AROUND OUA: Head of the Welland
WELLAND, Ont. - With eight entries in the Head of the Welland this weekend, UOIT rowers walked away with a lot to show as five Ridgeback crews reached the podium.
UOIT crew leaves Welland with plenty of hardware
WELLAND, Ont. - With eight entries in the Head of the Welland this weekend, UOIT rowers walked away with a lot to show as five Ridgeback crews reached the podium.
The men's novice 4 crew made their racing debut and turned in a gold medal performance. The crew of Bilal Bhatti (Mississauga, Ont.), Jamie Barletta (Toronto, Ont.), Christian Langevin (Cornwall, Ont.), Frobisher Moses (Ottawa, Ont.) and Khalil Sidawi (Cambridge, Ont.) posted a time of 23:02.737, well ahead of the second place crew from the Argonaut rowing club.
Singles events also ended up favourably for the Ridgebacks, as UOIT rowers took home silver medals in both the men's and women's events. The men's race was tight with just 18 seconds separating first to third place. Nik Vantfoort (London, Ont.) finished nine seconds behind Luke Gadsdon of Brock and had to settle for the silver medal. In the women's race, Daria Ruginis (Burlington, Ont.) beat out Toronto rower Alfa Brovo by 26 seconds for the podium finish.
Vantfoort also picked up a medal in the men's 4 race, finishing in third place with a time of 19:22.779. The crew of Vantfoort, Brett Bullock (Newmarket, Ont.), Jim Jack (Orillia, Ont.), Braden Reid (Whitby, Ont.) and coxie Amanda Leo (Whitby, Ont.) were edged out by the Toronto crew by just eight seconds.
Rounding out UOIT's medal haul was the women's double crew of Megan Connolly (Whitby, Ont.) and Rhiannon Dearman (Belleville, Ont.) who raced to a bronze medal with a time of 23:51.024. The crew ended up sandwiched between a pair of Toronto boats to pick up UOIT's fifth medal of the day.
Just missing out on a medal finish was the men's novice 8 crew. In their first race of the season, the Ridgebacks were beat out by the crew from Brock by just five seconds.
UOIT will look to continue to put up good results next week when they take part in the Head of the Trent, North America's largest single day head-race regatta.
Source: UOIT Ridgebacks
Blues rowing boasts eight medals at Head of the Welland
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues rowing team had a strong showing at the Head of the Welland this weekend (Sept. 26) netting eight podium finishes.
Leading the U of T team were women's lightweight eight and women's lightweight 4+ crews. Both crews left the Niagara competition with gold medals, winning their respective categories with times of 19:40 and 20:41.
Toronto also captured four silver medals. The men's lightweight 2x raced to a silver medal time of 19:07 and the men's open weight 4+ did the same in a time of 19:13.
On the women's side, U of T reached the second step in the women's open weight 2x with a time of 22:50 and women's lightweight 2x in 22:03.
Rounding out the podium finishes were the men's lightweight 1x which finished third and fourth with times of 20:57 and 21:00 while women's open weight 1x finished third with a time of 24:30.
The Varsity Blues team will next look to the Head of the Trent taking place in Peterborough on Saturday, October 3. The competition will begin at 8:45 a.m.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
