8 Medals at National Championships

In early June a group of 44 Brentwood students and 6 coaches traveled to St. Catharines, Ontario for the Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association Championships, the Nationals. From this group of athletes, we entered 16 events at the regatta and by the time heats and semi-finals were done on Saturday, we had qualified 12 crews to row in the finals of the National Championships. This was a great accomplishment considering the weather that we were dealing with: high winds and heat made for challenging racing. For the first time in the 71 year history of the regatta, race officials decided that Sunday finals would start at 7:00am so that they could get the races done before the big storms hit the area. So on Sunday morning the first of the Brentwood crews were at the racecourse at 5:45am to get ready for racing. This was perfect for us, our regular morning practice time is 5:45am….the winds had shifted to a 30km/hour tailwind which made for some interesting white caps on the water. As we were launching crews for their races, we kept reminding them that this was just like rowing at home at the Brentwood Regatta, no problem! In the end, our crews raced the best that they could: they all came into the dock proud of their accomplishments no matter where they had ended up. The final medal count was 4 GOLD, 3 SILVER and 1 BRONZE, remarkable! Gold medals were won in the: Senior Boys Lwt. 4+ - this is the first time in the history of Brentwood attending this regatta that we have won this event. We had silver and bronze in the past 40 years but this is the first Gold. Congratulations boys. Junior Boys 4x – this was a threepeat for our school: the third year in a row that a Brentwood crew has won this event, and the third time in 40 years that we have attended this regatta that a Brentwood crew has had a three peat. Congratulations boys. Senior Boys 4+ - the boys raced and beat the crew from Canisius School in New York, who had won the US High School Championships, so that makes them the fastest crew in North America. Congratulations boys. Senior Girls 4+ - the legacy of former coach and faculty member Pat Steinbrink Kelly was at the regatta with us when the girls won this event. There has not been a Brentwood crew since 1993 to win this event and Pat coached that group of girls. Congratulations girls. Silver medals were won in the: Junior Boys 8+ Senior Boys 8+ Senior Lwt. Girls 4+ A Bronze medal was won in the: Senior Lwt. Girls 8+ The Brentwood crews finished very well amongst the 127 high schools that were present at the regatta. The boys finished 2nd overall but that took a while to figure out. There were actually 3 schools tied for first place but at this regatta there can only be one school at the top, so it took them to the 6th race result for the boy’s crews to separate Brentwood from the other school, placing us in second by one point. The girls should be very proud of their accomplishments as they finished 3rd overall. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the athletes, the coaches who worked so tirelessly all year, and Warren Featherstone, our amazing boatman, you make me proud to be part of such an amazing group of people. Lastly, I would like to thank Mr. Patel and the parents who were in St. Catharines to cheer on all the crews. The sea of red shirts, the Brentwood “B” displayed everywhere, and the cheering voices and cow bells made it easy for our crews to find the finish line. The crews spoke of the cool feeling having so much support so far from home. I look forward to next year and seeing what we can do with the new crews. To the 16 graduating rowers, we say good bye and good luck in the future. Mrs. Debbie Sage, Head of Rowing