The Red Rose Crew

Writer: Christine Mckeever

In 1975, eight remarkable American women, ages 16 to 34, defy expectations and take Silver at the World Rowing Championships - an important step on the road to the 1976 Olympics, where women's rowing would appear for the first time. Battling years of underfunding, underestimation and flat-out prejudice, these women cametogether to make a mark on the world.

At the dawn of the Title IX era, an unlikely assortment of women descends upon Boston in the hopes of earning a chance to compete in the World Rowing Championships. Among them is Gail Pierson, an MIT economics professor who previously stormed the exclusively male Head of the Charles Regatta. Less an act of defiance than an assertion of common sense, Pierson's entry literally made waves in Cambridge. Almost single-handedly, she battled bureaucracy and sexism as she fought for the financial and moral support necessary to send a boat to the Olympics. In 1975, her efforts paid off. Tryouts began in June.

The camp attracts students from all corners the country, including wild Wisconsin stroke Carie Graves - whose every move outside the boat was defiant; teenage phenom Lynn Silliman; and Anne Warner and Chris Ernst - who had suffered particularly harsh conditions for women athletes at Yale. Older than the other rowers, Gail's mental and physical toughness are put to the ultimate test.

Under legendary Harry Parker, coach of Harvard men's Rude and Smooth dynasty, the women transcended their differences in the pursuit of every athlete's goal - winning. At the World Championships, they nearly pulled it off. Shocking the heavily favored Russian and East German teams, The Red Rose Crew steal the Silver medal. And win personal victories for Gail, Carie and for women like them all over the world, who believed rowing could be a sport for all. The Red Rose Crew is a story of triumph both personal and historical, and the blood, sweat and tears shed on the path to greatness.

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