Weekend Wrap: Ontario Rowers Compete at U23 Worlds and FISU Games
A pair of international regattas highlighted the weekend schedule across the rowing world as both the U23 World Rowing Championships and the FISU World University Games Regatta took place in Europe.
The World U23 Rowing Championships ran from Lake Malta in Poznan, Poland from July 23-27. Four Canadian boats took part in the regatta, with the men’s and women’s eights and pairs entering the starting gates respectively. The Canadian contingent consisted of nine men and nine women including coxswains, with two rowers per gender doubling up to compete in the pair as well as the eight. The five Ontario rowers named to the team were Payton Gauthier (Niagara Falls Rowing Club), Adam Griesbach (Ottawa Rowing Club/Western University), Cait Whittard (St. Catharines Rowing Club), Victoria Grieder Ottawa Rowing Club – Coxswain) and Isobel Campbell (Ottawa Rowing Club).
The top placing boat of the regatta for Canada was the women’s eight, which earned a bronze medal in a hard-fought performance. The women’s eight began their regatta with a second-place finish in their heat to qualify for Sunday’s A Final. In the final, they were neck-and-neck with the USA at the 1000m mark in a battle for second place, but as the race progressed the Americans pulled ahead leaving Canada in a tight race for bronze with Germany. In the end, Canada outlasted the Germans, finishing ahead of them by 1.3 seconds in a time of 6:19.37 to win the bronze medal. The USA placed second, while Great Britain won gold in a time of 6:13.60.
The women’s pair, which featured St. Catharines’ Cait Whittard teaming with Montreal’s Maylie Valiquette narrowly missed a medal, placing fourth in the A Final in a time of 7:12.07. The men’s pair and men’s eight placed 11th (5th in B Final) and 12th (6th in B Final) respectively.
The FISU World University Games took place in the Rhine-Ruhr region of Germany from July 16-27. The regatta ran during the last three days of competition from July 25-27 in Duisburg, Germany on the Duisburg-Wedau Regatta Course. Team Canada sent a squad of 12 rowers (7 women, 5 men) to the event, which included Ontario university rowers Ceilidh Aho (University of Guelph), Olivia Calbeck (Western University), Ceilidh MacDonald (Queen’s University), Charles Etienne-Tabet (Brock University), and Keithan Woodhouse (Brock University). Rockwood, ON’s Madelyn Vandermeer, who rows at UBC was also a member of the women’s team.
Six boats hit the starting line for Canada, with two reaching the A Final to compete for a medal. The men’s pair of Connor Attridge (BC) and Bob Bryden (AB) were the highest-placing boat, with a fourth-place finish, while the women’s four, which contained Ontario rowers Aho, MacDonald, Vandermeer and Calbeck, came in fifth. The women’s and men’s doubles each reached the B Final, placing seventh and ninth respectively, while the men’s single (Tabet) placed 13th and the women’s single (Emily Munroe, NS) placed 19th.
Meanwhile on the domestic front, the Tops and Bottoms Regatta took place on Rabbit Lake in Kenora, ON. The regatta featured 143 entries from seven clubs from Canada and the USA, including the Thunder Bay Rowing Club who sent 34 entries to the regatta. Fresh off competing at the Row Ontario Championships last weekend for the first time in approximately 20 years the TBRC earned the second-most medals at the regatta claiming 18 (7 gold, 8 silver, 3 bronze). Only the Minneapolis Rowing Club, which had the most entries with 37, claimed more with 22.
For full results from the U23 World Rowing Championships, visit World Rowing.
For full results from the FISU World University Games Regatta, visit FISU Games.
For full results from the Tops and Bottoms Regatta, visit RegattaCentral.
For the full regatta schedule in Ontario, visit the Row Ontario website.
Picture is property of USports International
