Chapter 1 - First Race

Harvard rowers listen to the rhythmic splashing of water and roar of the motorboat as their two gleaming red Harvard racing shells move upriver on the Charles towards the starting line.

It is 8:00, Thursday morning, August 1st, 1968, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

A 2,000-meter race is about to start.

The sun is just coming up, and rowers really can’t make out the shoreline yet. As they move through fog and into the wind, each boy feels little water droplets on his face.

They are all seniors. In a few months, Harvard will send one of these boats to Mexico to compete in the 1968 Olympic Games.