Historic 1990 Women’s LWT4- Inducted into Row Ontario HOF

An historic crew became the latest inductee into the Row Ontario Hall of Fame on Thursday, as the 1990 Women’s Lightweight Four were recognized for their outstanding accomplishments.

Rachel Starr, Jill Blois, Diana Sinnige and Colleen Miller were the members of the historic crew that earned the gold medal at the 1990 World Rowing Championships in Lake Barrington, Australia.

“Thank you, Row Ontario. What an honour!” said Sinnige “My teammates, Rachel, Jill and Colleen, are such amazing athletes and fierce competitors. I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to row with them. We had some amazing races! I’m also thankful for the support of our coach, Nancy Storrs and the St. Catharines Rowing Club – you gave us your best equipment and the run of the course. Thanks for graciously hosting our crew in 1990.”

“Thank you to Row Ontario for honouring this particular moment in rowing,” said Starr. “1990 was the start of a wonderful era in Canadian rowing. It was a lot of fun being on the Canadian Team in those years! A simpler time. I count my blessings that Nancy Storrs was there to open the door for me to international competition. She was a coach with a rare combination of integrity and skill. Sometimes a crew comes together and just clicks in a mysterious way, and everybody feels the (painful) joy of going really fast. That’s what rowing with Jill, Diana, and Colleen was like.”

“What an incredible acknowledgement!” said Miller. “This honour brings back amazing memories from 34 years ago! Our team thrived because we had a generous coach in Nancy Storrs who led us with hard work and patience and believed we could win. I remember how fired up we were! We nailed a rhythm stroke by stroke in a wild tailwind that brought us to the gold medal.”

The crew was entirely new in 1990 and ended up being the fastest crew on the Canadian team, winning the time trials (against standards) prior to the World Championships. This gave the crew a tremendous sense of confidence heading into the event. They trained out of St. Catharines in preparation for the 1990 World Championships and were coached by fellow Row Ontario Hall of Fame member Nancy Storrs. They began the World Championships as the fastest in the heats, clocking at time of 6:51.28 to beat Britain and Australia. From there they advanced to the final where they finished in a time of 6:38.40 earning the gold medal and setting a world record in the process. The crew came in two seconds ahead of Australia who finished in second place, as well as China, Great Britain, USSR and Germany who comprised the rest of the A Final. The world record was the first ever world’s best time for a Canadian boat in rowing (and stood for several years), and the first time a Canadian women’s sweep boat won a gold medal at a World Championship or Olympic Games.

The crew was further recognized for their outstanding accomplishments by the Canadian sport community later that year as they were one of five runners up for the Lou Marsh Award as Canada’s most outstanding athlete(s) in 1990.

Each crew member experienced success outside their historic crew as well. Blois earned another World Championship medal in 1992, this time a bronze in the LW4- in 1992. She was named New Brunswick’s top female athlete in 1991 and 1992 and was inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. Sinnige, who rowed at the St. Catharines Rowing Club and Western University prior to her national team career, won her first World Championship medal, a bronze, in the LW8+ at the 1984 World Championships. This crew was part of the first cohort of lightweight women to compete a World Championship and the first to race the 2000m distance. She also claimed a silver medal at the 1987 Pan Am Games and teamed with Starr to win a bronze medal in the lightweight pair at the 1990 Goodwill Games.

Starr, who rowed at the Ottawa Rowing Club in her junior years and hails from Montreal, also experienced later success in the LW4-, winning a silver in the boat at the 1993 World Rowing Championships. She also earned a gold medal at the 1993 FISU Games in the LW2x, competed at the 1994 (W8+), 1995 (LW1x) and 1997 (LW2x) World Rowing Championships, and set a course record at the 1997 Lucerne World Cup in the LW2x. Miller won a silver medal with Michelle Darvill in the lightweight double at the 1992 World Rowing Championships and she would go on to team up with Wendy Wiebe in another historic boat, winning three consecutive gold medals in the LW2x at the World Championships from 1993-95. She was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1998 and the RCA Hall of Fame with Wiebe in 2018.

Row Ontario will be announcing the inductions of the 2024 Hall of Fame class throughout the week as part of ‘Hall of Fame Week’. Already announced as inductees this week were Bill Donegan (Umpire), Doc Fitz-James (Coach) and Michael Murphy (Builder). Stay tuned the rest of this week for more announcements on the 2024 induction class of the Row Ontario Hall of Fame.