The UBC Thunderbirds are gearing up for their first full competition in two years as they prepare for the Canadian University Rowing Championships on November 6^th and 7^th in Welland, Ontario. UBC's men's side has won four consecutive titles at the event and are currently tied with the University of Victoria and Western University with six total championships, while the women are two-time defending champions.
 
Each team in the competition will bring 14 athletes to race six events – the 8+, four, pair, double and singles – that count towards the aggregate points championship. The 'Birds have a number of new faces donning the blue and gold this season, as fewer than half of the athletes are entering the event with championship experience, but the women will benefit from the return of Tokyo 2020 Olympian Jessica Sevick who has rejoined the squad along with other internationally experienced rowers Katie Clark (U23 Words) and Ellie Sousa (Jr. Worlds).


 
"For the first several months of the pandemic we were limited to small group sessions in single boats," said UBC head women's rowing coach Craig Pond. "We took advantage of that time to develop and improve our small boat skills on the water and our strength and conditioning in the gym and on rowing machines. We used time trials and inter-team competitions to maintain our racing skills. The team did a great job of staying positive by challenging each other with biking and running competitions when not on the water or in the gym."
 
"We really used COVID to try a few different things," added men's head rowing coach Mike Pearce. "Without competition we were able to shift the periodization of training to focus more on improving individual endurance, strength and technical ability. We've been able to test this during intrasquad competition and the team has gained confidence from their collective improvements. Making gains in athletic capacity is highly motivating so really that has been the focus."


 
The majority of the women's squad will be competing in their first national championships, but Pond believes a strong core of veterans add valuable experience to round out the roster striving for a threepeat.
 
"The team are very excited to race," continued Pond. "We were discussing this morning how surreal it felt to actually be heading on the road as a team. Eight women on the team will be competing in their first national championships, however the veterans are incredible leaders and have done a great job mentoring the rookies. We'll be going in confident in what we know we can do but we also respecting that we will have to be at our best if we want to defend the banner."
 
Pearce recognizes the challenges facing the new-look 'Birds roster and his team's ability to raise their level come nationals.
 
"The team is really amped to race, it's been a long time," said Pearce. "High-performance sport is tough to do without the goal of getting to race in a challenging competition. Given that we haven't raced for two years, we've had significant turnover due to graduation. I think the current group has learned from their peers in the past 24 months to not take anything for granted so getting back to a championship will certainly be special. We're not exactly sure what to expect but this team has built trust in each other, and they respond well to challenges – which will be an asset going into University Champs."

Both the T-Birds men's and women's rowing teams look to continue their run of great accomplishments on the national scale when they return to the competitive waters this weekend beginning Saturday, November 6th.

You can follow some of the action at the below links:
Start line camera
Finish line camera
 
Canadian University Rowing Championship Rosters – UBC Thunderbirds
 
Women
Alex Birkenshaw
Sally Jones
Ellie Sousa
Claire Brillon
Anna Freeman
Julia Tancon
Katie Clark
Jessica Sevick
Laura Stankiewicz
Mary Law
Ehren Paterson
Renee LaFreniere
Emily Dart
Victoria Schuster
Meghan Camplin
 
Men
Patricia Ye - coxswain
Clare Cunningham - coxswain
Clark Schultz
Julian Black
Axel Ewashko
Joshua Kemper
Joel Cullen
Quinn Storey
Liam Smit
Quinten Schmidt
Hugh Graham
Nikolas Schramm
Emerson Crick
Ethan Enns