Brock Rowers represent Ontario and Alberta at Canada Summer Games

The 2017 Canada Summer Games will begin in Winnipeg July 28^th with the opening ceremonies, but rowing will actually take place in Kenora Ontario on Rabbit Lake, July 31^st to August 4^th. The final preparation for the entire Ontario team will be in Sudbury from July 23-27^th.

Brock is well represented on the Ontario team with four current athletes and one recruit on the team. In the lightweight women’s category, Alicia Piazza (St. Catharines); open women’s category, Amanda Martin (Orono), and 2017 recruit Anna Maloney (Niagara Falls); lightweight men’s category Owen Voelkner (St. Catharines); open men’s category Luke Gadsdon (Hamilton).

The coaching staff for the Ontario men’s team is an all Brock coaching staff led by Andrea Miller (Ancaster) assisted by Swede Burak (Welland) and Peter Somerwil. The men’s team was also hosted by Brock for their two month training camp.

Erik Hohnstein (Edmonton AB) has been in Calgary Alberta training with the Alberta Team and will likely face off against his team mate Luke in the mens’ eight.

Laura Court Represent Canada at World Championships

Laura Court (St. Catharines) has been selected to the Canadian national team as the coxswain for the women’s eight. Laura is in Plovdiv Bulgaria for final preparations for the U23 World Championships July 20-23.

As there is only one coxswain position on the team Laura’s hard work over the winter and spring attending camps, learning from former national team coxswains, made the difference in making the team. This is the first coxswain from Brock in many years but others from Brock have included Joel Finlay, Brock’s first Olympian, and Terry Paul another Olympian and current coach for Rowing Canada. Laura will return to cox the lightweight women’s crew at Brock.

 

Badger recruits win 10 medals at Canadian High School Championships

Brock recruits had a very strong showing this past weekend at the Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Championships on the home water of Martindale Pond. With a combined total of 10 medals, the future Brock rowers received 4 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze with 3 of the rowers winning two medals.

Incoming rowers Anna Maloney and Olivia Reynolds of St. Michael, brought home gold in the Women’s 4x; Anna also won the Women’s 2x later in the day. Kevin Keith of E.L. Crossley is another two-time medalist this year with winning the Men’s 66kg 4+ and placing third in the Men’s 72kg 2x. Keith’s teammate, Noah Macdonald, is the third recruit who earned two medals which included a gold in the Men’s 4x and a bronze in the Men’s 4+.

Isabel Matwijow along with coxie Megan Favero of Denis Morris found success in the Women’s 63kg 4+ with a second place finish. Malcolm Cavanaugh is another incoming rower who stepped on the podium along side the Sir Winston Churchill Men’s 72kg 8+ who received a silver medal. Another recruit picking up a silver medal was Jacob Martens who crossed the line just 2 seconds before future teammate Kevin Keith in the 72kg 2x race.

Overall, both the open and lightweight programs on the men’s and women’s side of Brock’s rowing program will be receiving at least one athlete who medaled this past weekend on Henley Island. We would like to congratulate all the rowers who took part in this years CSSRA regatta and look forward to the new high level of talent that will brought to our program this fall.

Brock Women finish 4th, Men finish 5th at Canadian University Rowing Championships

With near perfect conditions at the Welland International Flatware Centre, the Badger Women finished fourth (60 points) while the Men finished fifth (78 points) at the Canadian University Rowing Championships, while University of British Columbia claimed the Men’s Championship with Western winning on the Women’s side. Brock finished the day with a total of four bronze medals, while UBC claimed both the Men’s and Women’s Championship. The field of athletes was incredibly strong this year, with many senior national team members and 2016 Olympians now rowing for their university.

Finishing third overall and winning bronze was the Lightweight Men’s 2x of Taylor Ashwood and Owen Voelkner, the Lightweight Women’s 2x of Ally Whitty and Kayla Krasnor, Matt Finley in the Heavyweight Men’s 1x, and Ashwood again in the Lightweight Men’s 1x.

Rounding out the A finalists was the Lightweight Men’s and Women’s 4+ and the Lightweight Women’s 1x in fourth place, the Men’s 2- in 5th, and the Women’s 8+ 6th overall.

This regatta concludes the fall season for Brock; the next time athletes will be in action is at the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships in February.

Thank you to those who followed along and provided support throughout the past two months!

Full results can be found at the CURA Facebook page.

CANADIAN UNIVERSITY ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS – Day 1

WELLAND, ON – All the Brock crews had an excellent day of racing with great conditions on the Welland course, a second home for the Badgers. Today’s Time Trials determined who will move on to the A-Finals tomorrow.

In total, the Badgers made 10 A-finals. On the Men’s side, Brock made A-finals in all events, including the Lightweight 2x, Lightweight 1x, Lightweight 4+, Heavyweight 2-, Heavyweight 1x, and the Heavyweight 8+. On the women’s side the Lightweight 1x, Lightweight 2x, Lightweight 4+, and the Heavyweight 8+ moved on to their A-Finals. The Heavyweight women’s 2- moved on to the B-Final, and the Heavyweight women’s 1x moved on to the C-Final.

With a very strong day of racing today and the extra hour of sleep tonight the team is set to have another solid day of racing tomorrow. Below are the results from today’s Time Trials. Keep up-to-date with all the results by checking @badgersrowing on Twitter and our Brock Rowing Facebook page. Stay tuned for the Final Draw!

• CURC Time Trial Results

Brock christens five new boats, recognizes Olympians

On Saturday afternoon, Brock christened five new boats and celebrated the achievements of 15 Olympians who have rowed for the program.  Four new pair/doubles were christened, as well as a coxed four. In keeping with tradition, every boat was named after a supporter of the program.

The coxed four is named after Rob Jennings, a ‘Silver Badger’ who was part of the universities first crew in 1964. Jennings went on to a very successful career in investment and finance, while also sitting on various organizations’ board of directors. The new pair/doubles are named after Bob Crawford, Stan Lapinski, Sue Erskine, and Chuck Smith. Crawford and Lapinski are also both ‘Silver Badgers’, and remain involved in the St. Catharines rowing community; Crawford remains part of the ‘Cat Crew’ which does maintenance and regatta set-up for the Henley Island course, while Lapinski has written books on both the history of Brock Athletics and St. Catharines Rowing Club. Erskine has been involved with many organizations in St. Catharines, including the CSSRA regatta, the Canadian Henley Rowing Corporation, and the YMCA and YWCA. The last boat christened is after the late Chuck Smith, founder of the Wise Guys Charity Fund. The organization has raised over $2 million for projects in the Niagara region, and recently purchased two new pair/doubles for the team. In addition to the christening of new boats, names of volunteer coaches were added to the Men’s Heavyweight 8+.

In addition to the christenings, Brock also recognized 15 former rowers who have competed at the Olympics. Included in the 15 athletes are Tim Schrijver and Eric Woelfl, who both competed for Canada in Rio de Janeiro this summer. The ceremony included the unveiling of a display that recognizes former Olympians, and serves to inspire current and future athletes to push to the highest level of athletics. The display will be kept in the Leo LeBlanc Rowing Centre.

 

Brock Men finish second at OUA’s; Women place third

Battling tricky wind conditions, the Brock Men’s Rowing team finished second overall at OUA’s, with the women finishing third. The Western Mustangs claimed both Men’s and Women’s Championships. In addition to the varsity finals taking place, both the Junior Varsity and Novice seasons came to a conclusion.

Winning OUA gold for the Badgers was the Lightweight Men’s 1x, the Heavyweight Men’s 1x, and the Heavyweight 8+. In the Lightweight Men’s 1x 4^th year Taylor Ashwood won convincingly, finishing close to five seconds over second place Trent University. Matt Finley also won his 1x event, beating out McMaster University by four seconds. The third gold medal of the day came from the Heavyweight Men’s 8+ of Mackenzie Boyes, Jacob Thomas, Ian Pierce, Luke Gadsdon, Finley, Nick Heffernan, Alex Roger, Zak Lewis, and Ryan Malcowski battled it out with Western the entire two-kilometres, beating them by 3.48 seconds. In addition, the Women’s Junior Varsity 2x of Sara Jansen and Nikki Johnstone claimed gold.

Winning silver for Brock on the Women’s team was Ally Whitty and Jen Beaudette in the Lightweight Double and Pair, while Lauren Kniewasser, Brianna Hamilton, Alyssa Toffolo, Isabella Mazzarolo, and Aly Knott placed second in the Women’s Four. As well, the Women’s Junior Varsity 4+ of Madison Plaice, Micaela Grant, Theresa Kleisath, Jenna Osborne, and Alex Catherwood claimed silver.On the Men’s team, the Heavyweight 2x of Thomas and Roger, Lightweight 2x of Ashwood and Owen Voelkner.

Finishing third overall on the Women’s team was the Heavyweight 2- Carly Moir and Jessica Novecosky, and the Women’s Lightweight 8+ of Laura Court, Erin Corkery, Katie Ayres, Olivia Bagshaw, Kayla Krasnor, SJ Mambella, Andrea Jansen, Alicia Piazza, and Marina Rose, and the Novice Women’s 4+ of Kristen Nagel, Julianna Goodfellow, Serena Weaver, Teija Humalamaki, and Kayla Grant. For the Men, the Lightweight 4+ of Aurora Gordon, Eric Buchanen, Dylan Vanderloos, Noah Van Helvert, and Mack Berkhout, and the Heavyweight Men’s 4+ of Erik Hohnstein, Lewis, Heffernan, Pierce, and Boyes all finished in third place.

Also receiving notable recognition today was fourth year Matt Finley, who took home OUA Male Rower of the Year honours.

The Badgers are back in action next weekend at the Canadian University Rowing Championships which take place in Welland.

Full results can be found at: http://online.regattamaster.com/Pages/Races.aspx?regattaID=1233.

OUA Championships Final Draw now available

Final Draw

UPDATED DUE TO WEATHER: OUA Championships draw and information

Due to Saturday’s weather forecast, all racing has been moved to Friday. Races begin at 8:00AM and will run until 5:44PM. Weigh-ins will run from 8:11AM-10:45AM.

However, the Boat Christening and Olympian Recognition Ceremony is still scheduled for 3:30PM Saturday at Henley Island.

Driving directions to Henley Island

Updated draw.

UPDATED due to weather: draw for 2016 OUA Championship

Attached is the complete draw for both days of racing at the OUA Rowing Championships Regatta. Junior Varsity and Novice racing runs from  9:00AM-11:30AM on Friday, with heats for Varsity events running from 11:45AM-4:30PM. On Saturday finals for all events run from 9:00AM-1:00PM.

After the regatta, Brock will be hosting an alumni BBQ at 1:00PM, followed by a boat christening and an Olympian recognition ceremony at 3:00PM. Hope to see you there!

You can keep updated with the event at the OUA Championships Facebook page.

WEATHER UPDATE:

Due to Saturday’s weather forecast, all racing has been moved to Friday. Races begin at 8:00AM and will run until 5:44PM. Weigh-ins will run from 8:11AM-10:45AM.

However, the Boat Christening and Olympian Recognition Ceremony is still scheduled for 3:30PM Saturday at Henley Island.

Driving directions to Henley Island

Updated draw for Friday’s racing.