by Brock Rowing

On a day where the temperatures dipped to 5° and winds gusted up to 50km/h, the Brock Badgers rowing team took to the Otonabee River in Peterborough, Ontario to race the prestigious Head of the Trent. The regatta, known as the largest one-day regatta in North America, brings together competitors from across Eastern Canada, including all universities competing in the OUA.  As it is the first regatta of the year involving all university crews, it provides a great opportunity to check out the competition.

Brock crews showed that the team is in for another successful year, picking up 12 medals, including one gold. The Badgers also earned six silver medals, along with five bronze.

Starting the day for Brock in Division 1 of racing were six single scullers, who came away with three silver medals. Winning the first medal was Nick Heffernan in the Club Men's Single, followed by Jacob Thomas in the University Lightweight Men's Single, and capped off by Katherine Walker in the University Lightweight Women's Single. Also racing the single for Brock were Austin Cameron, Matt Finley, and Stephanie Mowder.

In the next flight of races, Brock captured two more medals. The University Heavyweight Men's Coxed Four finished in second place, while the University Heavyweight Men's Double came a close third. In the coxed four, Jamie Germond, Ryan Malcowski, Ian Pierce, Scott Murphy, and Zak Lewis lost to the Western University, while Zach Koroll and Matt Gamey were third behind Western and McGill. Both crews won gold last weekend at Head of the Welland.

The third flight of races brought some close racing for Badger crews, as the Women's Heavyweight and Lightweight Eight's faced rough conditions during the early-afternoon race. The heavyweight eight, consisting of Andrea Jansen, Alyssa Toffolo, Alex Dunlap, Jen Beaudette, Karen Dancy, Isabella Mazzarolo, Taylor Iseppon, Vicky Lea Thompson, and Aysha Martina finished third overall behind Western and Queen's. The crew was happy with the result, as this was the first time the combination has been raced this season. The lightweight eight finished in fourth place, behind crews from Western, Queen's, and University of Toronto.

Next up for Brock was the Heavyweight and Lightweight Men's Eights. Battling a strong headwind and choppy waters, each crew finished just a few seconds back of first place. In the lightweight eight, Amy MacLean, James Potts, Brandon D'Orazio, Grayson Gray, Taylor Ashwood, Zach Whiteley, Jacob Thomas, James Myers, and Brandan Andrews posted a time of 15:35, losing to Western University by 7 seconds. In the next race of the day, the heavyweight eight, consisting of Jamie Germond, Dave de Groot, Matt Finley, Nick Heffernan, Zach Koroll, Ian Pierce, Scott Murphy, Zak Lewis, and Ryan Malcowski completed the course in 15:53, just 6 seconds behind Western.

Brock was well represented in the fifth flight of races, as athletes who raced in the women's eights earlier in the day competed in the University Heavyweight and Lightweight Coxed Four. The lightweight women's program captured their second medals of the days, as Laura Court, Sarah Mambella, Olivia Bagshaw, Katie Ayres, and Erin Corkery placed third behind Western and University of Ottawa. It was a tight race, as there was less than nine seconds between second place Ottawa, and sixth place Queen's.

In the final flight of the day, Brock had six crews racing. Women's Heavyweight and Lightweight Doubles were first done the course, followed by Novice Eights, with the Junior Varsity Coxed Four the last race of the day. Katherine Walker picked up her second silver medal of the day, as she raced with Stephanie Mowder in the heavyweight double. It was a close race, as the double missed gold by less than one second. Following the heavyweights was the Women's Lightweight Double, who finished fourth overall. Badger novices got their second race experience of the year, as the men's crew finished in 12th place, and the women's crews finished in 5th and 15th. The novice season builds up to the OUA Developmental Regatta, which takes place on October 22nd. In the last race of the day, Brock picked up their first gold medal in the Junior Varsity Men's Coxed Four. Mackenzie Boyes, Luke Gadsdon, Matt Gamey, John Hagemans, and Eric Buchanan came together quickly, winning by gold by over 40 seconds.

It was a positive end to the headrace season for all crews, and the attention now turns in the next few weeks in preparation for the final regattas of the season. Next week the university season takes a short break as the National Rowing Championships will take place in St. Catharines. With many Brock Badgers racing, it will be another big weekend for the team.