Vikes row to victory in home regatta
Vikes' Rowers Bo Love (left), Holly Goldsmith-Jones, Jen Rose, Rebecca Campbell and Jo Merson race for the finish line. It was a strong showing by the UVic rowers as they hosted 15 teams and more than 500 rowers at Elk Lake.
From the countless grueling practices that have rowers out on the water before the sunrise, to the hours of mundane dry-land training, it all came together for the Vikes crews last weekend as they showed the visiting teams who owns Elk Lake.
UVic hosted their 35th Elk Lake Spring Regatta, which saw the Vikes defend their home turf by finishing first in the 2,000-metre race, in both the men’s and women’s open eight-plus finals, among others.
The open women’s eight-plus (a boat of eight rowers with one oar each and a coxswain at the stern who screams clichés of encouragement) raced Sunday morning, March 1, and beat out the provincial rowing team from Quebec by an easy 11 seconds with a final time of 6:33. Saturday afternoon, Feb. 28, however, the junior varsity women’s eight-plus could not catch their Quebec team counterpart throughout the race but still claimed silver with a time of 6:54.
The open men’s eight-plus pulled a grueling 5:33 to take the top spot.
“It’s been going really well for us. Everybody’s been racing really well,” said men’s coach Paul Hawksworth after the men’s eight-plus dominant performance. “I think that we’re at a point where we’re putting down real consistent and fast strokes, but we still have a little bit to go before we’re really at our Brown Cup peak form.”
15 clubs and over 500 participants came to Elk lake for rowing action all weekend long. Rowing clubs from the greater Victoria area showed up as well as teams from upper Vancouver Island and the mainland. The Quebec provincial team also made the trip out to the west coast to participate in the action.
Sunday saw most of UVic claiming medals. The junior varsity men’s eight-plus pulled a time of 5:55 and 6:14 to finish first and third respectively.
Furthermore, UVic brought home gold in the novice women’s eight-plus by leaving the SFU squad countless, boat lengths behind with a time of 6:53 — a full minute and 53 seconds ahead.
“I’m really impressed with the talent we have this year,” said women’s coach Rick Crawley. “Overall, they all had good performances.”
Late Sunday afternoon the junior varsity men’s and women’s four-plus crews (a boat of four rowers, four oars) took to the water and with two UVic teams in each final, all four boats finished first and second in their respective races.
There were a few minor scheduling hiccups over throughout the event as the weather did not want to cooperate Saturday.
“We had strong cross winds affecting the races [on Saturday], which caused a few stoppages in the racing,” said Crawley. “[On Sunday] we [had some] tail winds, but that didn’t affect the racing, although it may have given the rowers a boost.”
4 Comments
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Nick Tory March 7, 2009, 7:47 p.m.
Your writers should get better informed on the subjects they cover. Our coxswains do much more than sit in the stern and
scream clichés of encouragement.The coxswain's job consists of steering a straight course (especially important in a multi-boat race in conditions like a crosswind as described in the article), making technical calls to keep the crew focused and in time with each other, and letting us know where we are on the course and relative to other boats. They are vital to the execution of the crew's plan for the race and as valuable as anyone holding an oar.
To call them mere cheerleaders is an insult to their position in our sport and shows an ignorance that a writer for any decent publication should not display.
Nick Tory UVic Men's Rowing Team
Nick Tory March 7, 2009, 7:47 p.m.
Your writers should get better informed on the subjects they cover. Our coxswains do much more than sit in the stern and
scream clichés of encouragement.The coxswain's job consists of steering a straight course (especially important in a multi-boat race in conditions like a crosswind as described in the article), making technical calls to keep the crew focused and in time with each other, and letting us know where we are on the course and relative to other boats. They are vital to the execution of the crew's plan for the race and as valuable as anyone holding an oar.
To call them mere cheerleaders is an insult to their position in our sport and shows an ignorance that a writer for any decent publication should not display.
Nick Tory UVic Men's Rowing Team
Dissapointed Rower March 9, 2009, 11:29 p.m.
I appreciate that the rowing team received from coverage from the Martlet. Nevertheless, getting the basic roles and terms correct is vital to quality writing.
In addition to Nick's sentiment, I would like to add that it would have been nice to see the names of the categories written correctly. The
four-plus, as the author wrote, is actually called a coxed-four. It may be written in shorthand as 4+ to differentiate it from a 4-, which is shorthand for a straight-four. The plus or minus signifies if the boat has a coxswain. An 8+ always has a coxswain, so it simply called an eight - noteight-plus. If the rowers have two oars each, a variation of rowing called sculling, an x would follow the number of people in the particular boat. e.g.: 1x (single), 2x (double), and 4x (quad).This may sound like silly details, but have you ever seen an article where the one-fourth-back is credited with throwing the winning touchdown? Didn't think so.
I hope the Martlet sports writers find this information useful for the future.
Dissapointed Rower March 9, 2009, 11:29 p.m.
I appreciate that the rowing team received from coverage from the Martlet. Nevertheless, getting the basic roles and terms correct is vital to quality writing.
In addition to Nick's sentiment, I would like to add that it would have been nice to see the names of the categories written correctly. The
four-plus, as the author wrote, is actually called a coxed-four. It may be written in shorthand as 4+ to differentiate it from a 4-, which is shorthand for a straight-four. The plus or minus signifies if the boat has a coxswain. An 8+ always has a coxswain, so it simply called an eight - noteight-plus. If the rowers have two oars each, a variation of rowing called sculling, an x would follow the number of people in the particular boat. e.g.: 1x (single), 2x (double), and 4x (quad).This may sound like silly details, but have you ever seen an article where the one-fourth-back is credited with throwing the winning touchdown? Didn't think so.
I hope the Martlet sports writers find this information useful for the future.