Cardinals Look to Continue Success at the Head of the Hooch

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Louisville rowing team heads south to compete in the Head of the Hooch Regatta for the fourth consecutive year, and 12th time overall, Saturday, November 2. The Cardinals will enter 13 boats across four races throughout the day. The regatta will serve as the first official race this season for most of the team, including 17 of Louisville's novice rowers who will also be competing.

HEAD OF THE HOOCH
When: November 2
Where: Tennessee River | Chattanooga, Tennessee
RACE TIMES: Novice 4+ (10:27 am) | Championship 8+ (12:57 pm) | Novice 8+ (2:23 pm) | Championship 4+ (5:03 pm)
Format: Head-race
Live Stream: YouTube
Live Results: HOTH website

We will get a pretty good gauge of how we're doing. It gives us a good idea of how we're doing as a whole team.

— head coach Derek Copeland

COACHES' THOUGHTS
"This is usually one of the team's favorite races for the team because it's close enough that a lot of their friends and families come to watch. There are a lot of other teams of similar speed at the event. We will get a pretty good gauge of how we're doing. It gives us a good idea of how we're doing as a whole team. This will be the first time this season that the second varsity 8 and third varsity 8 boats will have a chance to compete. The novice's, this will be their first opportunity to race, so it's a big deal. They'll travel for the first time."

ABOUT THE HEAD OF THE HOOCH REGATTA
The Head of the Chattahoochee is a rowing regatta held in Chattanooga, Tennessee every year on the first Saturday and Sunday of November. The Head of the Hooch is one of the world's largest rowing regattas, with 2,000+ boats racing over two days. More than 9,000 seats are rowed. 1,200 boats compete on Saturday alone, more in one day than any other regatta. The Head of the Hooch has been recognized by national magazines as the regatta to attend: the weather is nice, the city is great and the racing has the largest number of entries per event of any major regatta.

COMPETING TEAMS
Louisville will participate in four different races: Women's College & Club Novice 4+, Women's Championship 8+, Women's College & Club Novice 8+, and Women's Championship 4+.

The Cardinals will have two boats in the Novice 4+ competing against 32 other squads. In the Novice 8+, the Cards will again have two boats going up against 26 other boats. In the Championship 8+ race, UofL will send three boats to the starting line to faceoff with 10 other teams. In the final race of the day, Louisville will send its largest continent of six boats down the Tennessee River to race among the 21 teams competing.

THE COURSE
The Head of the Hooch is a head race – competitors row a 5,000-meter (3.1 mile) course on the Tennessee River ending at Ross's Landing Park in Chattanooga. In head races, each crew starts single file about 10-15 seconds apart and the results are based on time. In addition to the finish line, spectators attending the event will be able to view the competition from the various points including the Walnut Street Bridge and a bicycle path along the river

LAST YEAR AT THE HEAD OF THE HOOCH
Using their full roster for the first time, the rowing team posted a strong showing Saturday afternoon at the 2018 Head of the Hooch Regatta. The Cardinals' varsity crews took first place in both the championship eight and championship four races, while the freshman eight crew was runner-up in the college and club novice eight race.

The championship eight boat won the race by nearly three seconds over Alabama. Saturday's result was the third-consecutive victory for the Cards in the Hooch championship eight race. The second varsity eight boat also finished in the top 10 with a time of 15:37.885, while the third varsity eight placed 11th with a mark of 15:42.961. All three of the Cards' times in the race were faster than the winning time of 16:08.17 posted by Louisville in last year's regatta.

For the second straight year, the Cards earned a win in the championship four as the varsity crew finished with a time of 16:24.491, finishing over 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Wisconsin. Additionally, both the second varsity four (16:38.010) and third varsity four boats (16:40.642) turned in top-10 finishes.

For the latest on Louisville rowing, visit GoCards.com, or follow the team's social media accounts on Twitter @UofLRowing, Facebook /UofLRowing, and Instagram @UofLRowing.

University of Louisville Athletics

Cardinals Look to Continue Success at the Head of the Hooch

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