Nothing like a little Shakespeare for the proper perspective on this year’s IRA experience, for “when sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions”. That was the story of the 2003 IRA for the Yale varsity lightweights, bronze medallists at the Sprints but out of the IRA Grand Finals for the first time ever. After winning the IRA in 2000 and 2002, the defending national champions found themselves on the outside looking in after finishing fifth in the morning heat. It didn’t get any better in the afternoon, either, as the Yale lights finished a disappointing third. The result stands in contrast to recent years, which have seen two Sprints titles, two IRA national championships, numerous Cup victories, and a Henley Royal Regatta title. As W.S. wrote in an unpublished manuscript, “man, that sucked.”