Tales From the Towpath

In response to your request for towpath stories (From the Archives, Oct. 4): For a brief period, bleachers were installed on a flatbed truck that would drive on the towpath alongside boat races on Lake Carnegie. This vantage provided an outstanding view of races in progress, and I believe that seats in the bleachers were largely reserved for coaches, team managers, and boathouse staff.

However, during one very close race, the driver paid more attention to the race than to the towpath itself. One wheel lost the path and the truck lurched to the side, lost its footing, and rolled slowly toward the water, depositing several coaches unceremoniously into the drink. The rolling bleachers were retired on that day. No suits were filed, as far as I know.

Editor’s note: Tom Daley ’75 added these details: The incident took place in 1975 or 1976 when the Eastern Sprints (the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges championship regatta) took place on Lake Carnegie. “The truck did not end up in the lake,” Daley wrote. “It came to rest at a 45-degree angle against a tree that prevented it (but not all of the riders) from ending up in the lake.”