UBC Rowing is Canada’s most successful varsity program.
With more than 40 Olympic medals to its credit, countless Commonwealth Games and Pan American Games Championships, World Championships, and Royal Henley medals, it has long been the envy of other Canadian university programs. This rich rowing history should instill new members with perspective on what UBC Boathouse was built on: a tradition of excellence and the relentless pursuit of gold. Yet in that intolerance for anything less than distinction, every rower that has competed under the thunderbird emblem will remember that it was always about so much more than winning.
Throughout each unique era there were three common elements to success: a dedicated, hard-working group of athletes, knowledgeable coaching, and access to equipment; none of which ever came without a struggle.
1921 - 1949: The Pioneer Era - Between the Wars
Though the first official UBC Team was recognized in 1921, the origins of UBC Rowing are closely tied to the establishment of The Vancouver Rowing Club and go all the way back to the incorporation of Vancouver on April 6, 1886.
In that same year, the Vancouver Boating Club was organized, followed three years later by the Burrard Inlet Rowing Club, and on April 1, 1899 the two clubs merged to form the Vancouver Rowing Club. The oldest athletic organization in the city, VRC established its present Clubhouse in Stanley Park on September 9, 1911, a privilege granted for its focus on amateur sport.
The chief concern of the program from the onset was equipment, along with the need for permanent facilities. So began the successful/tumultuous relationship with Vancouver Rowing Club, which rented its equipment to UBC rowers at $10 a member—no small price at the time. Consistent themes throughout the club’s records from this period included heavy turnover of personnel, lost or delayed seasons due to lack of equipment or disagreements with VRC, and always the great promise of next year’s team!
The first inter-class regatta—races between faculties, followed by a tea dance—was held at VRC on Saturday, February, 17, 1922. In 1924, a VRC four represented Canada at the Olympic Games in Paris, setting a record in their first heat and winning silver.
UBC raced the University of Washington in 1925 with the best intentions of making it an annual regatta. Led by G.A. Seymour, there was talk of a boathouse inside the North Arm jetty on the Fraser River as early as 1925. Coached by Mr. Sweeny in ’26, interest in the program piqued with the arrival of the first eight, the Washingtonia, from the University of Washington. In 1930, a trust fund was established to secure money from Vancouver citizens for shells and a clubhouse, and most of the racing in the decade was done locally between VRC, UBC, St. George’s, and Brentwood College.
Ned Pratt carries the distinction of being the first UBC athlete to compete for Canada in the Olympics, bringing home a bronze medal in the double sculls at the 1932 Games in Los Angeles. That same year, Frank Read was in the VRC four that won the Pacific Coast Championship in San Diego.
Coached by Dr. R. West, new equipment was slowly added, including two Sims boats from London, and by 1937 rowing was considered a sub-major sport with two important regattas: a triangle meeting with Oregon State and University of Washington and the annual contest with VRC. In 1938 the UBC crew beat Oregon State College under the direction of Frank Wilson and in 1939 secured a short lived clubhouse on the Fraser River near the Celtic Shipyards in the Southlands with showers, a workshop, and racks for the shells.
When “things changed” with the onset of the Second World War, inter-college racing in B.C. was paused. It was not until 1949 that they started up again with plans to relocate the program to Coal Harbour, and a scholarship program was arranged to expose local high school students to the sport. Victor Spencer purchased the program’s first Pocock eight, which arrived in 1949 from Seattle by freight car.
With the support of its alumni, the program was now ready for its fairytale ascension to the top of the world.
1950 - 1959: The Frank Read Era - The Golden Years
The Centre of Rowing for UBC moved to the Vancouver Rowing Club on Coal Harbour in 1950 under the title of VRC/UBC and the leadership of Frank Read. The university was seen as a means of rebuilding the Club’s postwar membership. Frank Read was a former club rower and a successful businessman with some time on his hands. Victor Spencer of Spencer Department Stores, a VRC Old Boy, was an avid supporter.
After September registration and recruitment, rowing began on Coal Harbour at 4:30 p.m. on weekdays in Barges. In autumn, there was a headrace against Oregon State University, alternating locations each year. Two UBC athletes manufactured an OSU vs. UBC trophy cup called the EGG CUP. When the weather deteriorated in the winter, training would shift to the gymnasium after 4 p.m. classes for Frank’s notorious abdominal exercises and runs to the gates and back.
In 1952, VRC/UBC began the unbelievable journey that would establish its winning ways with a small victory. The Varsity Crew competed at Newport Beach California Sprint Championships and won the consolation final; good enough to travel east and race at Olympic Trials where they came second to the Argonaut Club.
In July of 1954, after only four years of development under the leadership of Read, the UBC eight defeated the eastern squads by an impressive five lengths to install themselves as Canadian eight-oared champions and Canada’s team at the 1954 British Empire Games in Vancouver. The next month at the B.E.G. on the Vedder Canal, UBC finished the two-kilometre course two and a half lengths ahead of the British shell.
Next, UBC defeated the defending champion Russian crew by a length and a quarter to win the semifinal at the 1955 Henley World Championships; unfortunately, they lost in the final to the powerhouse Pennsylvania crew representing the United States.
At the 1956 Games in Melbourne, Australia, the UBC straight four of Don Arnold, Walter d’Hondt, Lorne Loomer, and Archie MacKinnon—dubbed the Cinderella Crew by the press—finished five lengths in front of the American team and claimed the Olympic gold, overshadowing the VRC/UBC eight that brought home silver.
VRC/UBC attended the Wales Commonwealth Games in 1958, winning the gold in the 8+, while both the 4+ and 4- brought home silver. Mike Spracklen (future Canadian Coach of the gold medal Canadian’s men’s 8+ in Beijing) won gold in the double for Great Britain.
After Melbourne, Frank Read retired and was replaced by John Warren, but he soon returned in ‘59 to prepare a VRC/UBC entry for Canada at the Rome Olympics in Italy. Read defined an era referred to as the Golden Years of UBC Rowing with good reason: the teams were consistently the best in the world, and more over, they were supported and celebrated for it. They were golden boys, they were local heroes.
1960 - 1969: Reinforcing a Legacy of Excellence
In 1963, the Vancouver Rowing Club was nearly closed due to structural issues with the facility. After a careful assessment the pilings were considered sound and the building remained open. Reinforced with steel and a large sum of money, the interior was modernized and the UBC Crew maintained its home on Coal Harbour.
Despite forces that would challenge the program’s longevity, UBC’s place in rowing history was also reinforced during the sixties by some remarkable performances from a new generation of rowers and the leadership of a few committed alumni.
The 2,000-metre course on Coal Harbour went from Pier BC—now the Convention Centre—into the VRC. Half way were the Oil Barges. The last two-hundred meters were marked by BBill Boeing’s yacht, Taconite, and became an esoteric race call meaning the final stretch. The coxswain’s would light the boilers for the showers before pushing off so they would be warm at the end of practice.
As a volunteer post steered by recent alumni, the coaching quality was high, as was the turnover of personnel. Funding for shells and trips was provided by a group of old rowers called the Friends of Rowing led by Nelles Stacey and Jack Carver. Crews now rowed in three eights: Victor Spencer I, II and III. The typical schedule included match races against the University of Oregon in the Harbour, Corvallis on the Willamette River, and the Western Sprints where the universities of Washington and California competed.
At the 1960 Olympics in Rome the men’s eight brought home silver medals, after which Read retired and Laurie West took over his coaching duties. The eight finished third in the US Western Sprints in Seattle, 1961, a must win to get funding for Royal Henley. West had the same group in 1962, captained by John Lecky, and achieved a world record time against St. Catherine’s (5:30:7), sending the crew to the World Championships in Lucerne.
The only team uniform was the blue Thunderbird Crew t-shirt that is still given to athletes today. In Lucerne in ‘62, the 8+ wore it to the line and were told they needed Canadian uniforms. The manager found some white singlets and sewed on red maple leafs. The crew’s result was forgettable.
At the Pan American Games in Sao Paolo, Brazil in April 1963, the 8+ won convincingly against the USA Vesper crew and redeemed recent performances. Leading up to the next instalment of the Olympics, training in ‘64 switched to the Burnaby Lake drainage channel in the evenings with Coal Harbour in the mornings.
VRC/UBC formed the majority of the Canadian Rowing Team at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Coached by Glen Mervyn, the UBC eight represented Canada. Rowers Roger Jackson and George Hungerford (spares for the eight) were hastily assembled as a pair only weeks before the Olympics after Hungerford had contracted mono and was removed from the eight. With a stunning performance, they won gold, while the eight failed to qualify for the finals.
VRC/UBC also notably represented Canada at the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg with silver-medal finishes for both the eight and coxless four. A year earlier, in 1966, there was a split in the crew for the first time when a four disagreed with coach Wayne Pretty’s methods. They were taken in by the Burnaby Lake Aquatic Association. It was a small rift in the latter half of a successful decade that would be felt by future crews. Eventually this pull between VRC and Burnaby Lake would lead to greater divides and compromise the future of the entire program.
1970 - 1979: Into the Modern Era – The Advent of Women’s Rowing
The 1970s, an era of growth and some embittered battles; enter the ladies and the lightweights. Ironically, under a new National Training format, UBC’s historical successes on the International Stage would very nearly spell its end.
In 1970, Canada hosted the World Rowing Championships for the first time outside Europe, leading to the development of the well-known FISA course in St. Catharines, Ont. Coach Klavora’s VRC/UBC eight competed, but did not make the semifinals. In 1971, the same eight won the Pan American game trials and finished with bronze behind Argentina. Notably, this was the last time VRC/UBC would represent Canada until 1979, as rowing was designated an A sport and would go to a National Training Program format.
It was also in 1971 that the first women's rowing crew was formed at VRC, and a women’s shower and change room were installed. Within five years UBC would organize a women’s team that would quickly rise to the top of the ranks.
The first composite National Rowing Team was selected in 1972. Training took place simultaneously in the east and west and the crew went to the Munich games under the leadership of Al Roaf. These first crews were still largely VRC/UBC, minus four rowers.
Soon after, Burnaby Lake was dredged out and turned into a six-lane course for the 1973 Canada Games, and many of the crew’s practices were held at Burnaby Lake from then on. However, with Al Roaf and company at Burnaby Lake attracting the best UBC rowers, UBC’s Club Team Rowing nearly died out, staying alive under the leadership of Rod Bell-Irving.
The first lightweight events were added to the World Championships in 1974 for men, and naturally a lightweight crew was formed at UBC. Athletes would describe a healthy competition between the heavy and lightweight crews with resources and coaching and equipment still very much at a premium.
At the 1975 Pan Am Games, VRC/UBC members took part in composite crews for silver in the coxed men’s pair and bronze in the men’s coxless four. The 1976 VRC/UBC crews also conceived a tour to the Henley Royal Regatta, and the coxless four went on to win the Steward's Cup.
The Olympic Games in Montreal that year saw Vancouver Rowing Club women competing in the first Olympic events for female crews. All women’s crews raced one-thousand metres. There was a VRC member in each crew that made the finals. Cheryl Howard was sixth in the double sculls. Tricia Smith, fifth in the coxless pair, Susan Antoft and Ilona Smith in the four placed eighth, and Joy Fera in the coxed four was seventh.
Soon after the ’76 Olympics Al Morrow became head coach of the men’s rowing team at UBC and Glen Battersby came on to form the first UBC women’s crew at Morrow’s suggestion. Established in September 1976, the UBC women’s crew was a dedicated group whose newly-acquired credits fast approached those of the men.
At the Western Sprints in May at Los Gatos, Calif., against some of the top-flight American crews, they became the Western Intercollegiate Rowing champions. Also, at the North West Women’s Regional in Seattle, the Junior 8+ captured the gold and the Senior 8+ won silver. 1976 was also one of the club's darkest years. A split had developed between the VRC and the Burrard Yacht Club over finances. This culminated in a lawsuit that was resolved in June 1976 with BC Supreme Court Justice McKenzie ruling in favour of the Club. The Burrard Yacht Club shortly after obtained new facilities in North Vancouver where it resides today.
At the 1977 World Championships in Amsterdam, Tricia Smith and Joy Fera rowed in Canada’s bronze medal eight, and Susan Antoft won bronze in coxless pair. Smith and Fera, now of Burnaby Lake training Centre, were also in the women’s bronze medal eight at the 1978 World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand.
Also in 1977, the UBC rowing club’s Big Block banquet was the scene of “a gentle protest” by 44 men against barring women team members from the banquet, which had traditionally been a stag only affair.
Late in December 1978, 14 men led by Rod Bell-Irving and Peter Watson attended the 8th Nile International Festival in Cairo and won for overall points. Many crew members described this as the opportunity of a lifetime. The summer of ’78 was the end of a legacy with the last VRC/UBC victory in the 8+, winning the Ned Hanlon Trophy at St Kits National Championships.
In 1979, the same club Canadian Championship eight was chosen to represent Canada at the Pan Am Games where they took Silver – the first time a non-composite crew had been chosen since 1971. They would attend Cairo again under the leadership of John Cordonier.
With the complexities of the National Rowing system entangled with the UBC team, multiple training sites (including some winter rowing in Deep Cove in the late 70s), and more crews, categories, and events than ever, it becomes increasingly difficult to follow the narrative of the program and keep reasonable track of its accomplishments. There were many, and in the coming years, its complexity would only increase.
1980 - 1989: The Middle Years
The 1980s were kind of like UBC Rowing’s adolescent years, the most difficult, confusing, and uncertain in its history. Despite some impressive performances, passionate coaches, and many talented athletes who would row to Olympic glory, the club program struggled to thrive; a far cry from its roots.
In the mid-80s, the clubhouse at VRC was again in a serious state of deterioration. With water lapping into the building, the clubhouse was closed again; while Burnaby Lake, with a world-class course, was home to the National Team in the west for the first half of the decade. Crew boats were mostly stored outside by the grandstands. Without its own development program, the best rowers were generally plucked from the UBC crews, which made building a competitive team difficult.
There was naturally much banter about making Burnaby Lake a National Training Centre. These were eventually awarded to Victoria, B.C. and to London, Ont., in 1985. As a result, the University of Victoria would go on to enjoy a decade of dominance in the west and became the new benchmark of UBC’s progress.
As a substitute for the boycotted 1980 Olympics, Canada sent men’s and women’s crews to Lucerne, Amsterdam, and Henley Royal Regatta. Rod Bell-Irving coached the men, Alan Roaf the women. In 1981, Glen Battersby returned to the women’s program and by the fall of ‘84 his crews won Nationals in the 8+ and the Canadian Henley 8+. They would also win every race entered in Montreal and Canadian Henley in ’85 and ’86, and Battersby would be named Coach of the Year.
VRC/UBC was well represented at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics with 14 rowers attending the Games. Canada's reputation in rowing was restored when, for the first time in Canadian Olympic history, the men's eight-oared crew, including Pat Turner and Paul Steele, won the gold medal in a classic stroke-for-stroke duel with the US crew. Tricia Smith also won silver in the straight pair.
In the early 1980’s, Dick McClure began his career as volunteer boatman and coach at Burnaby Lake that continues to present day. His role as a stepping-stone for many athletes is unquestionable. UBC rowers who have gone on to the National Team and Olympic medal fame and who have been coached by McClure include Mike Rascher, Pat Turner, Brenda Taylor, Megan Delahanty, and Laryssa Biesenthal.
This list, of course, also included Kathleen Heddle, an avid supporter of McClure who arrived on the scene in 1985 to row for UBC. She advanced quickly to the top of the sport. It was not long before she moved onto the National Team and only a few years until she set a gold medal record in the decade that follows.
1990 - 1999: The Decade of Displacement and Change
The last year of the wooden barge was 1991. The improvement in rowing technology throughout the nineties was dramatic. Materials and boat design developed rapidly. In the inaugural Brown Cup Race in 1993, UBC rowed against the UVic team without the distinct advantage of hatchet blades. In 1994, UBC athletes were still using the Model A erg.
Training generally took place twice a day. Equipment owned by the program consisted of two used Vespoli 8+’s from University of Washington, an Empacher 4+, a Stempfi 4-, two Kaschper 2-/x, and two first-generation Hudson fibreglass 1x’s.
During the 90’s, UBC rowers were finalists at the Royal Henley in the 4- in 1992 and semi-finalists at Royal Henley in the 8+ in 1994. The coaching quality remained strong, but was still very much part-time and inconsistent. Head coaches in the 90s were: Tory Young (M/W), Joe Dowd (M), Alan Roaf (M/W), Mike Koski (W/M), Terry Neal (M/W), Juris Ezergalis (M), Mike Pearce (W/M), Chris Chambers (W), and Craig Pond (W).
In the 1992 Olympics at Barcelona, Kathleen Heddle and partner Marnie McBean won gold in the Straight Pairs and Eights. Five of the nine crew members in the eight began rowing at VRC either through high school, junior, or VRC/UBC programs. These five brought home a total of nine gold medals from that Olympics.
Also in 1992, led by Alan Roaf, UBC and VRC severed their longstanding relationship. UBC spent two years as the stepchild of Burnaby Lake before moving to False Creek. Following a brief tenure at Kitsilano Yacht Club, the crew settled into Burrard Civic Marina and some exciting new developments.
Two important events were added to the Thunderbirds’ racing schedule. The Brown Cup, the annual UBC-UVic Boat Race was started in 1993 modeled after the Cambridge-Oxford race, and the Canadian University Rowing Championships were formed in 1995.
Mike Pearce, who would become the longest standing coach in UBC rowing history, took on the women’s program in 1995. With the state of the equipment and the program in shambles, it was like starting again. Pearce knew there was a strong correlation between resources and performance, and that it would be impossible to gain stature without facilities.
Incidentally, the origin of the idea for a UBC Boathouse was formulated at Frank Read's funeral in 1994 around the same time. Frank’s rowers sat together the afternoon of his funeral and over a beer brought up the UBC Boathouse issue. Doug MacDonald wrote a cheque for the first $1,000 for a crew house in honour of Frank and a committee was formed.
Eighteen months later Foundation 2000 would provide a lifeline with access to equipment and funding through community rowing to provide full-time coaching for the athletes.
In 1996, the women’s team came close to winning the second annual University Rowing Championships. Pearce developed the following women to the National Team before moving to the men: Heather Davis, Emma Robinson, Tracy Duncan, and Allison Moser.
On the Olympic stage, Heddle returned to compete in the 1996 Olympics at Atlanta, and won gold in the Double Sculls and silver in the Quadruple Sculls. She was the first Canadian athlete in Olympic history to win three Olympic gold medals.
In the late 90s, a new batch of talented novices were recruited just as a group of UBC rowing alumni formed the Gold for Life Campaign with a mandate to build a permanent home for UBC and Community Rowing, giving rise to a new golden era.
2000 - 2009: The Gold for Life Era - Building a Permanent Home
At the beginning of the new millennium, Foundation 2000 (now GO) Community programs were at their height on False Creek. The equipment provided by the Foundation for Community Rowing and Corporate Challenge and the individual support from Ole Elmer for the Varsity Team, UBC could sustain large Undergrad Learn to Row Programs, which attracted solid pools of novice athletes and generally boated two men’s and two women’s novice eights in the fall.
More than five years before it opened, a group of UBC rowing alumni formed the Gold for Life Campaign, and it soared when George Hungerford took over the project along with involvement from the BC Government, Dr. Don Rix, and St George's School. The original group of old rowers from the 1950's raised $135,000 for the project, a total that ended up over seven million.
The Varsity programs continued to enjoy full-time coaching. The men’s team was led by Mike Pearce and the women’s by Craig Pond. Volunteer coaches still ran the development teams, the women’s program generously the entire decade by Mike Sutherland. The team had not had such stable leadership since Frank Read.
Both programs also enjoyed a competitive training situation with talented JV crews. Dry land training took place at Task Force until 2003, when the building was demolished and the facility was moved into a squash court at the hockey arena. Task Force was a crew favourite: a gym, a workshop, and a much needed clubhouse. It felt very much owned by the athletes.
In the absence of the National Team bound heavyweights Geoff Hodgson, Kyle Hamilton, Rob Weitemeyer, and Ben Rutledge from 2003 to 2004, the Men’s Lightweight program at UBC flourished with several gold performances at Canadian Henley in the Lwt 4- and Lwt 2x. The Women’s Team was also highly successful at Henley and the Gorge.
On the International scene, Kyle and Ben went undefeated in the heavy men’s 8+ from 2002 to 2003 including two World Championships. Geoff Hodgson won bronze in the coxed pair in 2003. In Athens, the summer of 2004, the two-time World Champion Canadian men’s eight again featuring Hamilton and Rutledge finished a devastating and unfathomable fifth place.
In 2004, a veteran group of women rowers would claim the University Rowing Championships for the first time in history. A member of that crew, Kitt Turney, also won bronze at the World Championships in 2004 with the U-23 Team 4- in Poland.
Construction on the boathouse began in 2005. In the same year, Kyle and Ben returned to UBC to continue their studies, adding to a newly rebuilt heavy men’s program to win CURC’s, the Charles Championship 4+ over Great Britain’s National Team entry, and Brown Cup—all for the first time in UBC history. The women's crew also did well in what was a rebuilding year.
Rob Weitemeyer came out of the era rowing on several Canadian National Teams including gold in the U23 8+ in 2005 before going to Cambridge to race in the Oxford-Cambridge boat race. Ben Dove was selected to the Canadian Commonwealth-World University Championships Team in 2005 where he won gold in the 8+ and a bronze in the double. UBC men's coxswain Julia MacDonald won the steering job for the U-23 8+ that represented Canada at the 2006 U-23 Worlds in Hazewinkel, Belgium where Canada finished seventh.
UBC Coach Craig Pond was voted the 2004-05 Canadian University Coach of the Year. A National Coaching Certification Program Level 4 Rowing Coach, Mike was awarded the Canadian University Coach of the Year (2005). He was also awarded the prestigious Royal Jubilee Award (2002) for coaching five crews to medals at the Commonwealth Championships and World University Rowing Championships, including gold in the men’s 8+.
The Boathouse was completed in July 2006, named in memory of John M.S. Lecky, UBC rower and rugby player. The UBC Boathouse officially opened with a ceremony in September 2006. Full capacity would take several months after some construction interruptions. The inaugural Head of the Fraser Fours Regatta ran for the first time in October 2006 with fog delays, and the men’s team would add Brown Cup victories in 2006 and 2008.
Ben and Kyle also added to their World Championship medals in 2007 in Milan, Italy, and Munich, Germany. In Beijing 2008, captained by Hamilton, the men’s 8+ led at every interval en route to a gold medal in a time of five minutes, 23.89.
The first CURC’s to be held in the GVRD took place at Fort Langley in 2008, where the women’s eight lost by a seat in an epic final five rally, despite losing three rowers before the regatta. The Men’s and Women’s Varsity programs would finish fourth or better at Canadian University Championships throughout the entire decade.
In 2008, en route to their first Brown Cup victory with a two-boat lead, the women’s team crashed into a bridge – a heartbreaking and frustrating loss. However, after a successful Heineken regatta in Amsterdam in 2009, the team returned to prepare for redemption 10 days later. The UBC women won Brown Cup for the first time, and definitively, with a 24-second lead.
The Gold for Life team continued to raise funds in 2009 for equipment and sustainability. The Richmond Olympic Speed Skating Oval with Rowing Tank and Erg Room opened down the road from the Boathouse, and the Stone Boat, reminiscent of the training barge in Coal Harbour, was completed.
With a permanent home in order, UBC now sets its sites on new goals: to consistently be the best program in Canada and one of the top crews in the world through defined goals and program focuses. The coaches have developed a five year plan to raise the level of the men's and women's rowing programs at UBC even higher; Gold for Life, indeed.
