June 30, 2013 : Canada finished at the top of the podium in two events on the final day of the Koninklijke Holland Beker in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Nick Pratt of Kingston, Ontario, won the lightweight men's single in 7:05.88, dominating the whole race, with a Dutch rower coming in second in 7:13.12, followed by a sculler from Hong Kong in 7:15.64.
Women's four won in 06:29.70, over the Netherlands who had a time of 06:31.83. This crew is Natalie Mastracci of Thorold, ON, Sarah Black of Ottawa, ON, Christine Roper of Victoria, BC, and Cristy Nurse of Georgetown, ON. Mastracci is a silver medalist from the 2012 Olympics, and Nurse was an alternate for that same crew.
The women's eight, a crew that won on the Bosbaan course yesterday, finished second (6:05.27) today to New Zealand (6:03.60). This Canadian crew includes members of the four and is Cristy Nurse, Christine Roper, Sarah Black, Natalie Mastracci, Susanne Grainger (London, ON), Carolyn Ganes (Saskatoon, SK), Jen Martins (Toronto, ON), Lisa Roman (Vancouver, ON), and coxswain Kristen Kit (St. Catharines, ON).
In the men's four final today, Canada was second (heavyweights) and fifth (lightweights) in the same race. The Netherlands won in 05:55.71, followed by Canada in 6:00.17. The heavyweight crew is Spencer Crowley (Lantzville, BC), Steve Van Knotsenburg (Beamsville, ON), Will Dean (Kelowna, BC) and Olympic medalist Will Crothers of Kingston, ON. The lightweights were not far off the pace at 6:06.84. Canada's lightweight men's four, rowing in this open weight event, is Rares Crisan (Mississauga, ON), Brendan Hodge (Delta, BC) , Eric Woelfl (St. Catharines, ON), and Graham Schenck (St. Catharines).
The women's pair (Carolyn Ganes and Susanne Grainger) was second in 7:20.46. The Netherlands was first in the women's pair in 07:09.34.
The men's quad was also second. The Canadian quad is Jamie Abbass (Happy Valley - Goose Bay, NFLD), Mike Braithwaite (Duncan, BC), Kevin Kowalyk (Winnipeg, MB), and Matthew Buie (Duntroon, ON). Their time was 05:53.57, compared with the home-country crew winning in 5:45.78.
The women's double also finished second on Sunday. Emily Cameron (Summerside, PEI) and Kerry Shaffer (Welland, ON) had a time of 6:54.48, with New Zealand winning in 6:46.91, and another Kiwi crew coming in third in 6:55.48.
The women's quad was third again today. This crew is Antje Von Seydlitz (Smithers, BC), Alyssa Weninger (Unity, SK), Rosie DeBoef (Victoria, BC), and Kate Goodfellow (Ottawa, ON). The Netherlands took the lead before the halfway mark and won convincingly in 6:19.44, followed by New Zealand in 6:23.03 and Canada in 6:25.93.
Olympian Patricia Obee of Victoria finished second overall in the lightweight single today in 7:44.77; New Zealand won this event in 7:41.19.
The Canadian men's double - Mike Harowicz (Oakville, ON) and Josh Morris (Victoria, BC) - was sixth overall this event.
"We came to the Holland Beker Regatta with a purpose: to gain valuable racing experience, and with that in mind, we accomplished a lot as a team," said Canada's High Performance Director Peter Cookson. "Each of crews here learned and discovered a lot of important aspects of racing that they can work on as part of our preparation for the World Cup. Some of them were tough lessons, but that also is important in the building of this team."
The Holland Beker has a two-day finals format - yesterday Canada won the women's eight, and had five second-place finishes, and four third-place finishes.
Results: http:// www.hollandbeker.nl
The next major event for Canada's senior team is the World Cup 3 in Lucerne, Switzerland, in two weeks.