Canadian National Rowing Championships – November 7-9, 2014

18 November 2014Brian Carr; Photos by Brian Carr

Every year Rowing Canada hosts the National Rowing Championships for the top rowers in Canada at all three levels, Junior, Under 23 and Senior. Races are both in the open weight and lightweight divisions. The events are in singles and pairs. Every year Brentwood is well represented in all three categories. That means that there are present and past members of the Brentwood College Rowing Club racing in all of these divisions. Here is a review of the weekend. There were six current Brentwood students racing: Ellis H placed third in the J Final of the Men’s Single. Lion T placed third in the I Final of the same event. Elliot R & Alex R won their C Final in the Men’s pair and finished 5th overall in the Junior Men’s event. Evie A & Sydney P placed 4th in the Women’s pair event. They were, however, the fastest junior pair in the country and won the gold medal in that event. There were many Brentwood alumni racing in the regatta as well: Rebekah Price, ‘13, placed 6th in the D Final of the Women’s Lightweight 1x. Connor McGuigan was to race in the F Final of the Men’s single, however, an injury kept him from competing in this final. Ben Coull, ‘10, placed sixth in the ‘A’ Final of the Men’s pair event. Will Dean – Though never a student of the Brentwood College, he has represented Brentwood from his first stroke in 2003. A member of the 2012 Olympic team, Will continues to call Brentwood his home club. Will won the bronze medal in the Men’s single event. Martin Barakso, ‘12, was racing in the Men’s Open pair event. This past summer Martin won a Gold medal at the Under 23 World Rowing Championships in the Men’s Coxed Four. He is presently attending Princeton University and rowing for their Varsity Men’s 8+ coached by 1992 grad, Greg Hughes. At the NRC’s Martin and his partner were racing in the Under 23 and Open division. Martin won the ‘A’ final and was crowned Under 23 and Senior pair champion for Canada. Brendan Hodge, Class of ‘03 was racing in the Senior Men’s Lightweight pair event. Brendan is training with the Senior Lightweight team in London, Ontario and rowed for Canada in the Senior Men’s Lightweight four this past summer. In Victoria this past weekend, he and his partner dominated the field and won the Gold medal in the Senior Lightweight division. Robyn Amiel, Teacher and coach at Brentwood was working with the Brentwood athletes. Debbie Sage, Head of Brentwood Rowing was one of the umpires running the regatta. There were also many Brentwood alumni that were there helping and watching the event: Pat Walters, ’77 a two time Olympian (1984 & 1988) was helping out with the organization of the regatta. Tony Carr, legendary Brentwood coach was there to watch some of his former rowers. Brian Carr ’80, former Senior Men’s coach 2003-2013 Graham Horn ’80 his son Sam won the National Championship for the University of Victoria last week. His son was racing in the Men’s Pair ‘B’ final. Harold Backer ‘80 a three time Olympian (1984, 1988 & 1992) Scott Frandsen ’98, is presently the Assistant Head Coach at the University of California Berkeley. He is a three time Olympian (2004, 2008 & 2012). In 2003, Scott was in four seat of the Oxford Varsity 8+ that beat Cambridge University by less than a foot in the closest finish in the storied history of the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. Scott and his partner, David Calder ‘96 won the Silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the Men’s pair event. Malcolm Howard, Bronze medalist at the World Junior level, Gold medalist at the Under 23 and Senior level. Malcolm went on to win an Olympic gold medal in the Men’s 8+ at the Beijing Olympics and a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics. He then went to Oxford University where his crews won the 2013 and 2014 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. Malcolm is now in Medical School at the University of British Columbia. Spencer Crowley ’07 is also one of a few Brentonians to row on the Junior, Under 23 and Senior teams. In his final year at Brentwood his crew lost by one foot in the final of the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup final over Shrewsbury College of England. In his high school career at Brentwood, Spencer won five gold and one bronze at the CSSRA Championships. Fraser Crowley ’09 a two year member of Brentwood’s Varsity Men’s 8+. Andrew Butler ’09 a two year member of Brentwood’s Varsity Men’s 8+ and bronze medalist at the 2009 CSSRA’s in the Senior Men’s 8+. Walking around the site at the Elk Lake boathouse it was clear that Brentwood, past, present and future continue to make an impact on Canadian rowing.

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