The Stotesbury Cup
Regatta
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wa ...
, sponsored by the
Schuylkill Navy, is the world's oldest
and largest high school
rowing
Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...
competition. It is held annually in mid-May over a two-day period on the
Schuylkill River
The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river in eastern Pennsylvania. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map(). accessed April 1, 2011. from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Pottsville ...
near
Boathouse Row in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
. Competing crews come from schools all over
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
, though most hail from the
Northeastern and
Mid-Atlantic United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
The
regatta
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wa ...
has many different events (31 in 2022) in which high school crews compete for various cups and trophies. Events vary by sex, age, weight category, number of rowers, and discipline of rowing (whether ''
sweeping'' with one oar per rower or ''
sculling
Sculling is the use of oars to propel a boat by moving them through the water on both sides of the craft, or moving one oar over the stern. A long, narrow boat with sliding seats, rigged with two oars per rower may be referred to as a scull, its ...
'' with two oars per rower). The regatta takes its name from the Boys Senior Eight race, one of the premier events at the regatta, in which crews of eight oarsmen and one
coxswain
The coxswain ( or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the wiktionary:cockboat, cockboat, a ...
compete for the Stotesbury Cup. The Stotesbury Cup in turn is named for
Edward T. Stotesbury of Philadelphia, a prominent partner at J.P. Morgan & Co. and its Philadelphia affiliate, Drexel & Co. The Girls Senior Eights compete for the
Robert Engman Trophy. The regatta has been running boys races since 1927; girls events were added in the mid-1970s. Powerhouse schools in boys events include
Episcopal Academy,
Christian Brothers Academy,
St. Augustine Preparatory School,
LaSalle High School,
Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas
Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas (commonly referred to as Jesuit Dallas or Dallas Jesuit, and formerly known as Jesuit High School) is a private, college-preparatory school for Single-sex school, young men under the direction of the ...
,
Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...
,
Walt Whitman High School (Maryland),
Atlantic City High School,
St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.),
The Haverford School
The Haverford School is a Independent school, private, non-sectarian, all-boys college preparatory day school, junior kindergarten through grade twelve. Founded in 1884 as The Haverford College Grammar School, it is located in Haverford, Penns ...
,
St. Joseph's Prep,
Gonzaga College High School,
Winter Park High School,
St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute and
Roman Catholic High School for Boys.
Currently,
St. Joseph's Prep has won the Stotesbury Cup more than any other school with 15 wins of the Boys Senior 8+.
St. Joseph's Prep additionally is the only school to sweep all the boys 8+ events having done it in 1997, 2008, 2023 and 2024.
Gonzaga College High School, winner of the previous five Boys Senior Eight events from 2012 to 2016, was overtaken by
Montclair High School for first place in the Boys Senior Eight.
[Cochran, margot]
"Montclair crew wins coveted Stotesbury Cup"
''The Record (Bergen County)
''The Record'' (also called ''The North Jersey Record'', ''The Bergen Record'', ''The Sunday Record'' (Sunday edition) and formerly ''The Bergen Evening Record'') is a newspaper in New Jersey, United States. Serving Bergen, Essex, Hudson and ...
'', May 23, 2017. Accessed November 20, 2017. "Montclair High School athletes won the top award in scholastic rowing at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta this past Saturday on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. The most coveted award of the regatta is the Stotesbury Cup, which is awarded to the winner in the boys varsity (senior) eight competition each year.... The Gonzaga College High School crew from Washington, D.C., who were the defending champions for the last five years, took silver while St. Albans School from Bethesda, Md. took bronze." Meanwhile, in Girls events, National Cathedral School (Washington, D.C.) has won the Senior Eight category twice (2016-2017) and finished second once (2014) in the last four years.
The Boys Lightweight 8 category for the James R. Muldowney Memorial Trophy has been dominated by
St. Joseph's Prep. On May 18, 2019, they won for the 10th consecutive time (2010-2019) and the 20th time in the last 23 years.
Mount Saint Joseph Academy has also emerged in recent years with strong showings in the Lightweight Eight and Senior Eight categories and
Bishop Eustace Preparatory School won the Senior Eight category for three consecutive years (2007-2009).
Merion Mercy Academy having won Silver in 2016 in the Girls Senior Eight won Gold in both the Girls Senior Four and Lightweight Eight in 2017.
Racecourse
The Stotesbury racecourse is the standard high school length of 1500 meters. It begins a few hundred meters upstream from the Strawberry Mansion Bridge and finishes downstream just before the Columbia Railroad Bridge. It is a six-lane course, and as in most races the favored crews are positioned in the middle lanes (lanes 2, 3, and 4). The river current is strongest in the final four hundred meters of the race as crews pass Peters Island on the west side of the course. Lanes 5 and 6, closest to Peters Island, along with lane 1, on the opposite shore, generally have the slowest water current, making them the least desirable lanes in this downstream racecourse.
Organization
Like most similar regattas, each event begins with a time trial, similar to a head race, with results being determined by who has the fastest time. The starting order is based on the finish order from the previous year's regatta. The fastest crews in each time trial advance to the
semi-final round. Semi-finals begin later on the first day and continue on the second day. Finals begin in the afternoon of the second day. Events are ordered so that small boats race before the larger ones, and the regatta culminates in either the Boys or Girls Senior Eight final race, alternating every year. After each final is finished, the best three boats dock at the
grandstand
A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...
s next to the finish line to receive their medals. The 2nd and 3rd place boats receive their medals while sitting and the boat, and the first place boat goes up on to the dock to receive their medals and trophy.
The Stotesbury Cup Regatta continues to grow in its size and level of competition as high school rowing gains popularity. In 2000, about 3,500 athletes competed in the regatta. In 2016, 5,679 athletes from 191 schools competed in 984 boats to make it the largest Stotesbury yet.
As the sport continues to grow, this trend will likely persist as more and more rowers carry on the Stotesbury tradition.
References
External links
* {{official website, http://stotesburycupregatta.com The winner of every Stotesbury Cup Regatta race since the first race in 1927 is listed here.
Schuylkill Navy Home page* ''Philadelphia Inquirer'' article abou
Facts and Figures about The Stotesbury Cup RegattaMap of the Schuylkill River 1500 meter racecourse
Schuylkill Navy
Rowing competitions in the United States
Schuylkill River
Sports in Philadelphia
Scholastic rowing in the United States