The Canadian men's eight took its experience and strength and turned it into gold today on the Rotsee course in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Canada won the World Cup final in 5:30.59, followed by Germany in 5:32.73 and Russia in 5:33.94 for bronze.
The men's eight, who won at an earlier World Cup this year and the Grand Challenge Cup at British Henley last week, is Brian Price (cox) of Belleville, Ont., Kyle Hamilton of Richmond, B.C., Adam Kreek of London, Ont., Dominic Seiterle of Victoria, B.C., Malcolm Howard of Victoria, B.C., Jake Wetzel of Saskatoon, Sask., Andrew Byrnes of Toronto, Ont., Ben Rutledge of Cranbrook, B.C. and Kevin Light of Sidney, B.C.
The boat has several veterans of previous World Cup and World Championship victories, including Price, Hamilton, Kreek, Rutledge and Light. Wetzel was a member of the silver-medal winning men's four at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004.
For Andrew Byrnes, however, this was his first World Cup on the famous Lucerne rowing course. "I'm very excited to be part of this crew," he said after picking up his gold medal today. "For me, it was helpful to have a lot of experienced rowers in the boat. The crew has confidence and a positive attitude, and I know we can count on each other."
"Today's race was a great step toward the World Championships," said Byrnes.
Last year, Germany won the World Championships in Eton, England, in the men's eight. Canada, with a different line-up, did not make the final.
"We had to raise our focus to another level to contend with the World Championship crew from Germany," said men's eight veteran Kevin Light.
In the lightweight women's double, Tracy Cameron of Shubenacadie, N.S. and Lindsay Jennerich of Victoria pushed from fifth place at the 500m mark to edge out Germany, U.S., Britain and Poland to finish in second place. Denmark's Katrin Olsen and Juliane Rasmussen won gold in 7:01.31, with Canada in the silver-medal position in an extremely close 7:01.74. Germany was third.
"We wanted to stay within our own race and I think we executed that plan fantastically today," said Jennerich. "We were behind in the first part of the race, but it's not about 500 metres, it's about the 2000. We sprinted like crazy people in the last 500 and we were totally in our own world. I was so focused that I didn't even know where we placed at the finish."
The double is the only Olympic-class event for lightweight women. This same Canadian crew received a bronze medal for its performance earlier this racing season at the World Cup in Linz, Austria.
In another event that's always close and fast - the lightweight men's four - Canada finished fourth in today's final.
Great Britain took the race in 5:58.07, followed by France in 5:59.02, the Netherlands was second in 5:59.04 and Canada was not far behind in 6:00.43. Iain Brambell of Victoria, Jon Beare of Toronto, Mike Lewis of Victoria and Liam Parsons of Thunder Bay, Ont. make up this crew.
Scott Frandsen of Kelowna, B.C. and Barney Williams of Saltspring Island, B.C., both 2004 Olympians, finished fourth overall in the men's pair in 6:37.79.
Canada was first in the B final (seventh overall) in the men's four with a time of 6:02.62.
In a photo finish with Great Britain (5:56.37), the Canadian men's quad was second (5:56.38) in the B final to finish eighth overall.
Canada was sixth in the B final (12th overall) lightweight men's double (Doug Vandor of Dewittville, Que. and Matt Jensen of Innerkip, Ont.).
This is an important year for Canadian crews, as they will face the best in the world for Olympic qualification at the World Championships in Munich in late August.