HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: Ottawa Rowing Club athletes more than pull their weight around the world

By Martin Cleary

The Ottawa Rowing Club experienced a Double Super Sunday at the 141st Royal Canadian Henley rowing regatta in St. Catharines, ON.

On the final day of the Henley, which was Sunday, Aug. 10, ORC athletes collected all four of their medals in either quad or eight crew boats. The first day of the Henley, which was Sunday, Aug. 3, was strictly for masters rowers and the ORC had an exceptional one-day regatta – pulling away with 15 medals as every single member of the team earned at least one medal.

And athletes from Canada’s oldest rowing club also have been stepping onto the medal podium in Asuncion, Paraguay and Poznan, Poland.

After the opening six days of training, heats and many finals, the ORC rowers were up the creek without a medal. The club’s athletes were close with three fourth- and three fifth-place results, but no trips to the medal presentation ceremonies.

But all that changed on the final day of the prestigious Henley as the ORC struck for four medals – two silver and two bronze – on Sunday, which also was the final day of the regatta.

On a day exclusively devoted to finals, ORC posted its first 2025 Henley medal on the second race of the day. Alexander Ladage, Matthew Rafter, William Darby and Paul Zaporzan took the bronze in the men’s senior lightweight quad in six minutes, 20.88 seconds.

Ladage, Zaporzan, Rafter and Darby later joined Julian Hedley, Eric Dufour, Maxwell Rogers, Magnus Abdelnour and coxswain Erika Sales for a bronze in the men’s senior lightweight eight in 6:07.71.

Maxim Froeschl, Adonis Pederson, Henrik Neuspiel and Jack Coulson were the silver medallists in the men’s U19 quad in 6:03.75 and missed the gold medal by about 2.5 seconds.

Rebecca Cocchetto, Anne-Andrée Sirois, Hannah Kavanagh and Rosemary O’Brien won the silver medal in the women’s senior lightweight quad at 6:52.50.

The silver medal made for a happy Henley ending for Cocchetto, who earlier posted three fourth-place results – women’s U23 single, women’s senior lightweight four with O’Brien, Kavanagh and Sirois and the women’s U23 eight with Olivia Davis, Molly Lawford, Ally Woo, Willow Cherewaty, Anna King, Klaudija Krisjane, Emilie Wagner and Leona Smith.

The ORC also had three fifth-place showings on the men’s lightweight side – Zaporzan, single; Rafter and Ladage, U23 double; and Rogers and Hedley, U23 pair.

Caroline Anderson and Kamila Neuspiel were fifth in the women’s U19 pair.

On Sunday, Aug. 3, masters rowers ruled the 2,000-metre course as ORC won five gold, five silver and five bronze medals.

“Every single ORC athlete won a medal at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta on Sunday. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE,” the club proudly posted on social media.

“Here’s to training and racing hard, digging deep, when it matters and aging well. ORC is so, so proud of all of you.”

Rachel Inch and Julia Fournier led the way with two gold medals apiece. Inch was the women’s D single champion and teamed with Fournier for a victory in the women’s E double. Fournier’s other gold was in the F double with Charlotte Trusler.

Dana Reid, Emma Friendship, Marlene Alt, and Maureen McEvoy were the winners of the women’s E quad final, while Beatrice Courtney-Cheung, Pamela Peacock, Laura Gordon, Melanie Ecklund and Catherine Cheung posted the fastest time in the women’s C four with coxswain final.

Fournier also added a pair of silver medals in the women’s F quad with Michele Chadwick, Karin Germann and Trusler, and the women’s F eight with Morgan Green, Chadwick, Reid, Sandy Schlieman, Germann, Alt, McEvoy and Trusler.

Chadwick picked up a silver in the women’s F single, while Peacock and Gordon placed second in the women’s C pair, and Katherine Belisle and Emma Friendship received silver medals in the women’s AA-A double.

The masters bronze medallists were: Alt and Germann, women’s E-M 59-kilogram double; Stewart Taylor, men’s E-F 72.5-kilogram single; Schlieman and McEvoy, women’s G double; Belisle, women’s AA-A single; and Peacock, Ecklund, Cheung and Gordon, women’s C quad.

At the second Junior Pan-American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay, ORC’s Riley Richardson was a triple-medal winner for Canada.

On Tuesday, Richardson was part of the Canadian women’s eight crew, which finished the 2,000-metre course in 6:27.64 for the silver medal. Canada was 3.91 seconds behind gold-medallist Chile.

Richardson also won bronze medals in the women’s pair with teammate Ella McKinley (7:34.63) and the women’s coxless four with McKinley, Firinne Rolfe and Alessandra Tuttle (6:48.74).

Ottawa-Gatineau also is represented at the Junior Pan-American Games by three other athletes: Kate Miller, Ottawa, diving; Samantha Couture, Gatineau, artistic gymnastics; and Sarah Schonfeld, Ottawa, rugby sevens.

The Canadian support staff at the Games includes Gordon Cave, coach, Nepean, athletics; Sultana Frizell, massage therapist, Perth and Bedford, Nova Scotia; Cheyanne Farquharson, coach, Ottawa, canoe-kayak; and Anic Bellerose-Daneault, coach, Ottawa, artistic gymnastics.

At the world U23 rowing championships in Poznan, Poland, ORC-registered athletes Victoria Grieder, coxswain, and Isobel Campbell helped Canada place third for the bronze medal in the women’s eight-plus.

Canada held off Germany to finish third in 6:19.37 as Great Britain took the gold medal in 6:13.60 and the United States earned silver in 6:16.28.

“It was a thrilling race and final to be in” Grieder, who also races for Rutgers University and Orlando Area Rowing Society, said in a Rowing Canada news release.

“Leading into the race, we knew and were confident in the trust all nine of us had in each other and with coach Katie (Steenman). During the race, we really dug in to show that we would surge to that next level for each other. Crossing the finish line for a podium finish was so special and I am so proud of everyone.”

SWIM OTTAWA’S GABRIEL TEJADA EARNS 2 MEDALS AT NATIONALS

Gabriel Tejada of Swim Ottawa won two bronze medals at the Canadian short-course swimming championships in Sherbrooke, PQ, and narrowly missed a third third-place medal in his butterfly series.

Tejada, 24, was third in the men’s 50-metre fly in 23.67 seconds as well as the 100-metre fly in 52.48 seconds. His time of 1:59.05 in the 200-metre butterfly final left him 0.76 seconds shy of a third bronze medal.

Nepean-Kanata Barracudas’ Jordan Schaepper tied for fifth in the men’s 200-metre butterfly in 2:00.77, was seventh in the 400-metre individual medley in 4:24.02 and ninth in the 800-metre freestyle in 8:08.89.

ROCS’ athletes Logan Milne and Arthur Galiano were fifth and eighth respectively in the men’s 200-metre breaststroke in 2:12.45 and 2:18.85.

Molly Barber of Swim Ottawa was eighth in the women’s 50-metre final in 25.95 seconds.

MASTERS THROWER J-ANGELO BERALDIN SETS LIONS CLUB RECORD

J-Angelo Beraldin of Ottawa established an Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club record by winning six medals at the Canadian masters track and field championships in Laval, PQ.

After winning the bronze medal in the opening-day, men’s 65 class throws pentathlon, Beraldin picked up five medals in five individual M65 throws events – silver in shot put at 10.42 metres and bronze in discus at 32.28 metres, javelin at 29.10 metres, hammer throw at 25.74 metres, and weight throw at 11.47 metres.

The previous club record for most medals won by an individual at the national masters athletics championships was held by Gean Harding in 1988 and Judy MacDonald in 2010 at five.

The other Lions medallists were: Wendy Alexis, W70, 100 metres, first, 14.54 seconds; Tom Pincombe, M45, discus, first, 34.11 metres; Kleanthis Tsichlas, M50, shot put, first, 11.34 metre, and discus, second, 32.80 metres; Michael Conway, M40, 200 metres, second, 24.73 seconds and 400 metres, third, 53.89 seconds; Lawrence Williams, M50, 200 metres, second, 25.52 seconds and 400 metres, second, 57.52 seconds; Kimberley Howitt, W40, 800 metres, second, 2:24.28 and 200 metres, third, 29.67 seconds; Danette Nearing-Guibord, W60, 100 metres, third, 17.82 seconds; and Michael Smith, M55, 100 metres, third, 14.27 seconds.

END NOTES

· Right-fielder Emma Carr of Ottawa played a significant role in leading Ontario A to the bronze medal at the Canadian women’s baseball championship in Quebec City. Ontario A shut out Saskatchewan 11-0 in the third-place game and Carr registered three hits, scored two runs, had two RBI and one stolen base in four plate appearances over six innings. Ontario A finished with a 5-2 overall record.

· Emily Barteaux and Abigail Rooney, a pair of Eastern Ontario team players from Kanata, have been named to the Canadian U18 development ringette team with assistant coach Jessica Boisvert of Ottawa, team manager Peggy Pratt of Ottawa and mental performance coach Caitlyn Brannon of Ottawa.

· Gloucester Skating Club’s Reese Rose of Gananoque, ON, finished fifth at the Cranberry Cup figure skating competition in Norwood, Massachusetts. She opened with a third-place result in the short program at 56.60 points, but was 11th in the free-skate final at 85.65 points.

· Canada defeated host Ireland 47-26 to win its final match before the start of the Women’s Rugby World Cup Aug. 22 to Sept. 27 in England. Former University of Ottawa Gee-Gee Claire Gallagher of Caledon, ON, was a starter for Canada, while Pamphinette Buisa of Gatineau and the Ottawa Irish was on the finisher list.

· Mark Sherboneau of Ride with Rendall was second in the men’s 45-54 age-class individual time trial at the Canadian masters road racing championships in Victoria.