RIDGEBACKS ROWING SOLID WATER OUTING 

St. Catherines - The Brock Invitational was held on Saturday, Ocotober 13 under cloudy skies and gusting winds.  Nevertheless, this was the first time, in four years, that this regatta has been able to operate to completion due to weather conditions.

Crews competing at this Regatta represented a who’s who of university rowing in Ontario and Quebec, with the addition of an international flavour with the participation of Colgate University from Hamilton, N.Y. (near Syracuse) a Division One University in the United States. So all together, universities competing were Colgate, Western, Laurentian, McMaster, Brock, Guelph, Ryerson, U of T., UOIT, Trent, Queen's, Concordia and McGill. 

UOIT had a record number of nine entries, but had to scratch two when the final race schedule did not allow us enough time to shift our competitors around between the events.   

As was to be expected Western, Queen's, and Trent, the traditional powerhouses of rowing in the OUA, dominated the regatta.  These are the schools were rowing has existed for many years and they have large numbers of students competing.  Nevertheless, the UOIT crews, competing in only their second year of competition, held their own and gained invaluable experience.  For the first time UOIT had entries in the sculling single and double events.

In the first race, W Hvy 2x  a sculling race UOIT placed fifth roughly forty seconds behind the winning crew from Brock.  The scullers, Bow Rachelle Krause and Stroke Elisabeth Reavell-Roy have only been together as a unit for the past two weeks.  This unit has great potential to be the dominant Heavy Women’s Double entry for UOIT over the next two years.  This was the first time that UOIT had ever entered a sculling event.

In the next event, W Hvy 4 the Women’s Heavy 4, with Cox’n, had a great start but fell behind when one of the rowers caught a crab (unable to retrieve the oar) and the boat had to stop, to recover, resulting in a last place finish.  The fact that they finished only a minute and a half behind the winner Trent is a credit to the crew in making up some of the time lost.

The third event entered, the M Hvy 4 the men’s heavy weight four with cox’n, UOIT entered a Jr. Varsity Crew in a Varsity event to give the crew race experience.  The crew had difficulty with rough water, and was unable to keep up the pace with the Varsity crews.  The experience will stand this crew in good stead for next year’s competitions.

The Men’s Lightweight Double entry  M Ltwt 2x was the first time that UOIT has entered this event.  The crew, Bow  Jake Schwass, freshman, and Stroke Jason Klein-Horsman, a sophomore, did very well considering that, they had only been rowing together for the third time.  To finish 40 seconds out of first place over a 2000m. distance at this regatta is remarkable for Junior Varsity rowers.

Again a first W Hvy 1x  for a UOIT entry,  Rachelle Krause, the UOIT Rowing Team Captain, entered the lists as the first female single sculler  to compete for UOIT.  This is the first year of sculling for Rachelle in a single, which is one of the more difficult boats to compete in.  Rachelle also made history of a different sort, when she became the first rower in UOIT history to capsize in the middle of a race.  Nevertheless, she persevered, righted her boat, got back in, unassisted, and finished the race on her own.  A display of determination and grittiness that caused Olympic Coach Al Morrow, (Western Women’s Head Coach) to comment favourably as he witnessed Rachelle’s efforts.

lthough entered in the Men’s Varsity Heavy Eight Category, the UOIT crew is not where yet, for to make up the numbers for the crew the Coaches have had to employ some lightweight rowers.  The finishing time is very good for a UOIT crew, in fact it is the best time that a UOIT Varsity or Jr. Varsity has registered as low as 6.26.15  Men’s Rowing Coaches Mark Laschuk and Pat Doherty expressed satisfaction with the outcome, considering who the crew was competing against and finishing only 45 seconds behind the first place crew.

The Women’s Novice Eight held their own, just missing moving on to the finals by over a second, with McGill edging them out for third place.  This is a crew to watch in the Novice Women’s Eight at the OUA Novice Championships on Friday October 26th on the same course.  The UOIT crew finished just over 30 seconds behind the winning crew McGill.

The UOIT Novice Men’s Crew missed advancing by less than a second against the third place Western Crew.  The Novice Men crew had to make a last minute substitution when the Regular Stroke Rob de Vries was absent with a family emergency.   Coaches Laschuk, and Doherty to reflect the best possible opportunity for this event juggled the crew and inserted Eric Andres, from the Men’s Cox 4, into the two seat. It was a good race.

All in all, the Coaches, Laschuk, Doherty, Godden, Hale and Head Coach Millikin were quite satisfied with the efforts of the sweepers and scullers, and now are preparing for the OUA Novice Finals and the OUA Varsity Finals, at St. Catharines on Friday October 26th (Novice) and Saturday October 27th, (Varsity and Jr. Varsity.)

 **provided by Ridgebacks coach Rob Millikin

 Next Action: October 26-27 @ St. Catherines