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Success for former and current Rockies rowers
Rockies Rowing Club has been busy this rowing season attending regattas, early morning rows, facilitating learn to row and supporting our former crew member Katie Clark as she raced in Sarasota-Bradenton at the U23 World Rowing Championships.
Katie and her crew mate Yara Ensminger (Don Rowing Club, Ontario) placed eighth in the world in the double (two rowers, two oars each) after heat and repacharge to get to the B final. The rowers had only rowed together in the double from selection camp in June of this year so this is an impressive finish.
Two of our Master’s rowers attended the Cascadia Masters Championships in Delta in mid July. They raced in a double and a mixed composite quad.
Barb Fenwick and Roberta Rodgers raced a heat in the morning rowing 1,000m in 4:34.99 then raced the final in the afternoon to finish third in 4:33.15 giving them a bronze in their double. They teamed with Dirk Sigalet from Vernon and Nic Dotzev from Vancouver in the quad (four people, two oars each) for another bronze.
For those over the age of 21, Master’s races are competitive and raced over 1,000m. If you are interested in learning more about rowing and being competitive contact Rockies Rowing Club.
Nelson Sprints are held on the West Arm of Kootenay Lake each year in August.
Novices row 500m and everyone else rows 1,000m and that is why they are sprint races. The 2,000m is the standard for other categories of racing such as World Championships or the Olympics.
Rockies rowers attended the Nelson Sprints regatta with positive results. First race of the day Erienne and Aquinna O’Grady placed first in their novice double race. Erienne won her novice single race, first time in this category.
Josie Schmidt and Emily Sartorel teamed up in the Junior Women’s double for a second place finish in 4:40.
Jon O’Grady rowed his first 1,000m distance with crew mate Roberta and they finished in 5:39.
The Junior Women’s quad with Josie Aquinna, Erienne, and Emily placed second with a time of 4:39. This was their first race as a crew.
The Masters Women’s quad (Josie, Barb, Emily, Roberta) was a close finish with times of 5:04.10 and 5:04.56 for first and second place. Rockies rowers came out on top even with an oarlock that popped open and a crab (oar gets caught in the water).
Barb and Roberta crewed the Masters Women’s double coming in second at 2:25.39. The race was shortened due to the conditions so times were for 500m.
The last race of the day, a Master’s Composite quad was won by Vernon with a Rockies rower in the bow and second place was combination crew Katie and Josie from Rockies, Matt Redshaw from Fort Langley and Dom Preny from Nelson.
All on all it was worth the trip over the pass to gain experience, meet other rowers and bring home a sense of accomplishment.
Following the races there was a Junior Rowing Camp hosted by Rowing BC, attended by Emily Sartorel, Erienne and Aquinna O’Grady as rowers and Josie Schmidt in a learning to coach capacity.
Three cornerstones of good rowing are ‘the grip, posture and balance’ according to Martin George the Provincial Coach Coordinator. Everyone took away something from this camp in preparation for trying out for the Zone 1 crew to attend the BC Summer Games in 2020. Youth under 17 and youth under 19 go through a process to be selected to represent the East and West Kootenay. If you are in these age categories and are interested, get in touch, details below.
Our club not only rows competitive we have opportunity for recreational rowing as well.
Curious? Contact us at [email protected] or check out our website.
Lead image: The whole crew with boats: left to right – Josie Schmidt, Barb Fenwick, Emily Sartorel, Roberta Rodgers, Aquinna O’Grady, Erienne O’Grady and Jon O’Grady. From the Nelson Sprints. Photos submitted
