The 54th annual Head of the Trent took place on an unseasonably warm Peterborough weekend, showcasing Canada’s second-largest rowing event in style commensurate with its stature. With over 800 crews entered across 68 events in two days of racing, it was a packed schedule, with some key headlines emerging before the culmination of the fall season. The beautiful weather meant the canal was lined with vocal supporters throughout the weekend, and all who raced were able to enjoy its joyful wall of noise.
University Men
Everything’s coming up mustangs. A win in the open weight eight and four for the University of Western Ontario should have the men in purple feeling confident heading into the Ontario University Championships later in the month, but their lightweights aren’t quite measuring up to their rivals from Queen’s University, who took the win in the lightweight counterpart events. Overall, Western should return to London confident in their performance and excited that their novices are also shaping up to be fast.
University Women
Queen’s University is emerging as the real contender here. The Gaels took a win in the open weight eight and a close second in the four – clearly the early fall miles in Kingston have paid dividends. The lightweight events here suffered from a paucity of entries – perhaps a reflection on what has happened at the international level, or that athletic women often do not weigh close to 60kg. In the novice eight, the University of Ottawa won by just 0.4s over Carleton University – I would love to be a fly on the wall in the Ottawa boathouse as they figure out how to settle the score at OUCs in a fortnight.
Junior Women
There is one standout performance across all the events, and that comes from Natalie McClure, who won the junior women’s single event by approximately 25 seconds, despite being a U17. Fresh off her Canadian Henley win in the single this summer, the Toronto-based sculler continues to go from strength to strength, also picking up a handy medal in the junior women’s eight. Suppose Rowing Canada Aviron wants to continue the nascent sculling success seen at the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai. In that case, they should visit the Argonaut Rowing Club to see how they can support her last season of junior rowing.
Junior Men
I managed to catch an incredibly tidy-looking Ridley College quad that had made the trip across Ontario for the event. They found themselves on the wrong side of rule 85 (incorrect finish line navigation) so did not win the category overall, but displayed a proficiency of sculling that suggests they are one to remember when the docks go in this winter. They are making a trip in mid-October to Boston, where I think they will equip themselves well but are unlikely to dethrone the best that the US and the UK have to offer there.
Talent ID and Development
Rowing Canada Aviron had intended to use the small boat categories in this event to serve as a regional early talent identification tool in year two of the Olympiad. Riley Watson of Brock Rowing Club took the men’s open single, and Kierstyn Hawke of Durham Rowing Club took the women’s open single. There were no entries to men’s open pairs, and women’s open pairs had only four. This is a new approach to talent spotting this season, so we will watch this space to see how RCA proceeds.
Masters Rowing
Masters rowing continues to go from strength to strength in Ontario; there were healthy entries in every available category, and some of the larger clubs boasted multiple entries across categories. Unlike many other events, Head of the Trent does not use handicaps to choose winners. However, youth did not always triumph, and it was reassuring to witness a good range of experience present in the medal tent.
Merch
There has to be an honourable mention to an excellent merch tent featuring HoTT MOM and HoTT DAD t-shirts. My only feedback is to add a HOTT TO GO pink one.
