Cornell Rowers Head to China

Two separate boats with Cornell rowers competed in China this summer.

Greg Davis ‘16 and Ilia Savin ‘17 teamed up with two other rowers to race a quad at the 2018 Yuanjiang Kingdee Cup Masters Rowing Regatta. They raced against Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge and four Chinese quads. The race came at the invitation of FISA’s Asia director to help inspire China’s youth by exposing them to more rowing. Both Greg and Ilia described having a wonderful time and being treated extremely well by the locals - who often wanted photos with the very tall rowers. The opening ceremony for the regatta had thousands of attendees and was a mix of traditional and contemporary song and dance. After a rocky heat, they survived more socializing and dinners and were still able to win the finals - beating Harvard no less.

Meanwhile, at the World University Games in Shanghai, Chris Wilkins ‘20 (son of an older Cornell rower - Greg Wilkins ‘86 and his wife Marcie), along with Mac Manion ‘18 competed in a double. Both being from the Boston area, they were able to train daily on the Charles while working summer jobs. They landed in China on August 4th for a week at a training facility in Yangzhou before heading for the course in Shanghai where the World University Games had teams from 32 countries. They raced a heat, a repechage, and ultimately in the Petite Final, where they finished a close second to the Estonians, but beat teams from Croatia, Sri Lanka and India.