Rowing continued today at the Canoe & Rowing Course in Ciudad Guzman, Mexico, for the Pan Am regatta (Oct. 15 to Oct. 19). The conditions started off manageable, but by late morning races were affected by weather.
Isolda Penney of Kingston, ON, won her heat this morning and advanced directly to the A final. Penney's time was 7:53.97, and Argentina's Maria Best also advanced to the final from this heat in a time of 7:54.05. The U.S. finished third, while Cuba and Mexico were off the pace.
"I felt I was in total control the whole race and I'm looking forward to the final," said Penney.
Also this morning, the Canadian men's light four was second in 6:17.61 and advance to the A final. This crew is Terence McKall of Edmonton, AB, Travis King of Grimsby, ON, Eric Woelfl of St. Catharines, ON, and Derek Vinge of Fernie, BC.
World bronze medalist (coxed pair) Steven Van Knotsenburg of Beamsville, ON, and Peter McClelland of Aurora/King City, ON, were fourth in the men's pair race today and will now row in a rep. Brazil and Mexico advanced from this heat.
The Canadian women's quad was fourth today in 7:03.71 in what is essentially a race for lanes, and all boats move the final.
The quad is Audra Vair of Creemore, ON, Elizabeth McCord of Toronto, ON, Melanie Kok of St. Catharines, ON, and Isolda Penney of Kingston, ON.
Wind picked up at the course at Guzman today, and forced a delay of the men's eight race. It is tentatively postponed until later this afternoon.
"The guys in the eight, and the entire team for that matter, have been great about 'going with the flow' for this event," said Rowing Canada Aviron High Performance Director Peter Cookson. "The postponement is not a big issue and we will be ready to go whenever the race is re-scheduled for."
In the afternoon, the men's pair (Steven Van Knotsenburg of Beamsville, ON, and Peter McClelland of Aurora/King City, ON) advanced after coming second in its rep in 7:01.24. The Canadians maintained a lead for most of the course, but were edged out by the Chileans in the last 500 metres (of 2000m).
In a tight men's eight race for lanes, the U.S. was first in 6:02.21, with Canada less than a second off the pace in 6:02.76. Mexico was third, and Argentina, Cuba, and Brazil followed.
The eight is Steven Van Knotsenburg of Beamsville, ON, Peter McClelland of Aurora/King City, ON, Spencer Crowley of Lantzville, BC, Blake Parsons of Toronto, ON, David Wakulich of St. Catharines, ON, Kai Langerfeld of Parksville, BC, Benjamin de Wit of Nakusp, BC, Joshua Morris of Victoria, BC, and coxswain Mark Laidlaw of Mississauga, ON.
Results can be found at:
http://info.guadalajara2011.org.mx/
Click on English and "rowing"