Rowing at Nationals!
Shawnigan's journey to the CSSRA's 65th Annual Regatta, the premier high school rowing event in Canada, began ominously.
As the boats were being transported from Shawnigan to St. Catharines, Ontario, staff members James Roaf '05 and Kyle Hamilton met head-on with a weather system that hurled golf ball-sized stones of hail at their truck and the trailer it towed. While both James and Kyle escaped serious harm, the same could not be said for their vehicle or its cargo. Two of Shawnigan's boats suffered so much damage that they could not be salvaged, and if not for Head of Rowing Danielle Beare's connections to Ontario's rowing fraternity, many of the School's athletes could have found their competition over before it even started.
The rowing program's journey leading up to the national championships had been a similarly bumpy ride. It would be fair to say that throughout the regatta season, Shawnigan's crews had failed to perform up to their expectations, with the number of fine performances often somewhat overshadowed by some less than spectacular results. The School's coaches and crews were well aware of the talent amongst their ranks, but questions lingered over the team's ability to perform under the pressure and against the field they would be facing on the Royal Canadian Henley Course. With the successes of recent years seemingly a distant memory, would Shawnigan's athletes be able to find it within themselves to find their finest performances in their final competitions?
The regatta began strongly for all of the School's entries, with success almost across the board during Friday's heats and Saturday's semifinals. By the time the crews pushed onto the course on Sunday, eight entries from Shawnigan would be competing for a piece of national championship glory.
After a couple of strong results featuring crews who just missed out on a place on the podium, the School's first medals came quickly, with the Senior Men's Heavy Four earning a silver medal - missing a gold by fractions of a second - and the Senior Women's Quad fighting to a third place finish. Those results set the table for the highlight of the afternoon, in which Grade 12 students Maylies L. and Arden G. capped off their Shawnigan careers by capturing the gold medal in the Senior Women's Double, the first time the School has ever laid claim to the event. The girls' race was so close that several minutes were needed to determine the winner in a photo finish. The School's afternoon was capped off by a second bronze medal, earned by the Junior Girls' Lightweight Four.
A national championship that began with trepidation finished, as usual, with a handful of medals, a fourth-place overall finish and a score of exceeded expectations. The results across the board demonstrated that Shawnigan continues to boast one of the top rowing programs in the country, and the tradition of success in one of the School's premier sports seems destined to continue. Congratulations to all of Shawnigan's talented athletes and coaches for their dedication and accomplishments!
– Ryan Panton '97
Photos by David Hutchison and Danielle Beare