By Greg Levinsky — Correspondent
Joan Campbell told Bill Becklean to leave the paint out on the dock.
Many rowers paint their oars distinctively as identification, but Campbell never bothered until a morning at the Cambridge Boat Club 20 years ago.
“Being the wonderful gentleman that he was,” Campbell says, “he offered to paint my oars. That’s how we met.”
The chance encounter brought together the Concord couple who’ve become synonymous with the annual Head of the Charles Regatta, the world’s largest three-day rowing event, which each year attracts more than 10,000 athletes and 400,000 spectators from around the globe.
Of all the entrants, it’s the longtime Concord residents, Becklean and Campbell, who will once again row with a specific distinction this season.
Primed to compete
Becklean, 88, and Campbell, 87, who married in 2022 after 17 years together, are the regatta’s oldest couple, and look forward to Friday morning, when Campbell, who last year became the oldest woman to race, will race in the Women’s Grand Veteran Singles at 7:45 a.m.
Becklean and his longtime rowing partner Peter Fenton, of South Dartmouth, race in the Men’s Grand Master Doubles at 10:28 a.m. Becklean will also cox the “Octogenarian Eight” boat full of rowers 80 and older, organized by Brighton non-profit Community Rowing, in the final event on Sunday.
“I’m not saying that I’ve been fast, but I’ve been the oldest,” she says. “Being able to row in The Head of the Charles is an honor.”
“It makes the point that anybody who wants to can learn to row and compete,” Becklean adds.
Compelling backstories
Non-linear paths to the sport brought them together. Becklean, a gold medalist at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games as coxswain of Team USA’s eight boat, began coxing in high school at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and continued at Yale University. He started rowing in earnest at age 50.
So did Campbell, a Newton native who moved to Concord 39 years ago during a previous marriage. At the behest of the City of Boston, Union Boat Club received a request to allow women. Much to her family’s surprise, Campbell became the first-ever female member of Boston’s Union Boat Club.
“My son was furious that I joined a club that previously wouldn’t let women in, but I loved it,” says Campbell, who remains a member today. “They were very welcoming. Now there are many women. It was a wonderful way to — I don’t want to say break the glass ceiling — but to be the first.”
From Cambridge to Concord
A few years later, Campbell joined Cambridge Boat Club and met Becklean. They’ve lived together in Concord for 20 years. Becklean first got involved with Head of the Charles in 1972, and in the years since has served on the race’s board of directors, rowed in about 10 events, and volunteered in other capacities. Campbell, who also volunteers, is racing for the 24th time this fall.
In traversing the iconic course, Becklean and Campbell keep their focus on navigating under the seven bridges and around buoys.
“It’s like maneuvering yourself in a traffic jam,” Becklean says. “There’s no time to have fun looking at what’s going on around you. It’s all focused on keeping the best course that you can steer.”
The couple likes to stay active, regularly walking, hiking, and skiing. In training for the regatta, Campbell rows three times per week. Becklean and Fenton row together twice weekly.
Family, friends, fans
Each year, Becklean’s daughters from Colorado and Maine make the trip for Head of the Charles. Campbell’s daughters from Lincoln and Concord and son from California come, too. In all, they’ll have about 10 family members and countless friends cheering them on, plus the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School rowing team, who get permission from the school’s principal to watch Becklean, their assistant coach.
“When I finish, I feel as though I’ve accomplished what I wanted to,” Campbell says. “I’ve always said that there’s a value of just showing up, and sometimes there’s a value in being last: that you’ve participated.
“Last year was my ‘last’ year, but I’m on the course again this year. I said this was the last time I was going to do it, so who knows what next year will bring?”
