Canadian Highlights from the 45th Head of the Charles Regatta - Oct. 18

Oct 17 click here

Canadian rowers took several first-place finishes at the 45th Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston today.

Rowing as part of the women's "great eight" - a boat of top international rowers - Canada's Jane Rumball was first in the Championship Women's Eight event. The winning time was 16:08.165. In the same race, the London Training Centre entry - made up of Canadian National Team camp members - was ninth in 17:04.19.

"It was a real honour to be included among some of the world's best rowers," said Rumball, a Fredericton, N.B. native and 2008 Olympic team member. "It was fun; there was a lot of power in the crew to move the boat and we handled today’s snowy conditions really well."

In the Lightweight Men's Single, Simon Gowdy of the Montreal Rowing Club - a 2009 Canadian National Team member - won the event in 19:13.118.

Mississauga's Don Rowing Club’s entry won the Lightweight Fours for men in 17:26.63. In the same event for women, the University of Toronto's entry took first in 19:36.37 and the Ridley Graduate Boat Club was third in 20:22.77  

St. Catharines Rowing Club had a first in the Youth Fours Event - nearby South Niagara Rowing Club was a close second and Upper Canada College of Toronto was fourth.

Canadians also achieved a second (St. Catharines) and fourth (Ottawa Rowing Club) in the men's Youth Doubles.

Michelle Prince of Ridley was fourth in the Lightweight Singles for women, followed by Amber Cuthbertson, who was fifth, with Lauren Wells of the Ottawa Rowing Club ending up in eighth after being assessed a penalty.

Brock University Rowing Club was fourth in the Lightweight Eights for women. 

In the first event of today, Burnaby Lake’s (Vancouver) 72-year-old John Helliwell was sixth out of 33 singles in the Senior-Veteran men’s event.
    
Head Of The Charles Regatta, the world's largest two-day rowing event, was first held in 1965. Head races are generally three miles long - boats race against each other and the clock, starting sequentially approximately 15 seconds apart. Approximately 1,900 boats and 8,800 rowers competed in Boston this weekend.

Full results, including other Canadian highlights, can be found on the regatta web site at:

http://www.hocr.org/results/

Canadian Highlights from Day One of the Head of the Charles in Boston

The 45th Head Of The Charles Regatta began today on the Charles River in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Several Canadian current and former National Team members are competing this year, and Canadian rowing clubs are typically well-represented at this annual fall regatta.

Peggy DeVos of Kamloops, B.C. and Romina Stefancic of Victoria, B.C. - both based at the London, Ontario, Canadian National Team training centre - finished second in 18:44.610 to USRowing's entry of Megan Kalmoe and Ellen Tomek (18:01.766) in the Championship Doubles event for women.  Entries from Calgary (eighth) and Ottawa (10th) also had respectable finishes in this event.

Other Canadian highlights included McGill University winning the Club Fours for men in 17:19.146, and the Toronto Sculling Club's entry winning the Masters Eights for women 40+ in 17:36.0.

Victoria City Rowing Club had two second-place finishes - in the Grand Masters Singles for men (Tim Storm) and the Senior-Master Doubles for men 50+ (Patrick Walter and John Alexander). Also in the Grand Masters event, Toronto Sculling Club's Phil Monckton - former Olympian and current Rowing Canada VP of high performance was ninth - behind another Canadian entry, eighth-place finisher John Pauls of Ridley Graduate Boat Club. 

Ashley Holmes-Heron of the Peterborough Rowing Club was third in the Club Singles for women in 21:57.306.

Guelph Rowing Club's entry in the Club Fours for women was third out of 54 boats in 19:15.47.

The University of Toronto Rowing Club was third in the Collegiate Fours for men in 17:21.128.

In the Senior-Master Eights Men 50+, Hamilton, Ontario's Leander Boat Club was fourth in 16:23.27.   Ross Lizee from the Laval RC finished fifth in the 40+ men’s single.

In the Championship Double for men, the Kingston Rowing Club's (Morgan Jarvis and Paul Amesbury) entry had a sixth place finish in 17:04.37 against a strong field that included several international entries.

Ridley Graduate Boat Club's Fraser Berkhout of St. Catharines, Ont. was fifth (18:19.343) in a race that included New Zealand's World and Olympic medalist Mahe Drysdale, who finished fourth. American Michael Sivigny was first in this Championship Singles event in 18:01.09.

Former World Champion (in the pair) and Olympian Jane Rumball of Fredericton, N.B., finished ninth out of 25 finishing entries in the women's Championship Singles. Her time was 20:33.76. Rumball will also row in a composite women's "great eight" race on the final day of the regatta tomorrow.

Fredericton Rowing Club's James Abbass was seventh in the Club Singles for men.

Honourable mention to the Boucherville in the 8+, 40+ category that finished 10th out of 21 boats.

Over the past 45 years, the Head Of The Charles regatta has been held in Boston and is billed as the "world's largest two-day regatta." Today, more than 7,500 athletes from around the world compete in 55 different races and the event attracts up to 300,000 spectators during the October weekend.

Head races are generally three miles long - boats race against each other and the clock, starting sequentially approximately 15 seconds apart.

Full results, including other Canadian finishes, can be found at

http://www.hocr.org