Both the men and women’s rowing teams finished their seasons in spectacular fashion at the Brown Cup and San Diego Crew Classic.
On March 25, the rowing teams captured three of the four wins at the 25th Brown Cup against their archrivals — the University of Victoria (UVic) Vikes. Both reserve teams, along with the varsity women’s team, came out on top while the men’s varsity team lost out.
Craig Pond — the head coach for the women’s teams — was proud to see both his teams finish the season strong. The victory against the Vikes was the team’s third Brown Cup title.
“The women’s team has not been defeated all year and there was quite an amount of confidence going into [the Brown Cup],” said Pond.
Pond was thankful that his team got the inside lane after the coin toss, which he believes contributed to the varsity women team’s win.
“In theory, the better crew would win in either lane, but it was an advantage having the inside lane on the first big turn in the course,” said Pond.
Unlike Pond, the men’s head coach Mike Pearce had a different story to tell.
“UVic’s got a very good team. We’ve got a very big rivalry with them and you really have to get everything right on the day,” said Pearce. “I think we were missing some of the composure that we had in the past.”
While the women’s team had the inside lane, the men’s team ended up on the outside lane during the race, which Pearce believes did make rowing conditions more difficult.
“It’s kind of a disturbing trend that all of the last 12 races have been won on the same side … but we’re in a sport where we have to accept that that’s the case,” said Pearce.
Still, the day wasn’t entirely a bad experience. With the reserve team having won, Pearce believes that the rowers on that team are for the most part on par with his varsity team. He sees this as being beneficial, as it creates a competitive training environment.
“[The reserve team’s] right below that varsity level. They’re just about ready to push up to that level,” said Pearce.
Last weekend, the rowing teams also competed in the San Diego Crew Classic, where the men’s and women’s team respectively finished second and fifth overall. Pearce was especially impressed given that two of his star rowers — Maxwell and Aaron Lattimer — were absent. The Lattimer brothers are currently trying to qualify for the Canadian national team.
“It was excellent to see that we got the depth in our program again to change guys out and still produce a very top level of speed,” said Pearce.