The UW men’s varsity wore pink W’s on their jerseys instead of the normal purple in support of a close member of the Husky family who is battling cancer.

“This is a Washington family. We want to do good things for our family, both for people who rowed here and for the community at large,” said men’s coach Michael Callahan. “My good friend is a faculty member here and she was diagnosed with breast cancer. So we want to do something for her to keep her spirits up as she attacks this disease.”

And do something they did. The men’s team crushed both the Polish Men’s under 23-national team and the Navy to register a three-length victory after finishing the race in 5 minutes 49.31 seconds.

“They got in their rhythm and took care of business,” Callahan said.

Poland and the Navy battled hard for second place, with Poland ultimately pulling out ahead with a time of 5:56.48. The Navy finished the race in 6:00.59. This victory marks the fifth time the UW has won the Windermere Cup in the last six years.

The UW men came out with a win despite encountering an unexpected obstacle shortly before race time. Six-seat Blaise Didier broke a metal pin that swivels the oar mechanism shortly before the Huskies were set to race. Consequently, the team hustled back to the shell house and got a new boat, disrupting the normal pre-race routine.

“I was really excited that the guys handled some adversity out there,” Callahan said. “They went out there and broke a piece of equipment. They kept their heads. They came in, got a new boat and came to the starting line and just stayed focused.”

The UW women broke their losing streak in style, beating the Navy by 15 seconds to finish in 6:35.17 seconds to win the Windermere Cup.

“It felt amazing. It was one of our best races so far this year,” sophomore Erika Shaw said. “We had been told prior that they were really good teams, and that it would be a fierce competition, and it was.”

The University of Melbourne (Australia) came in third with a time of 6:52.38.

Both the men’s and women’s crews credit the crowd’s support for their big victories.

“All I want to say is that I really want to thank all the fans for coming because, really, they made a difference,” Shaw said.

The fans certainly made a difference, cheering the Huskies on with a deafening roar.

“It was really loud. We couldn’t hear the coxswain toward the end,” sophomore Simon Taylor said. “She had to tap on the boat to tell us when to bring the speed up.”

Some fans dressed up, the swim team jumped in the cut, and all were loud.

Fans Jamie Buckin and Dave Aron commented on the scene.

“Aside from Oxford and Cambridge, I think that this is the best attended rowing event in the world,” Buckin said.

“It is vastly superior to Harvard and Yale,” Aron said.

Windermere Real Estate Company sponsorsed the regatta.

“I just really want to thank Windermere. It’s like my favorite race,” coxswain Alysha Koorji said.

The UW’s next race is the Pac-10 championships on May 18 in Rancho Cordova, Calif. By the time they get there, women’s coach Bob Ernst wants them to be “nuclear warheads at 10 paces.”