BOSTON, Ma. ? Western produced great results at the Head of the Charles Regatta Oct. 18-19.

With some top rowers sitting out to rest for the upcoming OUA and CURC championships over the next two weekends, the small Western contingent came away with memorable results that make the coaching staff proud.

In the collegiate women's fours, Western won this event in 18:54.730 with a crew featuring Mustangs Emma Ferguson (cox), Emily Beers, Jennifer Broxterman, Andrea Ernesaks and Charlotte Anderson. The team set a new course record for their event shattering last year’s record, set by Marquette University, by 24.467 seconds (and finishing ahead of second place by 8.196 seconds). Check out Emily Beers' blog for more details.

In the championship women's single, Western’s Cathy Crawley was sixth overall in 19:47.093 and finished as the top Canadian in the event.

Lindsay Forget of Western (London, Ont) was fourth in the lightweight women's singles with a time of 20:37.488. And 2008 Olympian (lightweight men's double) Cam Sylvester (Caledon, Ont.), rowing with Western teammate Tim Colson (London, Ont.) ended up fifth in the championship men's double event in 16:29.986.

The same lineup that represented Rowing Canada in the women's eight event in Beijing this summer won the Championship Women's Eight in 16:02.507 placing ahead of second place (Netherlands) by 12.457 seconds.

The crew featured some former Mustangs. The women’s eight, representing the London (Ontario) Training Centre, is Jane Rumball of Fredericton, N.B., Darcy Marquardt of Richmond, B.C,. Buffy Williams of St. Catharines, Ont., Romina Stefancic of Victoria, B.C., Ashley Brzozowicz of Toronto, Ont., Sarah Bonikowsky of Orangeville, Ont., Andréanne Morin of Montreal, Que., Heather Mandoli of Kelowna, B.C., and Lesley Thompson-Willie of London, Ont.

The eight finished a very close fourth at the Games and this is the first regatta as a crew since the Olympics. "It was awesome, just a great race," said Darcy Marquardt, a two-time (2004 and 2008) Olympian competing in her seventh Head of the Charles. "The chemistry we had as a crew all summer was felt today and (coxswain) Lesley steered an incredible course. It was very exciting."

The Charles River course is approximately three miles around bouys and through bridges (compared with a straight 2000-metre Olympic distance). The Head of The Charles Regatta, the world's largest two-day rowing event, was first held on October 16, 1965. This year the two-day Head of the Charles welcomed more than 8,000 rowers and attracts as many as 300,000 spectators over the weekend.

For more details, visit the Head of the Charles Regatta Web site at www.hocr.org.

?with files from Rowing Canada, Jackie Skender and Andy Watson