Canada took the top men's eight race today at the Henley Royal Regatta in Oxfordshire, England.
The Canadian men's eight, rowing as Shawnigan Lake & Victoria City rowing clubs, beat out the Australian Institute of Sport men's eight, finishing the course in 6.24 to take the Grand Challenge Cup.
"Whenever you race against a top international crew, it's always good to be able to take control of the race," said Brian Price, Canada's coxswain and a three-time Grand Challenge Cup winner (2002, 2003 and 2007). "We were expecting them to have quite a bit to offer, so we needed to have a good start and drive the race down the course. We weren't going to let them control us."
The men's eight is Price of Belleville, Ont., Kyle Hamilton of Richmond, B.C., Adam Kreek of London, Ont., Dominic Seiterle of Victoria, B.C., Malcolm Howard of Victoria, Jake Wetzel of Saskatoon, Sask., Andrew Byrnes of Toronto, Ont., Ben Rutledge of Cranbrook, B.C. and Kevin Light of Sidney, B.C. Hamilton, Kreek, Rutledge and Light are also past Grand Challenge Cup winners, all coached by Mike Spracklen, a native of England who now lives in Victoria.
The crew's trip to Henley is a warm-up for the Lucerne World Cup race next week in Switzerland (July 13 to 15), where they will face the top eights in the world, including the Aussies, who are coached by former Canadian coach Brian Richardson.
Other countries also sent their best to Henley this year. In the Queen Mother Challenge Cup for men's quads, a Polish crew (AZS Gdansk & AZS Szczecin) won the title rowing against Canada's quad (Brentwood College and University of Victoria). The race time was 6.53.
The Polish crew is ranked as one of the top quads in the world. "We came off the line pretty close and held them for most of the way," said quad crew member Jamie Faris of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. "In the end it came down to a half a length, so we have to be pleased with that because this crew is rarely beaten." Steve Van Knotsenburg of Beamsville, Ont., Gabe Bergen of 100 Mile House, B.C., and Rob Weitemeyer of Coquitlam, B.C. are the other members of the quad.
The Canadian men's four (entered as Brentwood College & Shawnigan Lake) was beaten by a British national crew (Steve Williams, Peter Reed, Tom James and Andrew Triggs-Hodge rowing under the banner of Leander & Molesey) by 2¼ lengths - the raced finished in 7.14. The British are known to be strong in the men's four event. Derek O'Farrell of Unionville, Ont., Rob Gibson of Kingston, Ont., Peter Dembicki of West Vancouver, B.C., and Kip McDaniel of Cobble Hill, B.C. were in the Canadian four, entered as Brentwood College Rowing Club and Shawnigan Lake School.
In one of the closest races of the day, Shrewsbury School beat Vancouver Island's Brentwood College School by only a foot to finish in a time of 6.54. Brentwood put on a strong fight and had the lead for most of the race, but the Shrewsbury crew managed to squeeze out a victory and take the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup for junior eights.
The upset race of the day, however, did not involve a Canadian, but was Alan Campbell's (Tideways Scullers, England) victory over World Champion single sculler (2005, 2006) Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand.