HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: Special Olympian rowers make history at 50th Head of the Rideau

By Martin Cleary

The 50th Head of the Rideau rowing regatta was a rrrrrr-oaring success Sunday as 283 athletes from 28 clubs raced the clock under perfect weather conditions and cheering spectators.

And if you were a young athlete with an intellectual disability, it was an historic day to be in a boat and celebrate a special moment of unprecedented inclusion.

The Ottawa Rowing Club concluded the second year of its Special Olympics Ontario Greater Ottawa Rowing Program by placing nine athletes on four teams in the Head of the Rideau for their first-ever regatta races.

It’s believed the four coxed four boats – two mixed, one men’s and one women’s – was the inaugural rowing competition for Special Olympic athletes in Canada and Ontario. Each boat raced over 500 metres. The other races on the Head of the Rideau schedule covered either 3,000 or 5,000 metres.

“As far as we know, we are the first Special Olympics rowing team in Canada and having our crews race this weekend marked the first time a Special Olympics category has been included in a regatta,” Marley Mullan, the Ottawa Rowing Club Special Olympics program co-ordinator, wrote in an email interview.

“Participating in the regatta was a memorable moment for our team because it recognized the hard work, consistency and dedication these athletes have demonstrated in practice, since the first day of training, and was an opportunity to race and partake in a regatta, just as all crews look forward to.”

The Special Olympic 500-metre race was held in the early afternoon of the day-long regatta. Each of the four boats had either two or three Special Olympians along with coaches and/or volunteers in the other seats.

“We hope this helps to set a precedent for regattas to follow by creating inclusive opportunities for racing and full participation in rowing,” Mullan added.

Head of the Rideau chair Peter Burpee was thrilled to see the Special Olympians compete in their first regatta.

“There was lots of cheering and the athletes were ecstatic,” he said in a phone interview. “I was standing on the dock about 100 feet from them and you could hear the giggles and laughter and see them patting each other on the back. They were very enthusiastic.”

The rowers in each of the four boats were: (* denotes Special Olympian)

· Mixed Coxed Quad: Marley Mullan, Richard Leduc*, Willem McNiven*, Madison Austin* and Sandy Schlieman.

· Mixed Coxed Quad: Fiona McDougall, Ainsley Salmon, Frances Brazeau*, Frederick McKinnon-Patry* and Peter Aubin.

· Men’s Coxed Quad: Ben Grenier, Meegan Crossley, Guy Dagan*, John O’Neill* and Rong Rose Liu.

· Women’s Coxed Four: Tay Reeves, Dana Reid, Jamie McKnight*, Cassidy Clifford*, and Jerome Jeffrey.

The wet-launch departure and finish line areas were at Mooney’s Bay across from the Rideau Canoe Club, which was the administrative centre.

The Head of the Rideau attracted former Olympians Rob Marland and Anna van der Kamp – who posted winning times in the water – Alison Korn, and Derek O’Farrell, the Elmwood School coach.

The hundreds of on-shore spectators included Ottawa Rowing Club president Peter Thompson and eight past presidents – Greg Rokosh, Craig Law, Peter King, Wes Kuran, Lana Burpee, Kent MacKlean, Guylaine Bernier and Korn.

King marked the occasion by bringing a photo of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, who attended the Head of the Rideau almost 47 years ago on Oct. 15, 1977. As club president at the time, King escorted the royal couple to their viewing seats.

The Head of the Rideau was open to rowers of all levels from beginner to elite to masters to Special Olympians. The rowers raced from start lines near the Black’s Rapids or the Rail Bridge and finished at Mooney’s Bay.

Here are the Head of the Rideau champions from the various Ottawa rowing clubs:

OTTAWA ROWING CLUB

· Olivia MacNeil and Helena Scullion, women’s rec double sculls short course;

· Maxim Froeschi and Jack Coulson, men’s U19 double sculls;

· Matthew Lazurek, men’s single sculls;

· Andrei Vovk, men’s lightweight single sculls;

· Rob Marland, men’s masters single sculls F+;

· Robert Park, men’s masters single sculls D-E;

· Melanie Coulson, women’s masters single sculls D-E;

· Anna van der Kamp, Rachel Inch, Isabelle Teolis, Emma Doucet, Pamela Peacock, Catherine Cheung, Joanie Turcot, Laura Gordon, coxswain Caitlin McMann, women’s masters AA-C eight;

· Julian Cupillari, men’s rec sport single sculls short course;

· Gabrielle Takaoka, women’s rec sport single sculls short course;

· Robert Park and Grayson Gray, men’s masters AA-C double sculls;

· Matthew Lazurek, Grayson Gray, Rob Marland, Brendan Edge, Jason Blair, Robert Park, Andrei Vovk, David Jenkins, coxswain Gabrielle Takaoka, men’s masters AA-C eight;

· Anna van der Kamp, Rachel Inch, Isabelle Teolis, Emma Doucet, Catherine Cheung, Jennifer Syme, Dana Reid, Amelia Krelove, coxswain Caitlin McMann, women’s eight;

· Danika Richardson, Rebecca Purkis, Eden Ramunas, Madeleine Cambron, Tyler Rennick, Isla Young-Martin, Eva Miller, Emma Greenhill, coxswain Christina Steinbachs, women’s U19 eight;

· Pamela Peacock, Laura Gordon, Catherine Cheung, Joanie Turcot, coxswain Beatrice Courtney-Cheung, women’s masters coxed four;

· Joanie Turcot and Katherine Belisle, women’s masters double sculls AA-C;

· Alexander Ladage, Andrei Vovk, Grayson Gray and Brendan Edge, men’s quad sculls;

· Steve Higgins, Peter Aubin, Deepee Khosla, Jerome Jeffrey, coxswain Caitlin McMann, men’s coxed four;

CARLETON UNIVERSITY

· Rosemary O’Brien, women’s lightweight varsity single sculls;

· Ethan Doherty, Aidan Millar, Wade Schnurr, James Sheridan, coxswain Paul Pankratz, men’s varsity coxed four;

· James Sheridan and Wade Schnurr, men’s junior varsity double sculls;

· Kendra Hurtubise, women’s varsity coxed four (names of other rowers unavailable);

· Kate Melanson, women’s varsity double sculls (name of other rower unavailable).

UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

· Ally Woo, Jasmine Foreman, Willow Cherewaty, Angelica Hadjis, Grace Woodhouse, Anouk Daigneault, Molly Lawford, Alexandra Storah, coxswain Olivia Davis, women’s varsity eight;

· Maya Peirine and Leona Smith, women’s double sculls;

· Audrey McCarthy and Rebecca Cocchetto, women’s lightweight double sculls;

· Willow Cherewaty, Anouk Daigneautl, Molly Lawford, Alexandra Storah, coxswain Abby Huard, women’s coxed four.

TEAM HOMAN WINS SECOND CURLING TITLE OF YOUNG SEASON

Rachel Homan sparked her Ottawa Curling Club rink to its second championship in a row this season on Sunday and had a positive start for three in a row on Tuesday at the opening event of the Grand Slam of Curling tour.

Competing in a rare single-knockout competition, Homan posted four decisive wins to defend her title at the PointsBet Invitational in Calgary. Homan, the defending world women’s champion who also volunteered to provide some coaching to younger skips, stole half of her points to turn back Kayla Skrlik of Calgary 8-3 in the final.

Team Homan, which won the Shorty Jenkins Classic two weeks ago, earned the first prize of $50,000.

Ottawa’s Danielle Inglis was eliminated after the opening round, losing 9-2 in eight ends to Skrlik.

“The event is awesome,” Homan said. “It has been great to us in the last couple years. The team played really well and I’m really proud of playing a really solid game out there.”

On Tuesday, the Grand Slam of Curling tour opened with the HearingLife Tour Challenge in Charlottetown. Homan earned her first victory by a 9-3 margin over eight ends against Delaney Strouse of Traverse City, Michigan.

Ottawa’s Dawn McEwen, a two-time world and one-time Olympic champion with the retired Jennifer Jones, has been called into action. She has returned to help Kerri Einarson, while Shannon Birchard is recovering from a knee injury.

Meanwhile, Katrina Frlan of the Huntley Curling Club defeated Charlotte Wilson of the host Rideau 4-3 in the girls’ U18 final at the Rideau Trillium curling championship, while Aaron Benning of North Grenville shut out Zachary Janidlo of Pointe-Claire 7-0 in the boys’ U18 gold-medal game. The Benning rink scored all its points in the fifth, sixth and seventh ends, after the first four ends were blanked.

3 OTTAWA PLAYERS HELP CANADA MOVE UP IN RUGBY WORLD

A second consecutive win over France has improved Canada’s world ranking in women’s rugby 15s to No. 2 in the world.

Canada outscored France 46-24 in its opening game of the WXV1 championship in Vancouver. On Saturday, Canada will face Ireland.

University of Ottawa Gee-Gees product Claire Gallagher was on the field for the full match for Canada, while Pamphinette Buisa of the Ottawa Irish played the first 66 minutes and Alexandria Ellis of the Barrhaven Scottish entered in the 61st minute.

Maggie Cogger-Orr, who attended Ashbury College and played rugby for the successful Colts’ girls’ team, was the referee for the match. She also refereed in the women’s sevens competition at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

RAVENS, GEE-GEES NEED PANDA WIN TO KEEP PLAYOFF HOPES ALIVE

The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and the Carleton University Ravens football teams will have one eye on the trophy at Sunday’s 55th annual Panda confrontation at TD Place and the other eye on the scoreboard.

Each team will be striving for the win to keep their OUA playoff hopes alive. Both teams are tied for seventh place with 2-4 records and one game remaining after their Thanksgiving bye week.

Carleton quarterback Elijah Barnes completed 21 of 32 pass attempts for 357 yards, including touchdowns to Frederik Hachey, 69 yards, and Kaseem Ferdinard, 22 yards, as the Ravens defeated York University Lions 24-10.

Kicker Brandon Forcier booted field goals from 40, 27 and 28 yards, two converts and one single.

Tristan Ready was Carleton’s top receiver with nine receptions for 166 yards.

No. 1-ranked Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks scored 17 straight points in the middle of the game and defeated the Gee-Gees 32-20.

The Gee-Gees scored both of their touchdowns on the ground as Charles Asselin ran one yard and Souleymane Camara dashed for three yards into the end zone. Zachary Copeland kicked field goals from 19 and nine yards as well as two converts.

Quarterback Josh Janssen also connected on 21 of 32 passes, but for 302 yards. Noah Avery had six catches for 119 yards. Defensively, Kevin Victome, Daniel Briere and Riley Hildebrandt had six solo tackles each.

GEE-GEES SCORE TWO DECISIVE OUA WOMEN’S SOCCER VICTORIES

The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees maintained their No. 2 national women’s soccer ranking with a pair of decisive wins – 5-0 over Nipissing University Lakers and 4-1 over Ontario Tech Ridgebacks.

Cassandra Provost scored three goals, which gives her 10 on the season, and Nibo Dlamini and Sabrina Mangiaracina had one each in the Gee-Gees’ win over Nipissing, which had held a share first place in the OUA East Division. Cassidy Joslin earned the four-save shutout.

Eva Bouity, Allana Oriente, Elianne Gerva and Dlamini scored in the second half of Ottawa’s triumph over Ontario Tech.

The Carleton Ravens used a 90th-minute goal from Ava Mills to blank the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 1-0, after losing by the same score to Toronto Metropolitan University Bold. The Ravens are fifth in the East at 4-3-2.

A pair of losses has pushed the once No. 1-ranked Carleton men’s soccer team down to No. 7 on the list at 6-2-2.

The Ravens lost 3-0 to now No. 5 Toronto Metropolitan and 2-1 to the now No. 9 Toronto. In the loss to the Bold, Jevontae Layne scored all three goals in the opening 21 minutes.

Mohammed Bouzid was the Carleton goal scorer against Toronto in the 90th minute.

CARLETON RAVENS EARN SECOND RSEQ WOMEN’S RUGBY WIN

Ember Warren, Charlotte Ross, Zoey O’Connor, Sierra Hasse and Car Forster recorded one try each and McKenna Taylor added one convert as the Carleton University Ravens defeated the Université de Montréal Carabins 27-17 in RSEQ women’s rugby. The Ravens are fourth in the league at 2-2-1.

In men’s action, Montreal ran past winless Carleton 62-0.

FUTURE OTTAWA BLACK BEAR GOLDEN WITH CANADA AT BOX LACROSSE WORLDS

Jeff Teat of the Ottawa Black Bears of the National Lacrosse League was the top scorer for Canada as it won three playoff games and three pool games to capture the world box lacrosse championship in Utica, New York.

He accounted for 14 goals and 28 assists as Canada beat the United States 13-7 in the final, England 20-3 in the semifinals, Japan 22-4 in the quarterfinals and the United States 14-10, Haudenosaunee 13-10 and England 19-4 in the round-robin.

Gloucester Lacrosse and University of Ottawa coach Mary James served as an assistant for the bronze medal-winning Haudenosaunee women’s team.

LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST

· Ottawa’s Addison Frank placed 17th out of 120 riders in the junior women’s race at the 2024 UCI Road Cycling World Championships in Switzerland. She was awarded the same time as fellow Canadian Alexandra Volstad, who finished 12th overall in the same group of finishers, two minutes and 25 seconds back of the winning time of 1:54:48. Ottawa’s Mike Woods and Derek Gee had a quiet appearance in the elite men’s race, recording 54th-place and did-not-finish results respectively.

· Andre Alie-Lamarche of the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club placed second to Philippe Morneau-Cartier in the men’s university/open division at the Capital XC Challenge cross-country running event on Saturday at Terry Fox Athletic Facility in the field of 115 athletes.

· Conner Hopper of the West Carleton Electric has been named to the Ontario men’s fastpitch team for the 2025 Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland.

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