BURNABY - Placements for Sunday's Canadian University Rowing Championship finals are locked in after a successful opening day of time trials under partly sunny skies at Burnaby Lake on Saturday. Two hundred and ninety-seven athletes from twenty teams across the nation took to the waters for the first day of the two-day championship event.
 
The host Thunderbirds qualified for all 12 Sunday A Finals events, earning the top seed in four events. Queens and Western Ontario were right alongside, placing in 12 and 11 A Finals respectively.
 


UBC women showed their speed and depth with the fastest time in the 2- and second fastest results in the lightweight 2x, lightweight 1x, and 8+. Having claimed a spot in the A Final for all six events, the T-Birds are shaping up to be strong contenders for the championship banner.


 
"Overall, we had a great team performance," said UBC women's rowing head coach Craig Pond. "In order to win the event, it's important to make six finals, which we did today, so we've set ourselves up for success tomorrow and hopefully a solid run at the banner. If we stay as consistent as we did today with our performances tomorrow, I think it's a realistic goal for our team. I know that the girls are hungry, given that they are coming off of that bronze last year and we have a few graduating athletes that would love to end their career at UBC with a gold and the banner."


 
The women's team captured the bronze medal last year in St. Catharines, after having previously won the banner for three consecutive years. The Vikes took gold, and Western came second in 2022.
 
The defending champion UBC men's squad earned three first seed placements for Sunday, looking to repeat the success of last year. Owen Bartel had the fastest time in the 1x, beating Brock's Stephen Harris, who claimed gold in the event at the Western Canadian Rowing Championships, by a margin of 0:03.530. The T-Birds showed strength in the 8x, finishing the course in 5:46.094 to qualify with the fastest time.


 
"I think the team did very well across the board," said 2022 CURC men's team Coach of the Year Mike Pearce. "There were a few challenging spots with conditions so tomorrow will be a fresh day. We've put ourselves in a good position in all the finals. We'll certainly have a shot at the banner tomorrow, but the team is making sure they're excelling on a race-by-race basis not just overall."
 
While the top times were mostly dominated by UBC, Uvic, Brock, Queens, and Western, Dalhousie earned the third-fastest time in the women's 1x and Ottawa finished on top in the women's lightweight 1x. In the men's competition, Brock's Harris and UVic's Giancarlo DiPompeo brought the speed, earning results individually and in team events.


 
Less than a second separated the finishing times of the top three boats in the women's lightweight 1x, while windy conditions led to over ten-second gaps between the fastest three finishers in the men's lightweight 4x.


 
After a full day of action-packed rowing, heavy rainfall and lightning threatened to end the trials early. The skies cleared just in time for the women's 8+ to complete qualifiers and set the scene for what will surely be a thrilling day of finals in Burnaby.


 
The two-day chase for the banner continues Sunday at 9:00 a.m. PT on Burnaby Lake. Sunday's races will be live streamed on the UBC Thunderbirds youtube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/live/yGA7Fo8g-XY
 
Time trial results:
https://www.regattacentral.com/regatta/?job_id=8716&org_id=0