Weekend Wrap: First National Championship of 2020 Hosted in Mississauga
Competition/ Feb 10

Weekend Wrap: First National Championship of 2020 Hosted in Mississauga


The first national championship regatta of 2020 took place on Sunday, Feb. 9 as the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships were hosted in Mississauga, Ont. at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre.

Racing on brand new Concept 2 Model Ergometers, the competitors erged through distances of 500m, 1000m, 2000m with Masters, Junior, Senior, Open weight, Lightweight, Para, Novice, and Coxswain categories all being contested. There were 701 total entries at the event, representing 78 clubs from across Canada.

The majority of the races were contested at 2000m with a number of impressive performances from competitors across all age categories. Leading the way on the women’s side was Elisa Bolinger of Western University, who had the fastest time of the day at 7:00.8. Bolinger, an engineering student at Western, was racing out of the women’s under-23 category and was followed by her teammate Yara Ensminger (Open Women) who finished with the second-fastest time of the day in 7:04.5. Claire Kendall of the University of Toronto, who was also competing the under-23 category, came in third in a time of 7:06.9.

Four men cracked the six-minute barrier on Sunday, with two rowers tying for the fastest overall time. Charles Alexander (Laurentian University) and Ryan Clegg (UWO Boat Club) both showed their early season form by crossing the finish line in a time of 5:55.7. Clegg was racing in the Open Men’s category while Alexander was competing in the under-23 men’s category. Alexander took part in one of the most intense races of the day and was pushed right to the finish line by Erik Hohnstein of Brock University (5:57.0) and Curtis Ames of Western University (5:59.5).

The fastest lightweight competitors of the day were Jordan Isnor of Brock University (LW U23, 7:34.7) on the women’s side and Patrick Gogan of Western University (LM U23, 6:20.1) for the men.

The junior racing categories saw the most action on Sunday as a total of 384 U17 and U19 rowers competed at the regatta. In the U17 division, Cait Whittard of Dennis Morris CHS won the lightweight women’s event in a time of 7:51.9, while Anna Pamenter of the Don Rowing Club topped the U17 women’s race in a time of 7:23.8. Grace Weaver of Grimsby HS (7:40.2) and Rachel Weber of Ottawa Rowing Club (7:21.1) placed first in the U19 women’s lightweight and women’s divisions respectively.

In the U17 men’s action, Owen Bartel of Eden HS (6:46.4) placed first in the lightweight race and Shane Keagan of Ridley College earned top spot with a 6:35.6 finish in the open race. Owen Darling of Niagara Rowing School won the U19 men’s lightweight race in a time of 6:40.7 while Eric Seawright claimed the U19 men’s race in an impressive time of 6:19.2.

Alexandre Martel of the Sudbury Rowing Club also made history on Sunday as he set the world record in the Men’s U19 PR3 event, finishing in a time of 7:12.1.

The next event on the Ontario indoor rowing calendar is Indoor Rowing Day in Canada which takes place on Saturday, Feb. 22. One week later, St. Catharines will play host to the Ontario Ergometer Championships, which will be hosted by the Ridley Graduate Boat Club on Feb.29. To view our events calendar with all upcoming Ontario events please visit our website.

Category Winners

Women’s 2000m
JLW U17 – Cait Whittard (Dennis Morris CHS): 7:51.9
JW U17 – Anna Pamenter (Don Rowing Club): 7:23.8
JLW U19 – Grace Weaver (Grimsby SS): 7:40.2
JW U19 – Rachel Weber (Ottawa Rowing Club): 7:21.1
LW U23 – Jordan Isnor (Brock University): 7:34.7
W U23 – Elisa Bolinger (Western University): 7:00.8 *Fastest Time
W30 – Rae Ceccato (St. Catharines Rowing Club): 7:35.6
LW40 – Lesley Smith (Don Rowing Club): 8:13.0
W40 – Kim Kubet Watson (Unaffiliated): 7:21.5
LW50 – Leanne Ginty (Evolution PC): 8:00.5
W50 – Andrea Risk (Unaffiliated): 8:09.5
LW55 – Louise Soucy-Fraser (Don Rowing Club): 8:50.4
Open LW – Jasmine Carter (University of Toronto): 7:36.4
Open W – Yara Ensminger (Western University): 7:04.5

Men’s 2000m
M PR3 – Alexandre Martel (Laurentian University): 7.12.1
JLM U17 – Owen Bartel (Eden HS): 6:46.4
JM U17 – Shane Keagan (Ridley College): 6:35.6
JLM U19 – Owen Darling (Niagara Rowing School): 6:40.7
JM 19 – Eric Seawright (Don Rowing Club): 6:19.2
LM U23 – Patrick Gogan (Western University): 6:20.1
M U23 – Charles Alexander (Laurentian University): 5:55.7 *Fastest Time
M30 – Peter McLelland (Western University Alumni): 6:16.5
LM40 – Vadim Lawrence (Unaffiliated): 7:03.3
M40 – Michael Cooper (CrossFit Pickering): 6:30.7
LM50 – David Bordin (SCULLHOUSE Rowing): 7:28.3
M50 – Andriy Stogornyuk (Unaffiliated): 6:24.5
LM55 – Scott Patterson (SCULLHOUSE Rowing): 7:18.7
M55 – Frans Bouwmans (Unaffiliated): 6:28.5
LM60 – Carl Goodwin (Thunder Bay Rowing Club): 7:12.5
M60 – Alex Pond (Unaffiliated): 7:00.6
M70 – Terry Chappell (Unaffiliated): 7:32.1
M75 – Arthur Pearse (St. Lawrence Rowing Club): 8:18.4
LM80+ – Bob Hawkins (Unaffiliated): 9:15.5
Open LM – Matt Chen (University of Toronto): 6:39.5
Open M – Ryan Clegg (UWO Boat Club): 5:55.7 *Fastest Time

1000m
M Cox – Mark Teeter (University of Guelph): 3:35.2
W Cox – Zoe Thompson (University of Toronto): 3:56.4
JM Novice – Alessio Perco (Niagara Rowing School): 3:27.8
JW Novice – Malarie Jones (Niagara Rowing School): 3:39.0

1000m – Relays
W Univ 4 – Western University (Kyra Urabe, Cassidy Deane, Elisa Bolinger, Yara Ensminger): 3:31.9
M Univ 4 – Western University (Braden Reid, Matthew Pamenter, Curtis Ames, Ryan Clegg): 3.04.0
W Club 4 – Ottawa Rowing Club (Zella James, Lauren Blume, Madeleine Lauriault, Rachel Weber): 3:44.2
M Club 4 – Ottawa Rowing Club (David Johnson, Erik Watkins, Matthew Lokhonia, Aidan
Hembruff): 3:16.1

500m – Pairs
Mother-Daughter – Tina Cheung, Bethan Yam (Unaffiliated): 1:50.0
Mother-Son – Andrea Risk, Owen Newbiggin (Unaffiliated): 1:41.3
Father-Daughter – Jon White, Rylie Wake (St. Catharines Rowing Club): 1:43.5
Father-Son – Michael Vandenburg, William Vandenburg (Kingston Rowing Club): 1:34.0

Go the Distance 4 Minutes
Christian Thatcher (Unaffiliated) – 1277m

For full results please visit RegattaCentral.