Weekend Preview: 5 Ontario Athletes to Compete in World Rowing Beach Sprints

The final World Rowing Championship regatta of 2022 will kick off tomorrow as athletes from across the world will travel to Saundersfoot, UK for the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals.

Among the competitors will be seven Canadian athletes, including five from Ontario, who will compete in Wales’ Pembrokeshire National Park at the Saundersfoot beach and harbour from Oct. 14-16. Aubrey Oldham (Leander Boat Club) and Sarah Pidgen (Don Rowing Club) will compete individually in the men’s and women’s solo events, and team up together for the mixed double. The duo are experienced beach sprint competitors having competed in the last two World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals. They also both competed last weekend at the World Rowing Coastal Championships, where they earned a seventh-place finish in the mixed double. Pidgen also raced in the women’s solo event where she finished in tenth place.

In U19 action, Elena Sati (Cambridge Rowing Club / Don Rowing Club) and Alex Duggan (Kingston Rowing Club) will team together in the U19 women’s double, while Dennis Ovidyenko (Don Rowing Club) will compete in the U19 men’s solo. Beckett Della Siega and Alexander Joiner, both from Victoria City Rowing Club, round out the competitors and will race in the U19 men’s double. Depending on schedule and timing, Duggan may also compete in the U19 women’s solo, and Sati and Ovidyenko may enter the U19 mixed double. All athletes were selected to compete on the team through the RCA Beach Sprint Series which took place earlier in the year. Team Canada’s coaches for the event are Katie Bahain-Steenman and Iain Wilson and the team will be managed by John Armitage.

The World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals is a coastal rowing competition that involves a barefoot sprint on a beach to the competitors’ boats, 250m of slalom racing around buoys, and a final beach sprint from the water’s edge to the finish line. The preliminary rounds will start on Friday Oct. 14, with quarterfinals, semifinals and finals taking place on Saturday Oct. 15 and Sunday Oct. 16.

On the domestic front, with the university rowing season in full swing the Henley Course in St. Catharines will welcome 15 university programs for the Brock Invite. The annual event will take place on Saturday, Oct. 15 and will give university rowers their last chance to compete against their conference rivals prior the OUA Rowing Championships, which will take place from the same venue on Oct. 29.Of the 15 university programs, 14 are from Ontario with the lone addition from outside the province being the University of Montreal. The Western Mustangs lead the way with 32 entries, followed by the host Brock Badgers with 28, the Ottawa Gee-Gees with 23, the Trent Excalibur with 21 and the McMaster Marauders with 19. Other programs represented are the Queen’s Gaels, Toronto Varsity Blues, Guelph Gryphons, RMC Paladins, Ontario Tech Ridgebacks, Laurentian Voyageurs, Nipissing Lakers, Carleton Ravens, and Waterloo Warriors.

The action will begin at 8am on Saturday morning.

For more information on the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, visit World Rowing.
For more information on the Brock Invite visit RegattaCentral.

For the full regatta schedule in Ontario, visit the Row Ontario website.