Sept. 24, 2011

• Photo Gallery

MADISON, Wis -- The Wisconsin women's rowing programs hosted its annual Class Day races on Lake Mendota Saturday, as the current rowers competed against UW rowing alumnae.

The event gave an opportunity for current rowers to race at home in the fall and for alumnae to race on the lake they spent so many hours training on as students. The 1,000-meter race started in University Bay and proceeded east, ending at the Porter Boathouse.

Rowers were put into boats based on their year in school or year they graduated. As has become tradition, each class of current rowers dressed in colorful uniforms, including blaze orange and camo, purple tie-dye and all black.

Thirteen boats raced side-by-side, including five alumnae boats. The winners were the openweight seniors, followed by the openweight juniors. Coming in a close third was the class of 2011, the most recent alumnae.

After the race, all the boats gathered on the water to sing "Varsity" together. In the end it wasn't so much about winning, or if the alumnae boats cheated and got a head start, it was about getting a chance to race against some of the former Badger greats and continuing the strong tradition of Wisconsin rowing.