The race is world famous, the biggest and best of its kind, attracting the elite in the field from throughout the world to compete. This classic race draws close to 300,000 spectators.

What race is it? It is the Boston’s annual Head of the Charles Regatta.

Boston sports are mostly dominated by the Patriots, the Celtics, and the Red Sox, but this past weekend, thousands of people came to the Charles River to watch the 44th Head of the Charles. Participating teams traveled from many different parts of the country, from Europe, from China—all over the world—in order to participate in the regatta categorized into 52 different sections.

Started in 1965, Head of the Charles is now the world’s largest two-day head race. Head races are rowing regattas, usually 5 kilometers (or about 2.5 miles) long, in which boats are started at 10-15 second intervals in a race against the clock. Spectators stand riverside, cheering for their favorite team as flocks of boats speed down the river.

The Head of the Charles is a particularly challenging head race because of the many bridges and tricky turns in the course. Coxswains, who steer and command boats, must exercise extreme caution. If turns are not executed at exactly the right moment at exactly the right angle, crashes can occur, destroying a team’s hopes for glory.

Of course, Wayland-Weston crew team was present this past weekend, testing their strongest boats against other high school teams from across the nation.

The boys varsity team brought a four boat and an eight boat and raced early Sunday morning. The four (Mike Paresky, Alex Newell, Kevan Zadeh, Matt Bailey; coxswain Nick Kwan) competed in a huge field against 70 other boats. They placed an impressive 9th in this extremely tough race, with a time of 17:55. They were only 3.75% off from the first place.

Later, the eight (Will Purman, Dylan Gens, Brendan Stack, Kep Edwards, Adam Pitel, David McCarthy, Bobby Dresser, Stephen Freiberg; coxswain Amy Hachigan) placed 45th of 66 boats in a tight race won by Eton College’s freshman team. The eight came in with a time of 16:56, only one second off of CRI, and two off of Chaminade High School, both local rivals.

As for the girls’ varsity team, their first eight (Jillian Zieff, Alexandra Hill, Kristi Wagner, Claire Barkin, Hannah Sieber, Catherine Chappell, Melissa Otis, Sophie Gavell; coxswain Cara Rapaport) raced in the youth womens’ eight event, placing a strong 15th out of 68 boats. Their time was 18:17, 5.2% off from the first place.

“I’m very proud of their race and the result,” said Coach Matt Hanig about his team’s performance. “The Head of the Charles is an incredible regatta that attracts the best junior crews in the country, and to place in the top twenty is something really to be proud of.”

Coach Hanig also noted the remarkable performance of coxswain Cara Rapaport, who not only steered a “perfect course” around the tough turns of the Charles, but also avoided a dangerous situation in which two of the boats in front of her collided, leaving Wayland-Weston to navigate around the mess.

Keeping the glory of this past weekend in their hearts, Wayland-Weston’s athletes move on to the final weekend of the season. On Saturday, they will be in Saratoga, New York, competing at the Head of the Fish Regatta, and Sunday at Massachusetts State Championships, where Wayland-Weston took home the overall team trophy last year.