After a brief program of racing this morning, which included a win in the heats by Canada's lightweight women's double, events were eventually cancelled by the organizers of the 2010 World Rowing Championships (Oct. 31 to Nov. 07) at Lake Karapiro, New Zealand.
The Canadian team had planned for a busy opening day at the Worlds, but only two crews managed to get their heats completed due to high winds creating sloppy conditions for the competitors.
The lightweight women's double of Tracy Cameron of Shubenacadie, NS, and Lindsay Jennerich of Victoria, BC, won this morning's heat in 6:54.14 (2000m), advancing to the semi-final. Greece was second in 6:56.55. The U.S. and Germany won the other heat of this boat class.
"Today Lindsay and I went out on a fact-finding mission," said Cameron, who rowed to the bronze medal in this event at the 2008 Olympic Games (with Melanie Kok). "We knew it was going to be challenging (due to wind), but it was really nice up at the start. So as long as you got out there and did well in the first 1000, I think it set you up nicely for when the bad water hit. That's exactly what our plan was.... The last 500 was especially rough, but we knew it was going to be the same for everyone, so we just got through it and didn't panic. We are thrilled to have this race under our belts."
Matt Jensen of Innerkip, Ont. and Rares Crisan of Mississauga Ont. were in the opening event of the day, the lightweight men's pair. The Canadians finished fourth in their heat in 6:52.77, and will go to a rep.
This morning, five races were raced before the decision was made to suspend the races. Racing was initially suspended, and then cancelled around 2 pm local time.
"The forecast is showing that the wind will not die down, so racing is cancelled for today," said Matt Smith, Executive Director of the international rowing federation, FISA. He continued to say that some training may still be possible this afternoon, and that today's races will be rescheduled for tomorrow.
The Canadian team is taking the decision in stride.
"We are disappointed, but it's an outdoor sport and in the interest of safety and fairness to all the athletes, racing had to be cancelled," said Peter Cookson, High Performance Director of Rowing Canada Aviron. "Our athletes know that delays can happen and the coaches have prepared them to anticipate different scenarios. We may have to play some catch up, but we are looking forward to racing no matter what the weather throws at us this week!"
The schedule for Monday will be announced later today.
The 2010 World Rowing Championships is the biggest international sporting event in NZ since the 1990 Commonwealth Games with more than 800 athletes from 49 countries competing.