Racing Season is Finally Here!

28 March 2013Joel B, Ellis "13

The bus left the moonlit cafeteria at 6:00 am filled with a dozen or so rowers lucky enough to have their races scheduled early Saturday morning. With frozen fingers they struggled to tighten the nuts onto the ice-coated boats that they would be racing in less than an hour; it had been an exceptionally cold night.

Launching their boats onto the untouched water, fog from their breath drifts out to gather with the low-lying clouds across the lake. The sun was still half an hour below the horizon. At the start line, the first few fingers of the sun began to reach over the trees forcing away the cold.

The first 6 racing shells tearing down the course mark the beginning of racing; from then on the racecourse is a frenzy of getting ready at the start docks crews, warming up, and racing. Brentwood’s first crew to brave the freezing conditions was, Aillish T and Tara C who qualified in their 8:40 am heat for the A final of the Jr. Women’s 2x. The next event to be raced was the Jr. Men’s 4x with three Brentwood quads entering and two of them making it to final. Five singles were entered in the Jr. Men’s 1x with 4 moving on to the B final and one to the A final.

As the afternoon progressed, the winds began to pick up and the undisturbed middle of the racecourse quickly became a frothing mess; this played a large role in many of the race strategies developed. If a crew can maintain their composure though the chaos they will have a significant edge over other teams.

Saturday afternoon, full of finals, was a racing nightmare as a fierce crosswind was blowing across the last 1000 meters of the 1850-meter course; each crew had their own strategy. The Jr. B. Men’s four, coxed by Denver S, placed 4th as they tried their best to deal with the conditions. The girls double of Aillish & Tara from the morning placed 3rd in the A final with a time of 7:43 and the Jr. A Quad with a time of 6:29 (Joel B, Jeff B, Luke B & Tom G) placed 4th in their final.

The next morning, like the girls 2x of the previous morning, the boys Jr. A 2x was scheduled for an 8 am time trial. They would have to be on the water at 7:30 which translates to a 6 am wake up; no brunch for the crew today. The first crew finished with 5th fastest time moving them on to the A final while the other went on to the B Final. 25 minutes after the first race, the Women’s Jr. A quad (Aillish T, Tara C, Spencer M & Annika S) qualified for their A Final as well.

Similar to Saturday, the water began to kick up in the middle of the racecourse, however, it was not enough to cancel or postpone any races, so racing continued throughout the morning.

Next came the Jr. Men’s Eight which, in a straight final, brought home the gold beating back St. Michaels University School and Shawnigan Lake School with a time of 6:25. This was followed by Brentwood Jr. B men’s 8 coxed by Malcolm C who were only beaten by Shawnigan Lake School’s 8+. Similarly in second place, the Jr. A Men’s 2x came across the finish line behind Seattle RC. Finally, two of Brentwood’s fours (Niko P, Joel C, Liam K & Sloan S, coxed by Tom W) and (Jeff B, Luke B, Tom G & Ian S coxed by Rielly M) raced each other in a Jr. A Men’s 4+ with the latter taking 2nd and the first taking 7th.

After all of the races finished, the Brentwood crew packed up and headed home to hot showers and meals. Overall, the weekend’s results bode well for Brentwood’s crews as they look forward to the impending racing season and the ultimate goals: the Brentwood International Regatta and the National Championships in St. Catharine’s, Ontario.

Joel B, Ellis ‘13