The Maryland Men traveled to Chapel Hill, NC to race the UNC Tarheels on their home water. With a short course of only approximately 1000m, the format for all fours races was a 2×1000m sprint from a start. Up first were the novice fours, where UMD put in some solid races but were bested by the strong UNC freshmen class. The second set of races were between the varsity fours, where the UMD B boat put in back-to-back impressive races, battling down the course against UNC’s crews.

After the fours returned to the dock, the Varsity and Freshmen 8s crews hit the water for the marquee races of the day. A third 1000m piece was also added for these races, putting up a big challenge for the fitness of each of the crews. The Maryland freshmen put in some solid races, beating UNC’s second freshmen 8 but losing to the Heel’s impressive top frosh 8, which had just come off a big second-place finish at the Head of the Hooch the weekend before.

In the main event - the varsity eights race - the first flight between the UMD 1V and the UNC 2V, saw a tough race throughout the course, wherein the UMD boat surrendered a slight lead at the halfway point to lose by inches at the final. After the close finish, the Maryland varsity struggled against the UNC 3V and 1V in the final two races.

The day was then capped off by a 500m dash race between all of the 8s. Seven boats lined up across, and UNC again came out on top.

The UNC-UMD dual race marked the end of the on-the-water season for 2009, with both teams heading indoors for winter training. Pictures from the race are available here.

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