Oct. 20, 2006

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -Cambridge University opened the Head of the Charles regatta Friday night with a sprint sweep in swirling wind and heavy rain.

The men's team finished the 350-meter course in 1 minute, 9 seconds, beating Oxford University by nearly 2 seconds. The women's team finished in 1:31, beating Harvard by more than 2 seconds.

Wind blowing at 27 mph helped push the Harvard women's boat into a collision with Cambridge with about 20 meters to go. Still, Cambridge, starting with a 38-stroke-per-minute rate, built a big enough lead to finish a half-boat length ahead.

Cambridge stroke Kat Lange competed for MIT last year, but her familiarity with the course did little to prevent the collision.

"The wind was quite terrible," Lange said. "It's not as rough as I would have expected it, but the winds picked up quite a bit. And riders were caught in the rain as well, so we were all drenched and cold."

In the men's race, Cambridge took a quick lead by averaging 50 strokes per minute at the start and withstood a late surge by Oxford to win a clean race.

Kip McDaniel, Cambridge's fourth seat, said practicing in England's River Thames gave his team an advantage.

"Actually, it was much calmer (than the Thames)," McDaniel said of the Charles. "You wouldn't believe it, but it can get pretty rough over there."

The sprints kicked off the 42nd annual regatta, which run through Sunday. It was the first time the Head of the Charles featured night races, and the event concluded with a laser show.

"This was my first true night race," McDaniel said. "It was really good. You feel like you're going much, much faster. You feel like your just flying. It was a really good experience to have it lit up."

Both Cambridge boats will compete in the championship eights Sunday. The men's boat last won that event in 2004, and the women's team has never won it.