After “horrific” winds cut short last year’s Maple Bay Rowing Regatta, conditions were perfect for the 40th annual event on Quamichan Lake on Saturday.
“Everything ran like clockwork and the regatta stayed on schedule all day long with no mishaps, thanks to all our wonderful volunteers and Rowing BC umpires,” Maple Bay Rowing Club head coach Cheryl Thibodeau said.
Numbers were down slightly because junior national team western trials were being held on the Mainland the same day, but the event still managed to draw more than 300 rowers, including a contingent from the host club that collected a total of eight medals.
“The Maple Bay rowers did very well, managing to squeeze on the podium in multiple events,” Thibodeau said. “We have a lot of young new kids this year, which is good for our clubs future.
“We lost most of our senior boys program to private schools, and we had a lot of our senior girls graduate last year as well, so it’s nice to see the influx of Grade 7 and 8s in the club to fill that void.”
Chris Jones and Shane Blandford-Scherr had the host club’s best finish, taking silver in the lightweight men’s double.
Seven other crews rowed to bronze: Bailey McMillan, Myfanwy Warren, Chloe Cizeron, Grace Brigham and cox Ella MacKenzie in the junior C women’s coxed quad; Warren and Cizeron in the junior C women’s double; Jayne Wright, Sydnae Lowe, Warren, Cara Baudin and Brigham in the novice women’s coxed quad; Taylor Brouwer and MaKenzie English in the junior A women’s double; Brouwer, English, Eve Truhn and Emily Wallich in the junior A women’s quad; Jones in the lightweight men’s single; and Dredyn Fontana, Owen Wilson, Eli Caine, Aiden McNutt and cox McMillan in the junior C men’s coxed quad.