The
Brentwood College Rowing Club
The
Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing 60th Championships
|
2459 athletes |
The Brentwood College Rowing Club left on May 31st to compete in the Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Associations 60th Championships in St.Catharines, Ontario. Forty-two athletes, six coaches, and one boatman hopped on a bus and headed off to the airport. In St.Catharines the group stayed at the Quality Inn at the Parkway which comes with its own 40-lane bowling alley. The first two days were used to acclimatise to the time zone difference, the humidity and the seven-lane buoyed course. A trip to Niagara Falls on the Thursday for a team photo highlighted the day. In the afternoon, the club had their traditional walk in to the compound, wearing their Brentwood tracksuits. Once in the compound, everyone gathered at the boat storage area where, sitting on a set of stretchers was a brand new pair generously donated by Dr. and Mrs. Bester. Using water especially brought from the finish line of the Brentwood race course, the Amandla was christened by Mrs. Bester. |
| Mrs. Bester explained to the athletes that Amandla was the cry for freedom in South Africa when the blacks were fighting against Apartheid. The speech was very moving and the rowing program is so thankful for this great gift. On Friday morning, the races began for the school. The club started with 16 entries in the 36-event regatta. Eight of those crews raced in the heats and seven of the eight qualified for the semi-finals. On the Saturday, the club competed in 15 different races, qualifying eight crews for the Sunday finals. All four of the Brentwood eights qualified for the finals; no other school matched this record. Each of the four programs has a separate report below. |
 Jenny Bester christens the Amandla |
| Division |
Girls |
Boys |
Overall |
|
1st |
St.
Mary's Catholic S.S. 102 |
E.L. Crossley 97 |
E.L. Crossley
184 |
|
2nd |
E.L. Crossley S.S. 87 |
Brentwood 92 |
Shawnigan
147 |
|
3rd |
Sir Winston Churchill
80 |
Governor Simcoe 89 |
Brentwood
115 |
|
4th |
Shawnigan 79 |
St
.Georges 81 |
Governor Simcoe 109 |
|
5th |
Branksome 72 |
Shawnigan 68 |
St.Mary’s Catholic 102 |
|
|
Brentwood (18th) 22 |
|
|
E.L.
Crossley from Welland Ontario were in 14 of 36 finals. Their program’s
strength was in the small boats and they did not race in one final with
an eight. Each and every one
of the 42 Brentwood athletes contributed to our 3rd place
overall placing in the team competition. The strength of the three boys
eights propelled us into that second place standing. With graduating
only 7 of the 42 athletes attending St.Catharines this year, the future
looks very bright if we are ready to accept the challenge once again.
The trip ended with the end of year banquet at the hotel where
all the families, coaches and athletes got together, made a few speeches,
presentations and then a visit to the bowling alley. Leaving at 5:00
am on Monday morning made the evening short as we were all ready to
get back to the ranch to get back to the work. It has been a great trip
and I would like to thank Debbie Sage for organising a fantastic event.
|
| Senior Boys Program |
| Senior Men’s Double Noah McColl Ambrose Carr |
On the Friday, the boys raced in a very strong heat and qualified
finishing first. Saturday in the Semi-finals the boys were in tough, qualified
third for the Sunday final. The first final of the day, the crew raced down the course
with the five other crews. In the end the crew from St .Georges was
first followed by Ridley, E.L.Crossley, Adam Scott, Eden and then our
crew in 6th place. They came off the water disappointed, but they knew they
had raced their best race of the season. |
|
Senior Men’s Eight Chris Turyk Noah McColl Ambrose Carr Joni Toews Geordie Hayhoe Adam Bensted Adam Erickson Elliot Wiechula Josh Hollenberg |
With
21 entries, there were three heats of seven with two to
qualify. In the final, we had a good race but the end result was a
4th place finish by less than a second to Nichols School of the United
States. Shawnigan Lake School finished first followed by Vancouver College.
Finishing 4th is never pleasant but the journey to get there
was well worth the ride. |
|
Senior
Women’s program The Varsity Women’s 8+ raced in four different combinations
at the 60th annual CSSRA Championships this past weekend.
On Friday morning, the 4+ of Lisa Small, Rebecca Faris, Sarah Laird,
Kim Benda and cox Ria Parks started the regatta with a bang as they
led their heat from start to finish, defeated 6 other crews, and posted
the 9th best time of the 48 entries. Friday afternoon brought the heat of the highly competitive
Sr. Women’s 8+. It featured last year’s Silver (Grosse Ile) and Bronze
medallists (Brentwood) and evolved into one of the most exciting races
of the day. At the end our girls finished 0.4 seconds behind Grosse
Ile and 0.8 seconds ahead of Forest Hills of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
This performance posted the three fastest times of the day and put all
three crews into Saturday’s semi-final. Saturday morning dawned sunny and warm as our Pair, boathouse
Captain Kat Davy-Traynor and Ashley Van Order put together an aggressive
and powerful race to win the heat in the “Amandla” the pair generously
donated by the Bester family this weekend. In Sunday’s final the girls
raced courageously and finished 4th.
The next race was the semi-final of the 4+. The girls knew
they were in tough against K.C.V.I. who had posted the fasted time on
Friday and local favourite Dennis Morris, Stotesbury Cup time trial
winner. The girls raced valiantly, posted the 8th fastest
time of the remaining 21 crews, but finished 3rd in the heat
of 7 and did not advance. The excellent results from this crew bode
well for next year’s varsity crew as 4 of the 5 athletes are Grade 11’s. In the 63 kg pair Gigi McQueen and Kiri Bleecker had a valiant
but heart-breaking race. Though they posted the 5th fastest
time of the 15 entries they drew a very competitive heat and finished
third to eventual Gold (St. Mary’s) and Bronze medallists (Shawnigan
Lake). The fourth and final Saturday race was the semi-final for the
Sr. Women’s 8+. The girls rowed a tremendous race, dominated from start
to finish, and won their semi, earning lane 4 for Sunday’s final of
this flagship event. Sunday’s final for the Varsity 8+ featured three American and
3 Canadian crews. Grosse Ile, featuring 6 grade 12 athletes signed to
rowing scholarships for next year, led from start to finish. Our girls,
employing an extremely aggressive race plan, came by the island in a
battle for 2nd, 3rd or 4th. In a photo
finish the girls finished 4th, 2 seconds out of Silver. The three American crews swept the medals. Our girls can, however,
claim the title as fastest Canadian women’s 8+ this year after a dominant
season on the West Coast (including 4 victories over Shawnigan) and
a substantial victory over our Canadian opposition in this CSSRA final
beating Toronto’s Havergal by 15 seconds and St. Catharine’s Dennis
Morris by 19 seconds. It has been a tremendous season for the Varsity 8+. They committed
themselves, body and soul to their pursuit of collective excellence.
They should be extremely proud of their accomplishments; their coach
certainly is! Jim Ganley |
| Sr. Women’s Double Jessie Helfrich Lindsay Rinning |
This competitive event had 34 entries, with 5 heats and 2
to qualify from each heat, plus the next 2 fastest times. These two girls raced in the fastest of all
5 heats and ended up 4th, unable to qualify for the semi-final.
With little experience and this being only their second race
in this boat, these two girls did extremely well and diligently executed
their race plan. |
|
Sr. Women’s Quad Sarah Williams Jessie Helfrich Lindsay Rinning Sarah Rosen |
With only 14 entries, 2 heats and 3 to qualify from each
heat, this crew qualified for the final without having to exhaust themselves.
In preparation for the final on Sunday, they knew that, to place
in medal contention, they had to have the “perfect” race.
Rowing their most competitive piece to date, they cruised down
the course, moving from 5th place, into the hunt for a solid
3rd place finish. Some unfortunate strokes in the last ¼ of
the race put them out of medal contention, but they held on and pushed,
with their strongest final piece yet, to finish a respectable 5th
place finish, disappointed with their result but not with their efforts. |
|
Sr. Women’s 63kg Single Sarah Rosen |
With 15 entries, 3 heats and 2 to qualify from each heat,
Sarah Rosen had a tough race ahead of her.
One of the biggest obstacles was that she had just finished racing
to qualify the quad for the final and had to turn around and head back
up to race again. With no rest
time, intense temperatures and having only raced this single once before,
Sarah Rosen executed her race plan with a perfect start and a strong
finish, ending up 5th, and out of the qualifying top two. |
|
Sr. Women’s Single Sarah Williams |
With 20 entries, and no racing experience in the single,
Sarah Williams had quite the challenge ahead of her. Once again, only the top two from each heat
would qualify for the final. Sarah
executed a perfect race plan, maintaining her composure, and finished
6th in her heat, the fastest of the 3 heats. |
Junior Girls There are no two people who are prouder of the Junior Girls
Coxed 4 than Mrs. Sage and Ms. Walker Curry. It has been a long and
difficult trip to the National Championships and the girls rose to all
of the challenges given to them. The girls worked very hard at home
the last three weeks and left for St. Catharines with both confidence
and nerves. The Junior Girls Double: Annabelle Glass and Kelly Heeringa,
had a great race in the heats and qualified for the semi-finals on Saturday.
The Junior Girls Coxed 4: Annabelle Glass, Tessa Felix, Stefanie Steinbrink
Kelly, Kelly Heeringa and Sarah Bell Etkin, raced on Friday in the heats
which saw 49 entries in the event. They placed second in their heat
against a strong crew from Branksome and qualified for the semi-finals
on Saturday Saturday was a perfect day for racing and the girls performed
their best races so far this year. In the double, Annabelle and Kelly
rowed with great determination and finished just outside of the qualifying
spot for the finals. This was an amazing finish considering they were
racing against crews that practice and race in doubles all year long. The junior girls’ four had been assigned to the toughest semi-final
of the category and would need the race of their life to get into the
finals. The competition was tough and the girls fought to the finish
line. They placed fourth in their heat and missed qualifying for the
final but had the race of their lives. They had the fifth fastest time
in this event and would have made it to the finals had they been in
any other semi-final. The accomplishments of this group have been enormous this year.
We look forward to next year, and dealing with the unfinished business
we have at the National Rowing Championships. |
| Junior Boys Program |
| Jr. Boys
Heavy 8+ Dan Thompson, Dan Bester, Spencer Crowley, Sebastian Kallos,
Cam Dwayne Gilham, Simon Woods, Jacob Robinson, Kelen Epp, Jason Pasnak |
Hard work and excellent training allowed this crew to perform
at their peak when it mattered the most. The crew raced an excellent semi-final on Saturday posting the
fastest Jr. 8 time of the day and giving the lane of choice for the
final. On Sunday, this was the first race for the Jr. Boys, and indeed
they were the heavy favourites. This crew has always respected their
competition and local crews went after this Brentwood 8 with everything
they had. The boys were out in front crossing the 1000m but not by much.
As they made their way through their legendary Brentwood 30, they broke
the other crews and were able to win the race in control. Dan Thompson was quoted as saying, “It was a close race to
the 1000m mark but we knew, right from the beginning, that this was
a 2000m race!” |
|
Jr. Boys
66 kg 4+ Andrew Gottlieb, Ollie Greenberg, Luke McClellan, Dylan Wood,
Geoff Friderichs |
These valiant young men were relatively untested as they
rallied their crew together immediately after the Shawnigan Lake School
Regatta. This gave them a mere
three weeks to hone their skills and get fit for the challenge. And a challenge it was. This is a highly competitive category and
it was a testament to their focus and determination that they won their
heat on Friday to advance to the semi-finals.
These 4 rowers make up the bow four of the lightweight 8 and
they knew that they were in tough for both events. Unfortunately, there
were some technical difficulties in the semi-finals of the 66 kg four,
that caused them to finish 4th, in an event where only the first three
qualified for the finals. Despite
this result, however, these four athletes rallied their spirits and
they resolved to dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to the Jr. Mens
72kg 8+ Final. |
|
Jr. Mens
72 kg 8+ Dan Thompson, Dan Bester, Jason Pasnak, Kelen Epp, Liam Harrison,
Ollie Greenberg, Luke McClellan, Dylan Wood, Geoff Friderichs |
This 8+ was created out of the Brentwood Regatta, thus giving
these athletes only 4 weeks to create magic. And magic it was. One
of the most competitive events at the entire regatta the Jr. Mens 72
kg 8+ had a returning champion from last year.
They drew the defending championship crew from last year in their
semi-final draw on Saturday. So they knew that they had their work cut
out for them, because not three weeks ago they lost to this same crew
at the Shawnigan Lake School regatta by 6 seconds.
However, not enough can be said about the inner strength of this
crew. The Brentwood 8 put on
a gutsy performance to qualify 1st in their semi and put a bit of scare
into the defending champs. In the final on Sunday, there were four boats
fighting for gold as they crossed the half-way mark with the defending
champs in the lead. The Brentwood
lightweights dug deep and put on one heck of a finish to secure a very,
very, very close second to the defending champs.
These two crews will meet again in the future, and thus a legendary
rivalry has been born! |
|
The Jr.
Mens Heavy 4+ Andrew Gottlieb, Sebastian Kallos, Cam Dwayne Gilham, Simon
Woods, Spencer Crowley |
Four of these five young men know what it is like to win
gold in this event—they did it last year. With the addition of Spencer
Crowley they were looking to defend their title. They raced a great
heat on Friday against one of the strongest crews from the East and
we got our bearings for the semi-finals.
There, on Saturday, we met a crew from Brockville—physically
larger than this Brentwood crew (if that was possible) they were a strong
force to be reckoned with. In
the semi, the Brockville crew raced them to the half-way mark, but the
Brentwood crew was able to distance themselves with a very strong Brentwood
30. This demonstrated their skill as well as their fitness and strength,
and gave these guys a lot of confidence going into the final. However, they knew that the other crews were
going to through everything they had at them. In fact, there were three boats almost even going across the 1000m
mark. However, this was the
last time that these young men were rowing this category and it was
their last race as Jr. Men, and they wanted to go out on top. Led by the Engine Room from the Heavy 8+
(Cam and C-Bass) and backed up with Swing-borg and Speny, no other crew
could hang on with these guys as they poured everything they had into
the Brentwood 30 and broke free from the competition to finish 1st
and defend their national championship. |
|
All in
All… Jr. Men’s 72kg 8+ -- Silver Jr. Men’s Heavy 8+ -- Gold Jr. Men’s Heavy 4+ -- Gold |
I don’t know what to say really. The last regatta of the rest of their lives as Jr. Boys (except
for Geoff and DT). These guys held their heads high, even in adversity.
They came together as a band of brothers to support and encourage and
really feed off of each other in a very positive way. They dedicated
themselves and sacrificed a lot to train hard and train well. As coaches, nothing motivates us more than athletes that want
to learn, and athletes that want to succeed.
We threw a lot at them, and every single one of them rose to
the challenge. The fruits of their labour is not the medals – but it
is the essence of what they have achieved: They had their best race
experiences when it mattered most. This takes self-discipline, self-sacrifice,
and having the awareness that their actions and reactions affect everyone
else in the crew. They are a
great bunch of guys and both Mr. Cota and Mr. Nichols can’t thank them
enough for this experience. |