Women's Champ Single: Maggie Fellows Surprises from Back of Pack

With 10-time champion Gevvie Stone having moved on to the master’s race, the 2021 women’s champ singles event was the first in more than a decade to not have a favorite. Still, Massachusetts native Maggie Fellows was a long shot by anyone’s estimation except maybe her own. Beating two Olympians and a hometown favorite, Fellows came up from Bow #20 to win in a time of 19:21.

After commuting from the Berkshires to train and row on the Charles all summer, the 30-year-old Fellows’ intimate knowledge of the course helped give her a confidence that complemented her training.

“It’s a huge advantage in this race in particular,” Fellows said. “Knowing where all the turns are is good. It’s almost too easy with the buoy markers cause then everyone else knows where to go, but training on the river definitely helps.”

This is Fellows’ first time winning the champs singles but hardly her first time racing it. After rowing in the eight in college for St. Lawrence, she has rowed in all but one champ singles event in the Head of the Charles since 2013, never finishing better than seventh or worse than 14^th.

Fellows was not as surprised as others about her win Saturday.

“I was pretty confident going in and kinda had a sense that I would end up in the top three or four,” Fellows said. “I went out with the plan to take the fastest line and hoped that everyone else got out of the way.”

Prior to this year’s Head of the Charles, the biggest achievements on Fellows’s resume were fourth-place finishes in this year’s Olympic trials and in the 2018 Pan American Games qualification regatta.

She finished a full 15 seconds ahead of Olympian Kristi Wagner, the pre-race favorite. Fellows had a two second lead at the first check point at Riverside and continued to pull ahead as she rowed on to the finish line.

Now, Fellows is looking towards the Paris Olympics in 2024. Whether she continues to race the single or looks to win a spot in a bigger boat is still be determined. She plans on putting her all into the trial races and seeing where the results take her.

Wagner placed second with a time of 19:36 and Mary Nabel finished a close third in 19:39. Grace Joyce came in fourth in 19:51 and Olympic quad rower Alie Rusher placed fifth in 19:58.