Thunderbirds finish second at the Canadian University Rowing Championships

11/4/2013 9:55:00 AM

Montreal, QC - In one of the most down to the wire finishes in Canadian University Rowing Championship history both the UBC men and women were edged out narrowly in a race by race showdown with the University of Western Ontario who won both the men's side 102 points to UBC's 101 and women's side 109 points to UBC's 103.

In the men's contest the Thunderbirds got off to a rough start in the finals Sunday. UBC single sculler Alex Janzen caught an oar on a wave in very windy and rough conditions 500m into the first race of the day and capsized, Janzen who had finished 3rd in qualifying had to settle for 6th place while Western placed second in the event to Olympian Kevin Kowalyk rowing for Manitoba.

Maxwell Lattimer evened the score in UBC's favour with a outstanding silver medal performance in the deep lightweight men's 1x. The men's 8+, run in the middle of the day with strong head winds blowing, gave a big Western crew an advantage over the lighter Thunderbirds. They took gold with UBC in silver and Brock in bronze, Western now held the lead.

Thunderbird lightweight men's double Aaron Lattimer and Angus Todd stepped up next for UBC winning bronze in light 2x behind Brock and UVic with Western in 5th, this tied the score at 66 between UBC and Western. The men's pair was won by UVic with Western in second, Brock 3rd then UBC 4th. UBC could still pull off the Championship with a win in the light men's 4+ but they would also need last year's winners Queens to finish ahead of Western. With only 250m the banner was in UBC's grasp, as UBC held a 3/4 length lead on the field and Queen's led Western by about three feet. In the final sprint the the line Western was moving up fastest and just edged Queens by a foot while the Thunderbirds took the win 1.3 seconds up on the Western and Queens.

The Thunderbird women overcame some significant adversity to achieve an outstanding second place overall finish. One of UBC's top athletes was deemed ineligible five days before the regatta only to be reinstated the day before the team boarded the plane to Montreal. Another of UBC's top female athletes was not able to make the trip to Montreal sadly due to the loss of her father on Thursday. The women's team dug deep and found success on the course with two gold medal performances in the women's pair and women's eight, a silver in the light women's 2x and a 4th in the Open 1x and a pair of 5ths in both the light single and light 4+. The women's eight was certainly the highlight race for the Thunderbirds as they turned a 3rd place finish in the time trial to gold leading the race start to finish ahead of strong entries from Queen's, Western and UVic.

UBC was honoured at the CURC athlete's banquet with Maxwell Lattimer being presented the CURA Male Athlete of the Year for outstanding performance which included two silvers and a gold medal at CUs, 5th place at the U23 Worlds with UBC partner Evan Cheng in the lightweight 2- and multiple golds at Canada Games. Head Men's Coach Mike Pearce was presented the CURA Coach of the Year highlighted by the strong performances of UBC crews at CUs and athlete development leading to four athletes being selected to Rowing Canada U23 teams in 2013. Also nominated for awards were UBC's Hilary Janssons who won double gold at CUs and Head Women's Coach Craig Pond for Female Coach of the Year.

For the complete results, click here.

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