UBC Sports Hall of Fame
Prior to his arrival as students at UBC in the late 1990s, Ben Rutledge didn't have any experience in the sport of rowing, yet he became an Olympic gold medalist scarcely a decade later as a member of Canada's Eight at the Beijing 2008 Games.
A former junior hockey goaltender from Cranbrook, B.C., Rutledge started rowing at UBC in 1999 as a novice and just three years later contributed to the first of three World Championships for Canada's Eight. While at UBC he was team captain for two years from 2004 to 2006; helped lead UBC to its first-ever Brown Cup against the University of Victoria in 2005 and was named the 2006 recipient of the Bobby Gaul Award as UBC's most outstanding graduating male athlete.
Rutledge was also a member of UBC's Four that won the prestigious Head of the Charles in 2005, edging out Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the British National Team which competed as the Oxford University Boat Club. He helped lead UBC to its first-ever Canadian University Rowing Championships in 2005; to its second consecutive Brown Cup championship against the University of Victoria in 2006, and to the World Championships as a member of Canada's Eight in 2002, 03 and 07.
Coached by Mike Spracklen, the 2008 Olympic crew of Rutledge, Kyle Hamilton, Kevin Light, Andrew Byrnes, Jake Wetzel, Malcolm Howard, Dominic Seiterle, Adam Kreek and coxswain Brian Price had consistently proven to be the best, winning the 2007 World Championship title as well as back-to-back editions of the prestigious Lucerne World Cup in 2007 and 2008. The Beijing Games were the second Olympics for Rutledge, who was a member of Canada's Eight that finished fifth at the 2004 Athens Games. The 2008 Olympic champion crew was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
Bobby Gaul Award winner - 2006
Team Captain - 2004-05; 2005-06
Head of the Charles Gold Championship Men's Fours - 2005 (defeating British National Team)
UBC Canadian University Rowing Champions (first-ever) - 2005
UBC Brown Cup champions (first-ever) - 2005
UBC Brown Cup champions - 2006
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