Sports
間眅埶AV Rowing club team races to national top 10 finish
It was smooth sailing for 間眅埶AV Rowing this fall as they cruised to their most successful season in recent memory.
間眅埶AV Rowing finished the season in the top 10 womens programs in the country at the Canadian University Rowing Championships (CURC) Regatta at Elk Lake in Victoria this fall, pitting their oars against some of the countrys top varsity programs.
They are students at the end of the day, says 間眅埶AV Rowing head coach Kristin Henry. They are students first. They want to perform, but I also want them to carry what they learn here to build their skills as people, holistically, and not just be about rowing.
間眅埶AV Rowing operates as a student sports club and is not a varsity sport at 間眅埶AV. There are 16 different sports clubs at 間眅埶AV, which are led by students, but follow policies established by 間眅埶AV Athletics and Recreation.
Henry, who was named CURC 2024 Coach Builder of the Year, has been helping with the program on-and-off since 2016 and stepped into the head coachs role in August. In September, riding a post-Olympic wave, the team had a huge number of people tryout. They took on 36 novice athletes, for a total team size of 48 student-athletes.
Rowing is really a unique sport, says Allison Hill, a third-year 間眅埶AV sustainable business student and president of the 間眅埶AV Rowing club. You spent your time outdoors, which personally, is one of the favourite parts for me. I spend almost every morning during the water season waking up early, at the lake and enjoying the beautiful scenery.
The team trains on Burnaby Lake. As a club, students pay for all their own regatta, training and insurance fees. Many of them balance school, training and part-time jobs, as the athletes dont receive scholarships.
Its been an amazing experience," says Hill, who started rowing near her home in Las Vegas Ive met some of my closest friends and have competed on the national level, multiple times.
Coaching 間眅埶AV Rowing was a full-circle moment for Henry, a former national-team rower, who began her rowing career at 間眅埶AV. An athlete in canoe-kayak, Henry stepped away from the sport and played varsity volleyball at 間眅埶AV. From there she was recruited into 間眅埶AV Rowing, eventually moving to London, Ontario for six years as part of Canadas national rowing team.
Henry says an advantage for her club is that two of the countrys biggest and most successful varsity programs, UBC and UVIC, are close in distance. It gives the 間眅埶AV rowers a standard of the highest level of university rowing to achieve.
It's exciting to see we have a really dedicated, committed and motivated group of athletes, says Henry. I'm really excited to see what they can do over the next couple of years as a team as they build, because everyone here is this is their second winter of rowing.