Success at the Monster Erg

A small contingent of rowers ventured to the University of Victoria on Sunday to compete in the 25th Annual Monster Indoor Rowing Championships. These indoor races are held across Canada and, at the end of the day, national champions are crowned for the 2000 m distance. The day began with Eric Jackson and Connor McGuigan competing in the Junior A Men's event. Eric was 4th in Victoria and 8th overall in Canada. Connor finished 8th in Victoria and 12th nationally. Adelaide Backer competed in the Junior A Lightweight Women's category and finished 7th in Victoria and cracked the top 20 across Canada. The juniors were the next to hit the hardwood. Martin Barakso, Grade 9, new to the sport, exploded off the start and pulled away from everyone winning the Junior B Boys event in 6:47 - nine seconds ahead of the rest of the field. This time was good enough to have the second fastest time in Canada (the fastest in the country for his age group, as Junior B is for both Grade 9 and 10). Michael Kennedy finished 13th in the same event.  Emily Hindson, Kirsten Gilham and Cara Smith entered in the Girls Junior B event. All three, new to this event, finished 13th, 26th and 27th. This category had the most entries in the regatta. Deirdre Huestis, Erin Young, Dan Robinson and Greg Willick teamed up together to compete in the Junior Fours event. Here the four athletes had to work together, jumping on the erg machine for 500 m then jumping off and switching with the next team mate. The four did an amazing job and won the event by 37 seconds over the 2000 m distance.  The rowing teams will be competing in the Hungerford Regatta on Saturday 14th February (the first weekend after mid-term) and at the Head of the Lake on Sunday 15th February. Both events will take place at Shawnigan Lake School.