Weekend Wrap: St. Catharines Coastal Beach Sprint Champions Crowned
This weekend the St. Catharines Coastal Beach Sprints and & RCA Final Qualifier took place from Lakeside Park in Port Dalhousie over two days. Those in attendance were treated to always exciting beach sprints action and saw several impressive performances from the competitors.
The event, which was hosted by AMP Rowing and Brock University, served as a designated RCA qualifier for international Coastal Beach Sprint events. The open men’s and women’s solo competition took place on Saturday, while the open mixed double, U19 men’s double, U19 women’s double and U19 mixed double were run on Sunday. In solo action, Aubrey Oldham of the Leander Boat Club topped Dennis Ovdiyenko of the Don Rowing Club in the final to win the open men’s solo. Oldham crossed the finish line in 2:35.31 to beat Ovidyenko, who had posted the fastest time in the semifinals (2:34.47), by 20 seconds. In the open women’s solo, the finals featured a pair of Don Rowing Club members as Sarah Pidgen come out on top against her clubmate Elena Sati, crossing the line in a time of 2:44.92.
On Sunday, the open mixed doubles race was won by the two solo winners, as Oldham and Pidgen teamed up to take the gold in a time of 2:33.47. In U19 action, the mixed doubles winners were Ovdiyenko and Sati (2:46.19), Beckett Della Siega and Alexander Joiner of the Victoria City Rowing Club won gold in the men’s double (2:28.57), and the women’s doubles gold medalists were Alex Duggan and Sati (2:50.80) representing the Don Rowing Club. Sati had an impressive weekend picking up two golds and one silver.
Elsewhere in the province the Argonaut Rowing Club hosted their Hogtown Heats regatta on Sunday. The Hogtown Heats is a 750m sprint regatta for recreational, adult novice, para and junior novice athletes and featured rowers from Argo’s, the Barrie Rowing Club, Hanlan Boat Club, and Island Lake Rowing Club.
The Canadian Sculling Marathon was also hosted over the weekend by the Ottawa New Edinburgh Club in Ottawa. This year’s edition of the CSM was the 17th in history and offered the choice of two touring distances, a full marathon (42 km) and a half marathon (21km). The participants rowed on the Ottawa River and launched and finished at the ONEC docks.
For full results from the St. Catharines Coastal Beach Sprints & RCA Final Qualifier, visit RegattaCentral.
For full results from the Hogtown Heats, visit RegattaCentral.
For more information on the Canadian Sculling Marathon, visit the Canadian Sculling Marathon website.
For the full regatta schedule in Ontario, visit the Row Ontario website.
