HIGH ACHIEVERS: uOttawa’s Kennedy Burrows makes rowing history, wins women’s OUA lightweight, open singles titles

By Martin Cleary

As a rower, Kennedy Burrows falls into the lightweight classification (under 59 kilograms/130 pounds).

But make no mistake, you never use the word ‘lightweight’ to describe her ability to perform on the water in a singles boat. She’s also ready to go head-to-head with open-weight singles rowers (a.k.a. heavyweights) and show them lightweights rule.

The Ontario University Athletics rowing championships, which were held in late October on the Royal Canadian Henley course in St. Catharines, were a perfect example.

Not only did the third-year University of Ottawa international development and globalization student/athlete win the women’s lightweight singles final, but also she captured the women’s varsity open singles championship and established multiple records.

Two weeks later at the Canadian university rowing championships in Burnaby, B.C., Burrows had the fastest boat in the women’s lightweight singles, but didn’t race the women’s open singles as she was needed in the Gee-Gees women’s eight crew, which won the B final and was seventh overall.

“I’m incredibly grateful for my results,” Burrows said in a recent phone interview about her exceptional races. “I went into the OUA championships with no expectations. I was able to enjoy racing. I had the freedom to go and race.”

Burrows won her women’s lightweight singles heat by 9.6 seconds in 8:09.90. Advancing to the final, she rowed into a headwind and finished in first place in 8:28.15 for a 4.84-second margin of victory and defended her provincial university title. Both races were held over 2,000 metres.

Later in the day with the head winds still meaningful, she won the women’s open singles final in 8:23.83 by a mere 0.87 seconds over Julia Schuurmans of Queen’s University, who was second in 8:24.470. McMaster University’s Nathalie Hibert was a distant third in 8:53.27.

In the women’s open singles heats, Burrows led her field in 8:14.13 for a winning span of 3.018 seconds.

Gee-Gees rowing coach Zak Lewis notes that the double singles gold-medal performance at the OUA championships and the singles lightweight victory at the national university championships by Burrows established a number of records:

· OUA championship organizers believe she is the first person in the history of the provincials to win the women’s lightweight and women’s open singles finals in the same year.

· She’s the first University of Ottawa man or woman to win the prestigious OUA open-weight singles event, which is rowing’s equivalent to the 100 metres in track and field.

· Burrows is the first Gee-Gees rower to win two gold medals at the same OUA championship, regardless of event.

· By winning the Canadian university women’s lightweight singles title, Burrows became the first University of Ottawa student/athlete to win the event. She also was the first person in national university rowing history to win the women’s lightweight singles boat class at Canadians, after taking both the lightweight and open titles at her conference championships in the same season.

Burrows, who is from Parry Sound, ON., and started rowing at the Hatchets Rowing Centre in Port Carling, ON., received many honours for her powerful and impressive performances.

She was unanimously named the OUA female rower of the year and selected as one of 18 conference all-stars for the 2023-24 season.

“It means a lot,” Burrows said about her awards. “I remember seeing our athletes get awards in the past and I was inspired by that. It’s cool to be an award winner.”

At the Canadian university championships, Burrows earned the same recognition as the female athlete of the year and a first-team all-star.

Having the strength and power to pull her own light weight in a boat faster than the heavier rowers, Burrows won the Canadian university women’s lightweight singles in 8:05.025 and was between three and four seconds faster than the boats from Dalhousie University, Queen’s University and the University of British Columbia.

The women’s lightweight singles heat was simply a time trial, where each rower raced the clock over 2,000 metres. Burrows finished first overall in 8:01.148, but her peers from UBC and the University of Victoria were only three-tenths of a second behind her, following their solo efforts.

“I was very nervous at the start (of the final) and that really contrasted the way I felt before (at the OUA championships). That’s not the way I wanted to feel. Unpredictably, it threw me off,” said Burrows, who is a Christian and received some calming pre-race guidance from the campus chaplain.

When the final started, Burrows powered up the course from lane three.

“I flew out of the gate,” she said. “There was live race commentary on the course and the commentator was wondering if I could keep up my pace. I was wondering that, too.

“(Being ahead), I could see the rest of the field and I held them off.”

Burrows started with the Gee-Gees’ rowing program two years ago in a double and moved to singles last year, where she won the OUA lightweight title and was second at the Canadian championships.

She’s also grateful to the people who have helped her reach this point – former Trent University rower Marie Laforme, a young mother who trained with and coached Burrows during her high school days; uOttawa and Ottawa Rowing Club coaches Lewis and Alex Kunkel (Canadian Henley lightweight men’s champion); club teammate Anne-Andrée Sirois; University of Ottawa mental-performance coaches Mackenzie Barrie and Vincenzo Sljuka; and her parents for driving her to the early morning practices when she started rowing.