VICTORIA - The Rowing Canada National Rowing Championships concluded Sunday in Victoria, with exciting races on Elk Lake and the Thunderbirds racing for Team BC notched some outstanding performances.

"It was rewarding to see some expected good results from our more senior (National Team) athletes mixed with excellent performances from some of Canada's up-and-coming talent," said Rowing Canada Aviron High Performance Director, Peter Cookson.



UBC had six men and four women on Team BC and they made four of a possible eight A finals, walking away with medal performances in all of these events.

Starting off a steller day was UBC's Katherine Enns, who won silver in the lightweight women's single event in 7:57.67.  The first-place winner was Teresa Berkholtz of British Columbia, won finished the race in 7:49.98, the bronze went to National Training Centre under 23 lightweight sculler, Erin Snelgrove, in 8:02.06.

Enns was also the top U23 and received a U23 gold for her performance.

UBC lightweight men's pair Evan Cheng and Maxwell Lattimer swept both the senior and under-23 categories in the event in an  impressive time of 6:30.83. John Sasi and Eric Woelfl of the National Centre were second in the senior event in 6:33.08, followed by BC and Victoria-based Lee Hall and Alex Walker in 6:40.62.

In the lightweight men's single, German exchange student Valentin Dunsing squeezed through at the line for a well earned bronze.

Rob Gage and Alex Janzen took fourth place overall in the Men's 2- event tight on the heels of RCA top National Team entry and two teams from Ontario.  They were the third best U23 combination which earned them a U23 bronze medal.

Finally Zoe Fetting-Winn, who was paired with a Victoria partner, took first in the B final and captured the top spot for U23 women for a U23 gold medal.

All but one Olympian (Will Dean in the pair) took a pass on the NRCs after the intensity of the London Games so this year's event was a chance for coaches to witness some promising talent on the water in the early lead up to the 2015 Pan American Games and 2016 SUmmer Olympics.

UBC has had an Olympic rower at every Games since 1932 but missed a representative in London.

"We've got a great record of producing Olympians for Canada. This regatta is a first step toward Rio 2016 and we want to see UBC represented on that podium," said UBC coach Mike Pearce.

The event was hosted by the Victoria City Rowing Club and the title sponsor was RBC-Royal Bank.

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