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Grueling Duels on Elk Lake

14 April 2019
Jack NG, Ellis ‘21
Over the weekend of April 6th and 7th, the Brentwood College Rowing Club sent 7 boats to compete at the Vic City Duelling Over a Grand Regatta on Elk Lake.  The weekend started off with one of the Junior Boys quads losing a hard-fought race against the host club, Vic City. The conditions were poor, and Nate P’s unisuit may or may not have been inside out, but the boys pulled hard and given that Tanner H, Jack NG, Nate P and Santiago E had never raced together before, they were very happy with their overall performance. The boys were later knocked out after their first race on the Sunday morning.  The second Junior Boys quad, codenamed “The Units”, which was comprised of Santino G, Marc S, Olin D and Dylan K, had a very successful weekend, beating Shawnigan on Day 1. “The winds were terrible and our boat got filled with water” remarked Norse demigod Olin D, but they then went on to win three more races on the second day, eventually coming up short in the semi-final race, falling to the powerhouse that was Vic City. Later that day Mr. Braithwaite’s Junior Girls Novice quad narrowly lost their first duel to a very experienced Vic City crew. Amy P, Sasha K, Lauren C and Emily P also were new to racing together, and pulled off another solid race early Sunday morning.  The up and coming Junior Girls double, made up of veteran athletes Shaelyn L and Sarah G had a very successful weekend considering the race conditions and the fact that although they are both 15 years old, they were rowing in the U19 category. When asked to describe the weekend, Shaelyn L said “The wind delays started the regatta off rough but it turned out to be really fun in the end.” Mrs. Sage and the Senior Women sent two boats down south for the weekend. One was a quad filled with three grade 11s and one grade 10. Natasha F, Keeva O, Bridget M and Sloane J had a productive weekend, battling some fierce competition from the Lower Island. “Although the weather conditions were not ideal, we all worked really hard to work with what we had and in the end we learned a lot of valuable lessons that will help us do better in the future” Natasha F reflected. The second Senior Women's crew was a double of US scholarship signees Zoe M and Allulah-Beth C. These two experienced women put in a terrific effort and finished with the best record of any of the BCS women’s crews. The double lost in the quarter finals to the Vic City boat that ended up coming third in the competition.  The Senior Men sent one lone crew to the frothy waters of Elk Lake. Jesse H, Karl D, Axel E and Thomas L conquered a crew from Gorge Narrows in the first round, but faced up against two very tough Vic City quads in the following rounds. “It was not the overall result we wanted,” declared Jesse H, “but it was good for us to get some racing experience against Vic City.” All in all, the athletes and the coaches were quite pleased with the performances over the weekend, and were happy with the development that came with it. We’ll see if the experience gained at Duelling will pay dividends at the Maple Bay Regatta. Best of luck to all the coaches and crews! Jack NG, Ellis ‘21

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