HIGH ACHIEVERS: ‘Spur of the moment’ decision triggered immersion into rowing, first Henley title for Rebecca Cocchetto

By Martin Cleary

Rebecca Cocchetto got more than she bargained for, when she enrolled in her human kinetics program at the University of Ottawa three years ago.

But it was a good thing for Cocchetto as it energized her life and took her athletic career from a recreational level to a high-performance platform.

As she was settling into her first year of academics in 2023, she noticed a message on Instagram about the university’s novice rowing program.

Sports was nothing new to Cocchetto as she had played 12 years of house league hockey for the Kanata Rangers and was a member of the South Carleton High School cross-country running and track and field teams.

“I was looking to switch from cross-country running and track and field, where I didn’t have much success,” Cocchetto, 20, said in a phone interview this week.

“I saw a story on Instagram that said come out and try rowing. It sounded like fun. I wake up early and I could get my workout in.”

Rowing became a totally fun experience as she was introduced to the fundamentals of her first water sport in an eight and a four crew boat. Her first three months of training with a taste of competition motivated her for the winter indoor practices, where she pushed herself on the ERG machines to discover her rowing potential.

“It was a spur of the moment decision,” she said about heading to her rowing initiation at the Ottawa Rowing Club, which oversees the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees varsity club program.

“It was really cool, crazy. A little decision like that changed my life,” she added.

That choice and hundreds of hours of dedicated training have seen her fully embrace rowing, where she has evolved into one of the city’s top female rowers. She’s also assumed club administrative roles in the summer camp program and now as the community outreach program co-ordinator.

As she enters her fourth season in the sport, Cocchetto learned significantly more about herself as a rower at the 142nd Royal Canadian Henley championships earlier this month in St. Catharines.

Competing in her third Henley, the high point on the domestic rowing calendar, Cocchetto earned her first gold medal and challenged for more first-place finishes in three other races. The Henley championship regatta is unique as it only provides a medal to the first-place boat as well as a trophy and a plaque.

Cocchetto was part of a highly-successful Ottawa Rowing Club team at Henley. The oldest continuously active rowing club in Canada qualified 20 boats for the wide-ranging finals, which included four second-place and four third-place results.

As the final day of the Henley was winding down, the Ottawa Rowing Club crew of Hannah Kavanagh, Maya Tudor, Cocchetto and Rosemary O’Brien won the women’s senior lightweight quad in a 2,000-metre time of six minutes, 51.95 seconds. They finished 1.33 seconds ahead of the national team from Argentina and 7.39 seconds up on Western University.

Besides the gold medals, the Ottawa crew also won the Silver Fox Trophy and a plaque.

Clubmates Alyssa Pastic, Arden Leahy, Isabelle Mirfield and Madeleine Cote also qualified for the final and were fifth in 7:38.42.

“It was my first-ever Henley medal,” said Cocchetto about her victory, which was a straight final with no qualifying heats. “It was surreal, something I had dreamed of, but never thought would happen until now.

“We definitely practised a lot (for the quad). It was definitely a big priority. The biggest part for me is that we get along, and being friends, we enjoy it. You go fast and push for the people around you. It’s a good team dynamic.”

Coached by Rachel Weber and Pastic, Cocchetto was second in the women’s U23 lightweight single in 7:48.10, which was 7.8 seconds behind winner Morgan Harris-Stoertz of Peterborough.

Kennedy, Tudor, Cocchetto and Leahy joined forces again, but this time in the women’s senior lightweight four and were third in 7:04.13 and 15.16 seconds behind the winner.

Cocchetto and Kavanagh pulled together in the women’s senior lightweight double and finished fourth in 7:19.79, missing the gold by 11.93 seconds.

“It was definitely a good week of racing. Winning a Henley medal was definitely special,” continued Cocchetto, who had a good start in rowing because of her exercise benefits from hockey, cross-country running and endurance races in track and field.

“Winning a medal puts you on the (national team) radar. We’ll see how it turns out.

“Definitely the sports I played before contributed as endurance is good for rowing. I’d say I have a good capacity for training hard. There’s a good environment at the Ottawa Rowing Club and with the University of Ottawa team. If I didn’t have good teammates and coaches, it would be hard to show up every day.”

Here are the Ottawa Rowing Club athletes and crews who reached the finals with their event and time:

FIRST PLACE

Hannah Kavanagh, Maya Tudor, Rebecca Cocchetto and Rosemary O’Brien, women’s senior lightweight quad, 6:51.96.

SECOND PLACE

Rebecca Cocchetto, women’s U23 lightweight single, 7:48.10.

Tamsen Taylor, women’s U19 single, 7:57.40.

Rosemary O’Brien, women’s senior lightweight single, 7:46.52.

Tegan Landry (coxswain), Olivia Mortimore, Emilie Finnamore, Devon Haskins, Alyssa Pastic, Tamsen Taylor, Arden Leahy, Madeleine Cote and Isabelle Mirfield, women’s senior lightweight eight, 7:04.92.

THIRD PLACE

Maya Tudor and Hannah Kavanagh, women’s senior lightweight pair, 7:48.52.

Hannah Kennedy, Maya Tudor, Rebecca Cocchetto and Arden Leahy, women’s senior lightweight four, 7:04.13.

Kamila Neuspiel and Poppy Klotz, women’s U19 pair, 7:41.75.

Tamsen Taylor, women’s lightweight single dash, 1:51.08.

FOURTH PLACE

Rebecca Cocchetto and Hannah Kavanagh, women’s senior lightweight double, 7:19.79.

Poppy Klotz, women’s U19 single, 8:04.22.

Fabian Erazo and Andrei Vovk, men’s senior lightweight pair, 6:56.87.

FIFTH PLACE

Robert Park, Matthew Rafter, Fabian Erazo and Andrei Vovk, men’s senior lightweight quad, 6:30.38.

Madeleine Cote and Arden Leahy, women’s senior lightweight pair, 8:28.53.

Madeleine Lauriault and Rachel Weber, women’s championship pair, 7:35.06.

Kyle Lamprecht, Callum Myers, Grayson Gray and Jack Bon, men’s senior quad, 6:21.00.

Alyssa Pastic, Arden Leahy, Isabelle Mirfield and Madeleine Cote, women’s senior lightweight quad, 7:38.42.

SIXTH PLACE

Robert Park, Matthew Rafter, Fabian Erazo and Andrei Vovk, men’s senior lightweight four, 6:44.54.

Rachel Weber and Klaudija Krisjane, women’s senior pair, 7:43.11.

SEVENTH PLACE

Tegan Landry (coxswain), Isabel Raoux, Amelia Dunlop, Arianne Breton, Bryn Wilson, Michelle Pilon, Grace Hill, Chloe Racine and Isabelle Leduc, women’s eight dash, 1:35.82.