First Intercollegiate Competition

In 1859, the student-organized crew team raced against Yale and Harvard on Worcester’s Lake Quinsigamond in the College Union Regatta, Brown’s first intercollegiate competition. Brown’s boat, the six-oared lap streak Atalanta, was a 44 ½-foot craft that outweighed the other teams’ shells by 150 pounds. This disadvantage, coupled with their opponents’ far more experienced crews, resulted in a third-place finish for Brown.