After a wet Friday of heats and reps, the sun shone on the semi-finals Saturday at the National Rowing Championships on Elk Lake, Victoria.
"This regatta mixes seniors, under 23s and juniors in the same races, and it's really great to see a lot of good young talent progressing to the A finals of the NRCs," said High Performance Director Peter Cookson. "This bodes well for the sport's future."
Kicking off the day's A/B semi-final races, Olympian Romina Stefancic of Victoria, B.C. won her women's single semi in 7:57.30. "I've worked on the first part of my race and I'm working on my strategy for tomorrow's final. Although the top scullers on the National Worlds Team are not here, there is decent competition, which is impressive for the future of women's rowing."
Up-and-comer Kerry Maher Shaffer of Welland, Ont. won the other women's semi in 7:47.78.
Cristin McCarty of Saskatoon, SK, who won a silver medal at the World Cup in Lucerne this summer in the women's eight event, rowing with Natalie Mastracci of St. Catharines, ON, won a women's pair semi in 7:19.74 today.
Carolyn Ganes of Saskatoon, SK, and Sandra Kisil of Ancaster, ON, won the other semi in pair in 7:22.88.
"It's a good opportunity to get in some side-by-side racing," said Ganes, a former National level basketball player now part of the Canadian women's rowing program in London, Ont. "Coming from another sport, I haven't had a lot of racing experience, so it's a good opportunity to go through the race routine."
Said Kisil: "We definitely saw an improvement over yesterday. I recently switched to bow position in the boat, trying to maximize Carolyn's power."
In the men's single Michael Braithwaite of Duncan, B.C. took charge of his semi to win in 7:08.70. Braithwaite has won the NRCs two times in the Under 23 category, but is now a senior athlete.
"The races are definitely getting a lot tighter," said Braithwaite, who brought home a bronze medal from the World University Championships this summer. "This was a lot more indicative of how it's going to feel tomorrow. I'm looking forward to racing the final and feel ready."
Jeremiah Brown of Victoria won the other men's single semi in 7:07.03.
Olympic silver medalist (2008 men's pair) Scott Frandsen of Kelowna, B.C., rowing with Rob Weitemeyer of Port Coquitlam, B.C., showed that although he has not been training full-time, he has kept his fitness up to race again. "We get better with every row. We're fit, but have not been racing," he said. "Today felt great to be back. The conditions were good and it's nice to be back at Elk Lake." Frandsen and Weitemeyer's time in the pair was 6:45.63.
Will Dean of Kelowna and Mike Wilkinson of Vancouver won the other men's pair semi in 6:38.24
Jaclyn Halko of Uxbridge, Ont. won her women's lightweight single semi in 7:56.22.
In the other lightweight women's single semi, Katya Herman of Sudbury, ON, won in 7:52.81, followed by up-and-comer Renae Barks of Regina, SK.
The lightweight men's single semis took on an international flavour: Zhongming Huang - a Chinese national training in Victoria - won his men's lightweight single semi in 7:11.83. Saul Garcia of Victoria, who is originally from Mexico, won the other lightweight men's semi in 7:06.99.
The men's lightweight pair event will also be featured in tomorrow's finals.
Sunday's final races begin at 8 am, with medal presentations starting at 12:30. Representatives from local, provincial and federal governments will join in their support of the rowers tomorrow at Elk Lake. The facility is undergoing an expansion to accommodate the National Team's training facility and the growth of the sport at all levels in the area.