"For the first time ever at the Schuylkill River, we have docks made of a composite that are weather-resistant that will hold up for years," said Jim Hanna, president of the Dad Vail Regatta Organizing Committee.
While that probably won't excite many land lubbers, it's the equivalent of the Eagles' making performance-enhancing changes to Lincoln Financial Field.
"This raises the racing venue up to a whole new level," Hanna said.
One of the new additions, the launching area dock, is billed as the largest launch dock in the United States. It is more than 500 feet long. Another upgrade, the award dock, is stationed at the grandstand finish line near the Columbia Avenue bridge.
"So we now really have a world-class racecourse here," Hanna said.
In addition to having 118 college teams vying for sweep (multiple-rower) titles, the Dad Vail marks the return of the Philadelphia Challenge Cup for single scullers on Saturday. The regatta also will host an exhibition open singles sculling collegiate championship on the same day. This is the first year that both sculling events will run in conjunction with the Dad Vail Regatta.
On Saturday afternoon, the Philadelphia Challenge Cup, known as the Gold Cup, will showcase four of the top men's and four of the top women's rowers in the world.
On the men's side, 2008 United States Olympian Ken Jurkowski will compete against the Czech Republic's Ondrej Synek and Slovenia's Iztok Cop and Luka Spik.
Synek is the 2010 world champion. Cop is a five-time Olympian, and Spik is a 2000 Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion.
Belarus' Ekaterina Karsten, the Czech Republic's Mirka Knapkova, Serbia's Iva Obradovic, and Sweden's Frida Svensson will compete on the women's side.
