Davison Wins Single Sculls At Head Of The Charles

Saturday, October 20

Cambridge, MA

All Day

University of Washington

Head of the Charles

October 20, 2018 | Men's Rowing

Full Saturday Results

BOSTON – Washington's Ben Davison '19 beat a field of 30 other scullers to win the men's championship single sculls at the 54th annual Head of the Charles Regatta.

Davison, an experienced international sculler who finished fourth in the single sculls at World Rowing Under-23 Championships this past summer, and who has competed in the double at the World Championships, won the race with a time of 17:55.177.

"The Head of the Charles is always a challenging race to compete at so I was happy to have made it through the course safely and finished well," Davison said. "It was a special moment, made all the more special by wearing the W."

"No surprise to me that Ben won today," UW men's coach Michael Callahan said. "He's the best sculler in America right now, and he proved that on the course today."

Davison had the second-best split at the first milestone, the River Street Bridge, but had the best times at the next two, the Weld Boathouse and the Cambridge Boat Club.

The senior from Inverness, Fla., is the first UW rower ever to win the men's championship single at Head of the Charles. His usual U.S.A. double sculls partner, John Graves (Craftsbury Sculling Center) finished in third place. Second-place finisher Andrew Campbell won the bronze medal for the U.S. in the lightweight single at the 2018 World Rowing Championships and was a 2016 Olympian. He finished a bit more than five seconds behind Davison's winning time while Graves was another 11 seconds back.

"When Ben came to UW I told him I would support this sculling efforts and his goal of being an international sculler," Callahan added. "We've done our best to support his dream.

"This is a signature win for Ben. I'm very happy for him," Callahan added. "No one I've coached has worked as hard as Ben. No one wants it more. He earned it."

Sunday, a UW men's eight will row in the men's championship eight. Washington's crew will 12th crew of the 32 boats competing in the race. The men's championship eight begins at 10:55 a.m. PT (1:55 p.m. ET).