The University of Pennsylvania heavyweight rowing team will travel to Lake Carnegie on April 10 to compete against Princeton and Columbia, with the Childs Cup at stake in the Varsity Eights race. Stanford will also participate as a guest crew. In the afternoon, Penn’s top three boats will face Syracuse on the same course.
The Childs Cup is one of collegiate rowing’s oldest trophies and represents a longstanding rivalry among these teams. The event draws attention from both alumni and fans due to its historic significance and competitive field.
Princeton currently leads the Childs Cup standings with 55 victories, followed by Penn with 44 wins and Columbia with 12. Since 1994, Princeton has won all but one race; Columbia broke that streak in 2009. Last year, Princeton secured a three-second victory over second-place Penn at Overpeck Park. Penn last won the trophy in 1993 on the Schuylkill River.
According to this week’s IRCA/IRA national poll released Wednesday, Penn’s Varsity Eight is ranked tenth nationally. Princeton holds fourth place, Stanford is seventh, Syracuse ninth, and Columbia nineteenth.
Saturday’s schedule includes morning races starting at 8:08 a.m., featuring multiple eights events among Penn, Princeton, Columbia, and Stanford crews. Afternoon races begin at 1:32 p.m., where Penn will compete against Syracuse across several boat classes.
The Childs Cup dates back to 1879 when George W. Childs presented it for four-oared competition between Columbia, Princeton, and Penn—one of Penn’s first intercollegiate races—and was initially won by the Quakers that year. In 1889 it became an eight-oared event; over time other schools such as Cornell, Navy, and California have participated as guests.
