SMITHFIELD, RI – Manchester resident Lauren Barry will captain the Bryant University rowing team on Saturday in the college’s first-ever appearance at the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta.
Bryant will be one of forty teams competing in the women’s club eights, one of 72 separate races taking place over the weekend on the Charles River near Boston.
Barry, who will take the fifth seat in the Bryant boat, has played different roles for Bryant rowing since joining as a freshman in 2020. While Bryant has had a rowing team since 2010, it only entered NCAA competition last spring.
During the 2021 Head of the Charles, Barry and her teammates witnessed the races in person to prepare. While the Bulldogs have participated in spring season regattas in Lowell, Mass. and Philadelphia, those races had shorter lengths and much less notoriety than what is coming at the Head of the Charles. Still, Barry feels her team is ready for the challenge.
“I think it’s special only because it’s our first time (at the Head of the Charles) as a varsity team,” she said. “Our team has come so far this season developing, this race will be one of their first fall races for many of our rowers. Head of the Charles is a beautiful race, the course is beautiful, but when I’m at the race, I’ll be getting myself into race mode.”
Barry learned to row on Lake Massabesic in 2015, practicing with the Pinkerton Crew team before joining the Manchester Central High School Crew Team as a Trinity student shortly afterward. That high school experience is more than many of her teammates, who first experienced rowing at the college level.
However, regardless of Saturday’s outcome, she expects the team will participate in more races before the end of the year, although the team’s coaches are still looking at what races they might participate next.
“There are so many options on where we can go, so we’re just playing it by ear,” she said.
More information on the Head of the Charles can be found here.
