Under sunny skies, crews from across the country converged on the Welland International Flatwater Centre for the 2021 Canadian University Rowing Championships (CURC) hosted by Brock University from Nov. 6-7.
 
The University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds women's program captured their fourth national banner and third consecutive title with a total of 114 points; the University of Victoria Vikes men's team won their first title with 114 points.
 
In the women's final races, the Thunderbirds ultimately held off the Vikes (104) and Western Mustangs (93). In the men's finals, the Vikes finished with an eight-point lead over the Thunderbirds (106) and the Brock Badgers (87).


 
The UBC women raced a patient and consistent regatta to claim a total of six medals in all six events (two golds, three silvers and a bronze), but pressure built when it came down to the last race of the day: the women's eight where UBC edged Victoria by six milliseconds.
 
"We did a good job staying with the pack all day long, but it culminated with an incredible race by our women in the eight," said UBC women's head coach Craig Pond. "Overall, today was rewarding. This result is a good reflection of the depth in our program."


 
The T-birds' eight consisted of a mix of experience. The crew consists of three veterans and a number of women who've never competed at the CURC, and Jessica Sevick, who recently rejoined the team after recovering from competing in the women's double at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.


 
The UBC eight is made up of stroke Sally Jones, Ellie Sousa, Jessica Sevick, Katie Clark, Laura Stankiewicz, Claire Brillon, Julia Tancon, bow Freeman Anna and coxswain Alexandra Birkenshaw.
 
After winning the last four consecutive Canadian University Rowing Championships the UBC Thunderbirds men's rowing team narrowly missed a fifth straight title but settled for the silver medal after finishing just eight points back of the Victoria Vikes men's rowing team who claimed their first national crown.

"I'm proud of what the team accomplished, they rowed very well against some stiff competition in challenging conditions," said UBC men's head coach Mike Pearce surmising his squad's weekend of competition. "We knew we'd have to produce 6 great races to win the banner given there were several Olympians returning to Uvic and Queens post-Tokyo. On Saturday we put ourselves in an excellent position for a run at the banner but we could not quite complete the mission on Sunday. We had some exceptional races especially in the 8+, and pair and the single win was really outstanding but we were just on the wrong side of some close lightweight events. UVic found a little more team consistency on the day and that made the difference." 

The Thunderbirds and Vikes traded results throughout the day with UBC achieving three golds, one bronze and a fourth and a sixth place finish. The UVic men's team also collected a total of three gold medals but were slightly more consistent adding a silver and two fourth place finishes to their total.



 
Not only did the Vikes claim the championship banner, head coach Aalbert Van Schothorst was also recognized as the Men's Program Coach of the Year.
 
"Every time one of our boats came across the line, it reinforced the belief that we could do this and inspired the sense that this was possible," Van Schothorst said. "We've had an opportunity to recalibrate this past year, and we have a growing group of student-athletes who are calibrating themselves with a performance mentality. It's an exciting space to be a part of. As a coach, what you want to do is try and stay out of the way."

In the second last race of the day, the Vikes' lightweight men's four (4+) outlasted Brock by two seconds to claim their first gold medal since 1997.
 
The boat includes Matthew Thompson, Jordan MacDougall, Patrick Keane, Giancarlo DiPompeo and coxswain Riley Raso.
 
"This group knew they had an opportunity to come in and make history for our program," Van Schothorst said. "Our seat races were so close that we had six or seven others who could have been in that boat. The depth is there. I believe our men's lightweight double inspired them."
 
Thompson and DiPompeo delivered a powerful performance in the men's lightweight double as they narrowly defeated Brock by seven milliseconds.
 
Piper Battersby of Victoria was named Female Rower of the Year, and Liam Smit of UBC was named Male Rower of the Year.


 
Battersby captured the women's open single in a time of seven minutes, 54 seconds and one millisecond. She also served as stroke to help the Vikes win silver in the women's open eight (8+).
 
Smit won a pair of gold medals as he won the men's open single (7:04.2) and helped the men's open eight (8+) to a first-place finish (5:45.7).
 
Jane Gumley of Victoria and Stu McKenzie of Ottawa were named co-winners of the Women's Program Coach of the Year award.
 
The President's Award went to Philip Hedrei of McGill, which is awarded to an individual who has gone above and beyond to support university rowing.
 
Brock, UBC, Victoria and Western deployed the most boats, 12 entries each, while Toronto and Queen's fielded 11 and 10 crews, respectively.
 
Individual Major Awards
Female Rower of the Year - Piper Battersby (Victoria)
Male Rower of the Year – Liam Smit (UBC)
Women's Program Coach of the Year (co-winners) – Jane Gumley (Victoria) and Stu McKenzie (Ottawa)
Men's Program Coach of the Year – Aalbert Van Schothorst
President's Award – Philip Hedrei (MURC)
 
Women's Final Point Standings
UBC, 114
Victoria, 104
Western, 93
Queen's, 80
Brock, 50
Ottawa, 46
Toronto, 41
Trent, 40
Guelph, 36
MURC, 35
Calgary, 32
Dalhousie, 22
StFX, 21
Laurentian, 10
McMaster, 9
Saskatchewan, 7
Ontario Tech 6
Carleton 5
 
Men's Final Point Standings
Victoria, 114
UBC, 106
Brock, 87
Queen's, 80
Western, 75
Carleton, 41
MURC, 29
Toronto, 24
StFX, 22
McMaster, 20
Guelph, 16
Calgary, 12
Trent, 11
Waterloo, 9
Dalhousie, 7
Ottawa, 7
Nipissing, 6
 
Women's Medal Races
Women's Lightweight double
1 Western – 7:21.08; 2 UBC – 7:25.21; 3 Queen's – 7:28.68
 
Women's Open pair
1 Victoria – 7:36.93; 2 UBC – 7:44.89; 3 Western – 7:50.69
 
Women's Lightweight four (4+)
1 Western – 7:12.8; 2 Queen's - 7:14.9; 3 UBC - 7:18.34
 
Women's Open single
1 Victoria – 7:54.12; 2 UBC – 7:57.65; 3 Trent – 7:58.39
 
Women's Lightweight single
1 UBC – 8:00.02; 2 Victoria – 8:03.73; 3 Laurentian – 8:15,78
 
Women's Open eight (8+)
1 UBC – 6:21.15; 2 Victoria – 6:21.76; 3 Queen's – 6:38.81
 
Men's Medal Races
Men's Open single
1 UBC – 7:04.27; 2 Queen's – 7:08.02; 3 MURC – 7:09.57
 
Men's Lightweight single
1 Victoria – 7:18.14; 2 Queen's – 7:23.61; 3 Western – 7:30.54
 
Men's Open eight (8+)
1 UBC – 5:45.77; 2 Victoria – 5:48.71; 3 Queen's – 5:52.54
 
Men's Lightweight double
1 Victoria – 6:43.20; 2 Brock – 6:43.90; 3 UBC - 6:48.70
 
Men's Open pair
1 UBC - 6:48.65; 2 Queen's – 6:53.05; 3 Western – 6:53.76
 
Men's Lightweight four (4+)
1 Victoria – 6:30.91; 2 Brock – 6:33.04; 3 Western – 6:36.43