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Head of the North Saskatchewan – Novice boats convince on shortened course

The Head of the North Saskatchewan is a regatta hosted by the Edmonton Rowing Club on a biannual basis. The race is held on the UART’s homestretch of water from the Groat Road Bridge to the boathouse docks near the Edmonton Valley Zoo, thereby making a loop most of the way around Hawrelak Park. A long 4k against the flow of the mighty North Saskatchewan River, this race is a contest of will and stamina. In head racing, boats are set off in procession and the time of each crew recorded to determine the overall winner.

Novice Men’s second eight passes the start, cheered on by spectators on the footbridge

The water level of the North Saskatchewan River has been very low in recent weeks, due to the lack of rain over the past month. As a result, the race organizers were forced to abandon the traditional course due to safety concerns. The only stretch of river not ridden with sand banks, rocks or sirens was a 1.5k section right in front of the ERC dock. As a mere 1.5 kilometers of race course do not do justice to the cruelty the Head of the North Saskatchewan is known to inflict upon its contestants, the race organizers, under the leadership of umpire Bill Reynolds and head of the organizing committee Derek Liu, decided to double the distance available by introducing a 180 degree bend at one end. The Hawrelak park footbridge would serve as both the start and finish line.

Many UART and ERC rowers spent the long summer month practicing the Groat Road Bridge course and believed to have the ideal line down to a tee. Unsurprisingly, emotions were running high as those who had sought to complement their skill and fitness through superior steering saw their advantage slip away. As the UART practices in the small hours of the morning, visibility dictates that rowers and coach boats stay on the aforementioned 1.5k stretch. It is no surprise that the mood in the U of A camp remind stable despite the change in course. The team has rowed approximately 500k on said stretch of water over the past 5 weeks. Squad member Kyle Munro claims to be on excellent terms with the beaver living by the footbridge, while Christine Henderson was found attempting to encourage driftwood to follow her stretching routine.

Two weeks before the Head, 100 keen learn to row athletes had gathered at a meeting in the Butterdome. Coaches Sheila Lindsey and Kris Davies, as well as members of the competitive team spearheaded the effort to get all these young hopefuls out onto the water and ready to race over the course of four training sessions. Their efforts were not in vain, as the Novice Women boated four eights and the Novice Men boated three eights and a coxed four, bringing the total number of novice athletes participating in the event to 68. The sheer number of UART athletes turned the boat bays of the Edmonton Rowing Club into a green and gold festival.

Crews marshalling for the start

To cope with the number of boats keen to participate, racing was spread over two divisions. The first start was scheduled for 10am with the Novice Women entered to conquer the waters first. As coach Sheila runs a strict policy of labor division, all those not racing were sent to the footbridge to “make some noise”. The Novice Men’s squad, thus challenged, proofed to be rather less creative than the girls would be later on, but employed their vocal cords to produce a roar that, some claim, disrupted the flight path of an airplane attempting to land at the Edmonton International Airport at the time (the press officer would like to call the validity of this story into question, but is not willing to check with air traffic control at present).

The Novice Women’s eight paid tribute to the hard work put in by both coaching staff and athletes, finishing 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th in the Novice Women’s 8+ category. The top 8+ of Lynette Klootwyk (stroke), Jessica Oxner, Kari McLeod, Sarah Carter, Jacqueline McAuley, Sabina Proctor, Lexi Burt, Kyran McKee (bow) and coxed by student committee member Annie Hervieux came home in 16:48.03. The crew had to accept a narrow defeat to the Novice boat from Lakeland (16:12.21), while the University of Calgary Novice crew stormed to victory in a convincing manner (13:40.40). The U of A top boat has put in a lot of miles over the past weeks and has been reshuffled in the process, looking to put in a bid to beat their Calgary counterparts at the upcoming Dino Classics.

Novice Women’s first boat at the finish line

The Women’s 2nd 8+ of Erin Lloyd (stroke), Willow Chapman, Alyssa Weinrauch, Megan McKeller, Jeanette Lazar, Susan Dai, Jamie McAllister, Shirley Xu (bow) and expertly coxed by Women’s Captain Nicole Barbeau secured a 4th place finish, completing the course in 18:47.21. The Women’s third eight rowed by Alyssa Martin (stroke), Kristen Campbell, Natasha Hawryluk, Celine Denney, Victoria Giacobbo, Laura Adam, Danika Medinski, Veronica Meston (bow) and commanded by Michele Commandeur put the second boat under immense pressure and showed that anybody is in contention for a spot in the first eight by finishing an impressive fifth in 19:09.05. Michele started coxing for the U of A novices, having never participated in the sport before, never the less, during her second time on the water she coxed an eight made up of the U of A competitive team and Olympic gold medalist Adam Kreek. A daunting task for most first time coxes, Michele accepted the challenge, excelled under it and did superb job coxing a very experienced crew. The UART’s 4th entry of Yung Wong (stroke), Maren Steed, Diane Wong, Emily Fuller, Ji Youn Lee, Jill Morgan, Stef Davies, Hannah Cook (bow) and coxed by Brady Brookes raced well to stay with the top teams, placing 6th (20:37.43).

Novice Women’s second boat passing the start line

The competitive team was eager to take to the water for their first race of the season, following a grueling pre-season training camp, courtesy of coach Sheila, and a seemingly endless string of early morning practice sessions. The Women’s squad had their first shot at glory in a big boat, taking the quad out to make their mark. The crew of Marion Wolff, Lindsey Dent, Danielle Philibert and token bow-seat Christine Henderson raced well (15:04.57) and narrowly missed out on a silver medal finish by the hands of the Central Alberta Rowing Club (14:58.02). UART president Jenny McGuiness was keen to put her newly gained single sculling skills to the test and finished an impressive second (15:06.20), behind Shawn Eccleston (CRC/14:29.53) and ahead of fellow ERC athlete Nathasha Ridenour (16:17.31).

The Men stuck to the smaller boat classes for the first division taking to the water in two doubles and a single. Joshua Belke and Kyle Munro finished a close second (13:21.54), having to yield the title to the ERC combination of Quinn Brandly and Dave Ryan (13:04.40) by a mere 17 seconds. The second double of men’s captain Andrew Douglas and James Lin, referred to as “The Apostles” (mainly by themselves) finished 4th in 13:56.13, narrowly missing out on a UART double podium finish. The race for the seats in the Men’s lightweight double (which is an event raced at the Canadian University Championships, to be held in Welland at the beginning of November) is on, with a first round victory to Belke/Munro. A solid first division result for the UART was rounded off by a first place finish by Ole Tietz in the Men’s single (12:03.29).

The start of the second division was scheduled for 1pm. As this was the time for the Novice Men’s 8’s to show that they could do just as well as their female counterparts, the Novice Women’s squad was dispatched to the footbridge to cheer on all those racing under the glorious afternoon sunshine. What the Men had accomplished with their mighty roar, the Women achieved, through much less exertion, by using multiple cowbells. One – naught to the Novice Women.

Women’s double of Marion Wolff and Lindsey Dent

As though spurred on by their obvious loss to the Women on decibel grounds, the Novcie Men’s first eight of Ryan Vermillion (stroke), Peter Staiger, Nicholas Rouse, Scott Rusnak, Kiel K, David Paquet, Jared McB, Brady Brookes (bow) and coxed by Michele “Commander” Commandeur put in a phenomenal performance, winning the Novice Men’s 8+ division at the Head of the North Saskatchewan in 13:11.29. The UART flagship dealt a decisive blow to strong competition from Lakeland (2nd NM8+ in 14:41.51) and even took scalps outside their own category by beating the Edmonton and Calgary Junior Men’s 8’s (14:32.01 and 17:09.48 respectively). The grand price of posting the fastest time of any eight eluded them by a mere 12 second. That honor was taken by the ERC “TOG” Masters 8+ (Note: TOG – Tall Old Guys) in 12:59.49.

The Men’s second boat of Sebastian Sauve-Hoover (stroke), Sam Ito, Robert Hetman, Sydney Majoko, James Williams, Jeff Kumar, Correy Hornick, Lucas Poitras (bow) and coxed by Annie Hervieux finished third in a time of 16:15.02, close on the heals of the top crew and thereby making a good challenge for a seat in the big boat for the upcoming Dino Classics. The Men’s third boat of Kody Moncrief (stroke), Jean Michel Longval, super-sub Jacqueline McAuley, Won Je Moon, Ellis, Leo Perez, Michael N, Brandon D (bow) and coxed by Yung Wong came in fourth (17:54.28), narrowly beating the only entry from the University Calgary (17:59.14). The UART Novice 4+ of Amin Jorati (stroke), Leo Perez, Gabe Grinde, Lucas Poitras (bow) and coxed by Willow Chapman raced hard and came second in the event (23:31.00), having to hand the win to Calgary (21:29.15). It was with great joy that the athletes and the coaching staff noted that the UART Novice program had managed to put three eights ahead of Calgary’s single entry on this occasion. The first boat had narrowly missed out on beating a very experienced crew, after only 4 water practice session. The UART Novice program has come away with a great win on home water.

Novice Men’s first boat pulling hard on their way to victory

The cards, however, are going to be reshuffled at the next race, and the team has responded accordingly. The athletes have put in a many more miles since the Head of the North and Coach Sheila has been rotating oarsmen through seats to find the fastest combination.

The pressure was now on the competitive team to better the Novice’s excellent result. The Men’s doubles left their internal seat race be for a time and teamed up to challenge for the title in the open Men’s quad event (Munro, Lin, Douglas, Belke – 12:30.49). Unfortunately, the morning division’s squabbles in the doubles had left the crew with little fuel to burn over the distance, so that they had to leave the title to the ERC’s Open/Mixed entry (11:32.12). Post race psychological warfare of the “You got beat by a girl” variety was grudgingly acknowledged by “The Apostles”, while bowseat Belke swore revenge. The oarsome foursome has traded the sculling blades for sweepoars in the mean time and is reported to be well prepared for “revenge” at the upcoming Dino Classics.

“The Apostles” in the big boat

The Women, meanwhile, split into two doubles to find out who would take the honors in the small boats. The first double of Wolff and Dent finished a good second (15:37.05), while the second double of Philibert and Henderson raced well to take fourth in 17:44.12. Both Philibert and Henderson started rowing as UART novices last year and are doing extremely well to race in a competitive W2x field.  The day’s racing finished with good performances in the singles from McGuiness, who managed to repeat her second place finish (14:53.48), edging closer to winner Eccleston, by reducing the gap from 34 seconds to 20 seconds, and Tietz, who repeated his win in the Men’s single (12:19.09).

Credit must go to the UART’s student executive around president McGuiness and captains Douglas and Barbeau for securing the Room at the Top as the teams after party location. Credit must also go to all the athletes who filled the room after a long day of racing. Notable performances include James “Moustache” Williams lecture on moustaches and aerodynamics in rowing, novice rower Kristen Campbell not having to pay for a single drink all night (plus the announcement of said fact on the work place accomplishment board the following Monday) and a Pub Quiz win for team “Windsor House” on a thrilling tie breaker question. Among knowledge on a wide variety of rowing related trivia, including Huge Laurie’s glorious rowing past (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHq0kYgD1ZI), it seemed as though a rather extensive background in classics was required to successfully complete the quiz (courtesy of captain Douglas). Later on in the evening the traditional contest of wit, endurance and prowess between the competitive and novice squads was narrowly won by the competitive team. Coxes Barbeau and Commandeur kicked off the campaigns for their respective teams and a fierce battle ensued, but in the end it was the long hours of training the competitive had put into preparing for the fixture that made the difference.

The UART competitive and novice teams will be heading to Calgary this weekend to compete at the Dino Classics, which comprises of the Head of the Weasel and the Prairie University Rowing Championships.

by Ole Tietz

Note: The Press Officer apologizes for any misspelled names, misplaced athletes and less than accurate results in the above article. Please email me at ole@ualberta.ca if you spot a mistake.