For the first time since 2008, Queen’s Men’s Rowing has won gold.
Queen’s rowing participated in the OUA Championship hosted by the Brock Badgers in St. Catherines from Oct. 30-31. Both men’s and women’s teams were able to successfully capture gold, earning them a ticket to the Canadian University Rowing Championship (CURC) in London, Ont., taking place from Nov. 6-8.
For the women, the victory marks their fourth straight OUA title and their 17th in program history. Their dominance is evident through their convincing win, surpassing their next competitor by over 100 points.
Points are scored based on place and event, with the more people in the crew, the more points.
As for the men, it’s their first OUA championship gold since 2008, with the Western Mustangs and the Badgers dominating in previous years. The Gaels managed to outscore the Mustangs, who finished second, by 61 points,
To discuss the historic win and to look ahead to the CURC, The Journal sat down with Queen’s Rowing Head Coach Scott Feddery.
Before the monumental weekend, the Gaels competed in the legendary Head of the Charles Regatta held in Boston. The spectacle is the world’s largest three-day rowing event and features premium teams from all over the U.S. and the world.
Feddery explained that while the regatta may not work well in their calendar due to its proximity to the OUA Championships , the student experience trumps all of it.
“It’s a bit of a bucket list item for your average rower,” Feddery said. “I felt like it was worth the trade off to give most of the team a really valuable experience.”
Unlike the OUA championships, the Head of the Charles is a 4.5-kilometre race compared to two kilometres, but it is also a head race, meaning that each crew starts in intervals down the river.
“It’s chaotic, there’s hundreds of crews racing it over the course of the day and you’re trying to pass crews, while other crews might be trying to pass you,” Feddery said.
Shifting to the OUA Championship, Feddery described how proud he was of his group, who had prepared for this moment all season and delivered.
“The [men’s] leadership group identified this as a goal and they were prepared to row in any boat that was required of them to be in,” Feddery said. “We do have a lot of graduating guys who have been working for this for four or five years, and so it was incredibly gratifying for me to see how excited they were.”
That hard work was celebrated, and the moment was purposely captured.
“We spent probably an hour celebrating on the docks, jumping in the water and taking pictures, and every which way,” Feddery said, “I felt it was important that they recognized that it’s the fourth banner in a row that the women have won, but it gets harder every year, and this was definitely the hardest one.”
The women will look to defend their national championship from a season ago, which marked their second nationals win, while the men will look to capture that elusive national championship for the first time in their history.
Tags
Canadian University Rowing Championship, men's rowing, Women’s Rowing
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