Canada's LTA 4+ won the country's first gold medal today at the 2010 World Rowing Championships (Oct. 31 to Nov. 07) in New Zealand.
This Paralympic category boat was first in 3:36.52, with Great Britain in second in 3:37.08 and Germany in bronze position in 3:39.65. It was an exciting race with Canada coming from third to first over the 1000-metre race on Lake Karapiro.
"It's unreal - it was an intense race all the way to the bitter end, but we knew it was going to be, so we dug deep, went for it and came out on top," said Meghan Montgomery of Canada's first-ever adaptive World gold-medal performance. "I just feel we had so much support this year - from Sport Canada, Own the Podium, Rowing Canada and so many others, such as the CanFund. We were prepared to win today!"
The 2010 World Champion LTA (legs, trunk and arms) coxed four is Laura Comeau (cox) (St. Catharines, ON), Meghan Montgomery (Winnipeg, MB) Victoria Nolan (Toronto, ON) David Blair (Ottawa, ON) and Tony Theriault (Nanaimo, B.C). The coach is Jeff Dunbrack of Ottawa, ON.
"It's been a long haul," said Victoria Nolan, who is visually impaired and was on Canada's first Paralympic rowing team in 2008. "All our hard work has paid off and it's a thrill that it was all worth it."
Adaptive rowing has been at the Worlds since 2002, and part of the Paralympic program since 2008.
Earlier today, the Canadian men's eight had a disappointing outcome today in the repechage - leading for most of the race, the boat was overtaken in the final portion of the 2000m course. The U.S. won the rep in 5:38.48, crowd favourites New Zealand locked up the next spot in the A final in 5:39.08; and Canada (5:42.58), Russia (5:48.47) and the Ukraine (5:51.10) were relegated to the B final.
"Everything was going according to plan. We jumped right in and attacked at the start," said Derek O'Farrell of Montreal, stroke of the men's eight. "We responded to the other boats' challenge at the 1000. At 500 metres to go we were dead level, but just couldn't hold them off after that point."
Coxswain Mark Laidlaw explains: "We went out strong as planned. I thought it was going well up until the last 400. Back at the 1000 metre mark, both the Kiwis and the U.S. came at us and we held them off. But it shifted in the last 400 and it's really disappointing because we were all fired up after the heat and eager to prove that we belonged in the final."
The men's eight is cox Mark Laidlaw (Mississauga, ON), Derek O'Farrell (Montreal, QC/Unionville, ON), Rob Gibson (Kingston, ON), Conlin McCabe (Brockville, ON), Andrew Byrnes (Toronto, ON), Doug Csima (Oakville, ON), David Calder (Victoria, BC), Will Crothers (Kingston, ON) and Anthony Jacob (Vancouver, BC).
"The men's eight is an important boat for our team," said Rowing Canada Aviron High Performance Director Peter Cookson. "Unfortunately, they did not show their best today. They are a group of good athletes and we have to do some figuring out as to why the performance was below what we expected."
Canadian single sculler Malcolm Howard was second today in the C/D semifinal. He now qualifies for the C final, which determines places 13 and on.
"Today's race was a little better. It's a step in the right direction," said Howard, 2008 gold medalist in the men's eight. "I'm not going to be defined by one regatta. After the Worlds, I'm going to take some time off to rest and spend with family, and then I will get back at it to prepare for next year. If you can't learn from your mistakes, you're not going to get to the top."
Mario Vekic of Croatia won this C/D semi in 7:32.43, Howard led most of the way down the course to be edged out near the line and finish in 7:33.25.
"It's nice to see Malcolm race well today and give himself something to build on for the next race and the future," said Allison Dobb, Howard's coach.
Tomorrow Canada has boats in three A finals - the lightweight men's and women's doubles, and the lightweight men's pair. Also, the men's four and women's quad row in B finals.