Canadian Masters shone on the domestic and international stages this year, with standout performers collecting impressive medal tallies.
World Rowing Masters Regatta
Eighteen Canadian clubs sent crews to the World Rowing Masters Championships and entered a total of 263 races. Calgary Rowing Club fielded the most entries with 73, followed by Fredericton Rowing Club with 34 and Two Rivers Rowing Club with 23. The following athletes won gold medals, and many more Canadian athletes won silver and bronze.
Picking up a whopping seven gold medals was Jennifer Walinga, Olympian and former World Champion, representing Rowing Canada Aviron Alumni Association. She won a gold in the women’s F single and gold in all three of the C, D, and E women’s Pairs with her teammate Anna Van der Kamp, 1996 Olympic silver medallist. Walinga and Cheryl (Cheri) Moore won gold in the women’s E double, and all three athletes teamed up to win in the women’s D quad (composite). The fifteen gold medals that these athletes picked up at Cascadia Masters Championships on home soil was excellent preparation.
Volker Nolte, author and former World Rowing Championships competitor, teamed up with Brian Peaker, 1996 Olympic silver medallist, to win four golds for London Western Rowing Club in the men’s F double, G double, G pair, and F coxless four (composite). Their teammates Andrea Mutsaers and Carolyn Jaegar won golds in the women’s D Double and women’s C double. Nolte and Andrea Mutsaers won gold in the mixed F double, and all four athletes won in the mixed E quad. Based in Ontario, these athletes used Masters Henley for preparation, with four first-place and ten second-place finishes between them.
Carol Hermansen and Wanda Murin of Calgary picked up three gold medals, winning the women’s F double together and then teaming up into composite crews to win the women’s F coxed four and the women’s E eight.
Susan Macdonald of Maple Bay Rowing Club teamed up with Diana Morris of Gorge Narrows Rowing Club to win gold in the women’s H double, before joining Richard Stout of Vancouver Rowing Club and Micheal Bates of Maple Bay to win gold in the mixed H-M quad. Earlier in the year, these four athletes won a combined eight golds at Cascadia.
Jacques Chassay of Bedford Rowing Club won three gold medals in the men’s singles at the C, D, and E levels, and Andriy Stogornyuk of Montreal Rowing Club won gold medals at the D and E levels.
Ridley Graduate Boat Club’s Lyn Krahulec won gold in the mixed H-M double in a composite crew.
Head of the Charles
Two Canadian crews won the coveted Head of the Charles title this year, with seven top-five finishes. Maureen Harriman of Whistler Rowing Club won the veteran singles, ten years after her last Charles win. She represented Canada in the lightweight women’s four at the 1993 World Rowing Championships, winning a silver medal.
Toronto Sculling Club claimed the top spot and set a new course record in the women’s grand master eights. Marisha Roman, Kelley Ainley, Tracey Black, Natalie Mills, Katherine Cochrane-Brink, Katharine Myler, and Tara Hunter placed second last year and will be thrilled to move up to the top spot, with Tracy Brooks and Jeany Ellis joining the crew. Black is currently the President of Rowing Canada Aviron, and Cochrane-Brink is a University of Toronto Hall of Fame athlete and Rhodes Scholar, to highlight just a few athletes from this decorated crew.
Three additional Canadian singles placed in the top five – Andrew McTaggart of Ridley Graduate Boat Club and Robert Park of Ottawa Rowing Club placed fourth and fifth in the men’s grand master singles, and Stephanie Geoffrion of Vancouver Rowing Club placed fifth in the women’s grand master singles.
St Catharines Rowing Club placed fifth in the women’s master fours, with Megan Marchand, Kelly Shewfelt, Lindsay Sferrazza, Renee Carpenter, and coxswain Kathleen Romatowski. Sferrazza represented Canada in the lightweight double previously, and Marchand, Shewfelt, and Carpenter won a total of eight Masters Henley golds this summer.
Aubrey Oldham, one of the leaders of Canadian Coastal rowing and perpetual presence on the national team, placed second in the men’s senior master eights with Marin Rowing Association.
