When the dust settled after more than 12 hours of racing at the World Rowing Cup on Friday, 11 Canadian crews advanced to the next round of racing.
"It was a long day that saw all of our crews face tough competition," said Peter Cookson, High Performance Director for Rowing Canada Aviron. "There were some good results and all crews have learned a lot about where they stand in this top test for international rowers, next to the Worlds."
Cam Sylvester (Caledon, ON) and Doug Vandor (Dewittville, QC) won this morning's lightweight men's double heat in 6:29.62 and then advanced to the quarterfinals, winning again this afternoon in 6:28.04.
"We were pretty happy with the day overall," said Sylvester, a 2008 Olympian who has been rowing with Vandor since before the Beijing Games. "It was a long winter of training, so you're always anxious to break the ice and get in some racing. We're focused and know that we still have a lot to do. It's an important year with the Olympic qualifier coming up at the Worlds, so we know that everyone is aiming for that."
The lightweight women's double (Tracy Cameron of Shubenacadie, NS and Lindsay Jennerich of Victoria, B.C.) also showed its experience and training, winning this morning with the fastest time of all heats, and advancing to the semi-final. Cameron and Jennerich won in 7:03.26, with just the first-place finisher advancing.
"It's always good to get that first race under our belt," said Cameron, 2008 Olympic bronze medalist (with Melanie Kok) and 2010 World Champion (with Jennerich) in this same event. "The heats give us information that we can use as fuel moving forward in the regatta. Coach Al (Morrow) always reminds us that it's day one of a three day regatta; so we are definitely happy with the win but we now have to shift our attention to the business of the semi-final tomorrow."
After coming second to the World Champions from New Zealand this morning, 2008 Olympic silver medalists David Calder of Victoria and Scott Frandsen of Kelowna, B.C. won their quarter final in 6:29.05 this afternoon to advance to the semi of the men's pair event.
"Scott and I are happy to be in the semifinals tomorrow, fighting for a spot in the A final. With each of the races today we learned a bit more about ourselves and our potential heading into day two of the regatta," said Calder.
"The guys are taking the their speed further down the course with each race," said the pair's coach, Terry Paul. "We are getting a great measure of the competition and are looking forward to cranking one flat out at the end of the weekend."
In the men's single, 2008 Olympic gold medalist (men's eight) Malcolm Howard was second to Lithuania in 7:02.10 in the heat and then second again in this evening's quarter finals. China's Liang Zhang (7:03.98) won the quarterfinal, with Howard coming second in 7:05.31 and Mario Vekic of Croatia for the third qualifying spot in 07:09.77.
The men's double was fourth in today's heat and second in this afternoon's rep. Mike Wilkinson of Vancouver and Fraser Berkhout of St. Catharines, ON, had a time of 6:31.40 and advance to the semi-finals.
The women's eight was second (6:11.34) to the Dutch (6:07.54) and also go the rep, which will be contested tomorrow. The eight is Lesley Thompson-Willie (London, ON), Ashley Brzozowicz (London, ON), Krista Guloien (Port Moody, BC), Janine Hanson (Winnipeg, MB), Darcy Marquardt (Richmond, BC), Natalie Mastracci (Thorold, ON), Andreanne Morin (Montreal, QC), Cristy Nurse (Georgetown, ON) and Rachelle Viinberg (Regina, SK)
Canada's men's eight was third (5:33.39( in the heat today and goes to the rep, also tomorrow. The Netherlands (5:27.83) and Great Britain (5:27.84) were a close first and second respectively in this heat that saw only the first-place finisher advance directly to the final.
The men's eight is Brian Price (Belleville, ON), Will Crothers (Kingston, ON), Rob Gibson (Kingston, ON), Doug Csima (Oakville, ON), Jeremiah Brown (Cobourg, ON), Conlin McCabe (Brockville, ON), Andrew Byrnes (Toronto, ON), Derek O'Farrell (Montreal, QC) and Gabe Bergen (100 Mile House, BC).
Today Canada's women's pairs - Carolyn Ganes of Saskatoon, SK with Larissa Lagzdins of Burlington, ON (CAN1); and Sarah Bonikowsky of Orangeville, ON and Jane Rumball (Fredericton, NB) (CAN2) - finished third and fourth respectively in the same heat, and then both finished second in different reps to advance to the semi-finals.
The Canadian lightweight men's four was fifth in the heat, but later pulled together a better race and qualified by finishing third in the rep in 6:16.62, just behind South Africa and the Czech boat. This light four is Morgan Jarvis (Winnipeg, MB), Mike Lewis (Victoria, BC), Tim Myers (Penticton, BC) and John Sasi (North Delta, BC).
The Canadian women's double (Emma Darling of Vancouver and Emily Cameron of Summerside, PEI) was fourth in the heat, and again fourth in the rep. This means this crew must row in a C final, for places 13 and on.
The heavyweight men's four was sixth in the heat, but then put on more of a fight in the race later this afternoon to finish third, just less than a second out of the qualifying for the semi. Steven Van Knotsenburg of Beamsville, ON, Will Dean of Kelowna, BC, Kevin Kowalyk of Winnipeg, MB, and Anthony Jacob of Vancouver will now appear in the C final.
In the lightweight men's pair, Rares Crisan (Mississauga, ON) and Matt Jensen (Innerkip, ON), finished third in 6:44.36, and row in a rep at 9:30 am local time on Saturday.
Earlier this morning, Patricia Obee of Victoria, BC, was second in her lightweight women's single heat in 8:00.97, advancing to the semi-finals, and her race will be the first of the day on Saturday (9 am, local time).