The University of the Fraser Valley rowing program put together a series of strong performances at their home regatta, Head of the Fort.
Held on the Bedford Channel at Fort Langley on Saturday and featuring rowing clubs from the area, the Cascades earned seven top-two finishes.
“The students do all the work in organizing Head of the Fort along with myself, and it went quite well,” Cascades head coach Liz Chisholm said.
Among the highlights was a runner-up result for Emily Klootwyk and Ashley Bilodeau in the women’s lightweight double. They clocked a time of 29 minutes and 12 seconds, and actually had the best overall time, but took second to a Vancouver Rowing Club entry that had time subtracted for an age handicap.
“Their time was actually the fastest, and they haven’t raced together since the Western Canadians in October,” Chisholm said.
Team bragging rights were on the line in the men’s 4+/4- event, as the UFV men’s eight crew was divided into two boats. Cascades alum Mat Morrison joined Hans-Christian Mross, Scott Micona and Brad Jones, while coxswain Ben Schreiner helmed a crew featuring Kyle Krahn, Stephen Wall, Mike Moreton and Riley Dueck. The Jones boat – comprised of the heavier rowers from the men’s eight, or the “engine room” in rowing parlance – ended up edging the lighter Schreiner boat, 25:25 to 27:02.
“To pit them against each other in the four, they love it – a lot of trash talk goes between them,” Chisholm said with a chuckle. “My lighter guys are technically more finessed, so they’ve beat them sometimes.”
In other action, the UFV men’s eight finished second to the ‘A’ crew from St. George’s School by a slim 8.1-second margin, while the Cascades’ Julia Pesek teamed up with Chris Jarvis – who competed in the 2004 Athens Olympics – to take second in the mixed double.
The UFV women’s four featuring Suzanne Kubat, Rachelle Strelezski, Katy Olley and Janelle Tucker notched a runner-up finish in their category, as did the women’s novice four crew of Jasmin Sprangers, Sarah Desrosiers, Stephanie Johnson and Genelle Grubb.
Trevor Short and Ben Frizzo finished fifth in the men’s novice double, while Arden Holmes was sixth in the women’s single.
To view an Excel spreadsheet of the complete results, click here.
To view a Flickr gallery of Cascades photos from the Head of the Fort, click here.
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