Second weekend of competition sees more medals for Kingston rowers

May 24, 2023May 24, 2023 Jessica Foley

Silver Medallist Novice Coxed Quad, left, and Gold Medallist Women’s Novice Eight, right. *Submitted photos.*

For the second week in a row, local rowers have brought home medals to the Limestone City.

On Saturday, May 20, and Sunday, May 21, 2023, the rowers, who train at the Kingston Rowing Club, participated in the South Niagara Invitational High School Regatta, held in Welland, Ontario.

Two gold and two silver medal finishes were the highlight of the weekend, along with many strong results in the first competition of the season for the locals. The previous weekend, May 12 and 13, 2023, saw Kingston rowers bring home a selection of medals from the RowOn Small Boat Regatta and the Mother’s Day Regatta.

A stellar performance by the Women’s Novice Eight, who came from last place at the start to narrowly defeat Branksome Hall in the final strokes by 0.669 seconds over the 2,000 metre course, earned the team the first gold medal. Members of the crew included Kingston Secondary School (KSS) students Addie Ormsbee, Lena Kreho, Claire Tenant, and Ruth Maley, with LCVI students Elise Cook, Rachell Hackett, Kaie Bain, Oeifa Cowan, and cox Carolyn McMullan.

Kingston’s second gold medal came in the Junior Women’s 59 kg Coxed Quadruple Sculls with a crew comprised of Hackett, Bain, Cowan and McMullan along with grade eight student Josie Steele (Ecole Vanier). Unlike the novice winning eight-oared crew, which struggled at the start, the victors led from the first stoke, winning in a time of 8:23.079 — some 20 seconds faster than second place E. L. Crossley.

Gold Medal Winning Junior Women’s 59 kg Coxed Quad on the water. *Submitted photo.*

Silver medals were won in the Mixed Double with KSS rowers Oliver Brennan and Bryn Bain powering their boat to a second-place finish behind Peterborough Rowing Club and in the Women’s Novice Coxed Quadruple Sculls by Addie Ormsbee (KSS), Claire Tenant (KSS), Farah Zaza (KSS), Elise Cook (LCVI) and cox Eugenia Rodriguez (KSS) behind a dominant crew from E.L Crossley.

“We were amazed by the high-level performance of our athletes this weekend. It’s been a long winter of training and you never know how it’s going to pay off,” stated coach Brad Brennan. “Myself along with our assistant coaches Sean Whitehall, Ian Arthur, Walter Saccon, Curtis Oleschuk, and John Armitage are so proud of these athletes.”