Henley-on-Thanes, Oxfordshire, England - The Brown men’s crew celebrated the Fourth of July Holiday Weekend in England by turning in an outstanding performance at the Henley Royal Regatta, with its varsity eight winning the Ladies Plate Challenge Cup, and the freshmen eight finishing second in the Temple Challenge Cup.

Each race in the competition was a head-to-head pair race over several days, with the Bears’ varsity eight earning a berth in the championship with wins over Massachusetts I.T. USA, and Leander Club, on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

In the Championship race, head coach Paul Cooke’s team rowed in 6:28 to defeat Leander Club & Mosley B.C. by a half-length to capture the title. The Bears also won Ladies Plate Championships in 1993 and 2000.

Brown’s freshmen had an arduous road to advance to the championship with head-to-head wins over Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Queens University Belfast, Durham University and Melbourne University Australia to gain a berth in the finals. The Bears ran out of gas in the championship, falling to the Princeton lightweight crew by three-quarters length.