Weekend Preview: University Season Wraps Up with CU’s in St. Catharines
St. Catharines will welcome university rowers from across the country this weekend as the Canadian University Rowing Championships will take place from the Henley Course on Saturday and Sunday.
The two-day regatta, which is being hosted by the Brock Badgers, will feature 24 university rowing programs from six provinces and over 150 entries. Saturday’s action will see time trials for the competitors who will compete in 1x, 2x, 2-, 4+, and 8+ categories in the men’s and women’s open weight divisions and 1x, 2x, 4+ in the men’s and women’s lightweight divisions. On Sunday, the athletes will compete in their final races of the 2022 university season and those that qualify for the A Finals will compete for national medals.
Ontario university rowing programs will be well-represented at the event with 12 schools sending entries. The rowers are fresh off competing at the OUA Rowing Championships last weekend, which also took place on the Henley Course. The Brock Badgers men’s team and the Western Mustangs women’s team respectively took home the OUA Championship banners and both programs figure to be in the mix for the national banner this weekend. Both schools will send 12 entries to CURC’s, followed by the Guelph Gryphons (11), Queen’s Gaels (10), Toronto Varsity Blues (10), Carleton Ravens (9), McMaster Marauders (7), Trent Excalibur (6), Ottawa Gee-Gees (5), Waterloo Warriors (4), Ontario Tech Ridgebacks (2), and Nipissing Lakers (1).
The defending CURC champions UBC Thunderbirds (Women) and Victoria Vikes (Men) will be tough competition for the Ontario rowing programs, who will look to break a streak of dominance from the BC-based schools. The last CURC banner to be won by an Ontario school came in 2016 for the women and 2015 for the men, both by the Western Mustangs. Three BC programs will compete this weekend as well as four from Quebec, two from Alberta, two from Nova Scotia and one from Saskatchewan.
For more information on the Canadian University Rowing Championships, visit RegattaCentral.
