keep reminding the crew it

will be the 4th of July, so that will maybe inspire them.”

The OCC crew includes, coxswain Sierra Caldwell, and Stuart Blair,

Chris Pope, Matt Hietbrink, Gints Salaks, Brian Scheele, Jesse Waldowski,

Alan Twigg and Mike Krueger, the only community college crew in the U.S.