Weekend Wrap: Olympics Regatta Kicks Off; Henley Starts with Masters
With all the eyes of the sporting world on Paris for the 2024 Olympics, the Olympic regatta began on Saturday morning from Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
The first Canadian boat entered the starting gates on Sunday as Jill Moffatt (Bethany, ON) and Jenny Casson (Kingston, ON) began their second Olympic regatta with the heats in the lightweight women’s double. With the top-two boats in each heat earning a spot in the semi-finals, the duo came up short of advancing straight to semi’s, crossing the line in third behind France in a time of 7:09.45. On Monday morning, Moffatt and Casson returned to the regatta course for the repechage round, where they now needed a top-three finish to move on to the semi-finals. They cruised through the race and with a second-place finish behind Ireland will continue their Olympic regatta on Wednesday morning. They’ll compete in the A/B Semi-Final 1 against USA, Great Britain, New Zealand, Poland, and Argentina where they’ll need another top-three finish to advance to the A Final and compete for an Olympic medal.
The Canadian women’s eight began their Olympic regatta this morning in heat number 1 against crews from Australia, Great Britain and Denmark. The reigning Olympic gold medalists came in third place in their heat in a time of 6:21.31 behind Great Britain (6:16.20) and Australia (6:18.61). Great Britain and Romania, winners of heat number 2, both advance straight to the A Final, while Canada will compete against Australia, Denmark, USA and Italy in the repechage round on Thursday. The top-four from the repechage round will advance to Saturday’s final.
On the domestic front, the 140th Royal Canadian Henley Regatta began on Sunday with Masters rowers competing on Martindale Waterways. The Henley Masters Regatta attracted 41 clubs from Ontario, Quebec and across the North Eastern United States for the annual event, which had a total of 333 entries in a wide variety of race categories. Endeavor Racing Alliance (Mesa, AZ) had the most entries of the event with 38 and was the top performing club winning nine gold medals. The Don Rowing Club was second on the gold medal tally with seven, followed by Hanlan Boat Club (6) and the St. Catharines Rowing Club (5). Other Ontario clubs earning gold medals were the Ridley Graduate Boat Club (4), London Western Rowing Club (3), Georgian Bay Rowing Club (2), Leander Boat Club (2), Peterborough Rowing Club (1), Argonaut Rowing Club (1), South Niagara Rowing Club (1), and Niagara Falls Rowing Club (1).
In Kenora, the annual Tops & Bottoms Regatta ran on Saturday from Rabbit Lake. Hosted by the Winnipeg Rowing Club, the event featured six clubs and 135 entries, including 27 from the Thunder Bay Rowing Club, competing in junior and masters races. The TBRC came in fourth-place overall in the medal standings with nine medals (3 gold, 1 silver, 5 bronze). The Minneapolis Rowing Club finished first with 21 medals, followed by the Duluth Rowing Club with 17 medals and the Winnipeg Rowing Club with 15.
For full results from the 2024 Olympic Regatta, visit World Rowing
For full results from the Henley Masters Regatta, visit RegattaCentral
For full results from the Tops & Bottoms Regatta, visit RegattaCentral
Picture is property of Royal Canadian Henley Regatta.
