Canadian rowers begin spring training for final pull at Rio Olympic qualifiers

Spring is a time of rejuvenation for Canada’s rowers as they make use of additional hours of on-water workouts at the national training centres at Elk Lake in Victoria, B.C., and at Fanshawe Lake in London, Ont., to earn seats in boats bound for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

There will be a glorious tradition to uphold come August since rowing’s 19 Olympic medal-winning performances in the last 25 years create a legacy that is far superior to that of other Summer Games sports in which Canada participates.

“We have been a strong contributor to Canada’s Olympic program and I am hoping we can deliver again in 2016,” says Peter Cookson, who rowed internationally and who has been Rowing Canada’s director of high performance the last seven years.

A trip to Italy for a World Cup regatta in mid-April will help finalize selections.

Rowing Canada sent 30 athletes to London in 2012, where Canada won two silver medals in men’s and women’s eights. As many as 26 will go to Rio.

Based on 2015 world championship results, Canada has qualified in six of 14 Olympic boat classes: women’s eight, pair, single sculls and lightweight double sculls, and men’s four and lightweight four. A World Cup regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland in May is a last-chance Rio qualifier and Canada will have a men’s quadruple sculls entry trying to get Canada into a seventh Rio boat class.

“Three to four would be an accurate representation of what we could achieve in terms of medals,” Cookson says in summing up Rio podium prospects.

“We had a good winter of training. All of our testing numbers are good.

“We’re heading off to our first event in a few weeks’ time so we’re going to have a good understanding after that as to where we stand after that (trip to Italy). Now it comes down to putting it on the water and racing like we believe they can.”

Rowing has been rewarded for its consistent ability to produce medals.

“We’ve been really well-supported by Own The Podium and the COC,” says Cookson. “They’ve made a big investment in us and now we have to demonstrate we’ve earned it.

“All the coaches and athletes are aware of that. There is a lot of pride in our group and we want to show that the confidence that has been shown in us is deserved.”

The women’s eight was third at the 2015 world regatta in a tight finish. The United States won in 6:05.65, New Zealand was second in 6:08.52 and Canada was third in 6:09.05. The crew, from bow to stern: Lisa Roman, 26, of Langley, B.C.; Cristy Nurse, 29, of Georgetown, Ont.; Jennifer Martins, 27, of Toronto; Ashley Brzozowicz, 27, of Omemee, Ont.; Christine Roper, 25, of Ottawa; Susanne Grainger, 25, of London, Ont.; Natalie Mastracci, 25, of Thorold, Ont.; Lauren Wilkinson, 25, of Vancouver; and coxswain Lesley Thompson-Willie, 56, of London, Ont.., who will be an Olympian for the eighth time. They are coached by John Keough. There have been no retirements.

Why no men’s eight?

“We made a decision after the last quadrennial that we would focus on smaller boats,” Cookson responds. “We needed to expand our ability to be successful in other Olympic events. Putting an eight together requires a lot of resources and doing that makes it difficult to put together other boats.”

Besides being in the women’s eight, Nurse and Martins qualified a women’s pair for Rio with their sixth-place 2015 world finish in the class. Nobody will be racing in two events in Rio, though.

“We’ll enter a stand-alone pair and stand-alone eight so we’ll see different people in the pair if Nurse and Martin are in the eight,” says Cookson.

The women’s lightweight double was fourth at the 2015 world regatta, one second behind third-place South Africa and four seconds back of winning New Zealand. Victoria-raised Lindsay Jennerich, 33, and Patricia Obee, 24, are working hard to retain their seats. Keogh and Tom Morris are coaching.

Carling Zeeman, 24, of Cambridge, Ont., earned Canada its first Olympic berth in women’s single sculls since Sydney 2000 when she placed sixth at the 2015 world regatta. Her time was nine seconds slower than that of winner Kim Crow of Australia and she was five seconds out of medal contention, so there is a big hill to climb. Keogh and Volker Nolte are coaching her.

Why no men’s single sculls entry?

“Our rationale for that is that we’ve been trying to build a quad and we’ll try to qualify them in Lucerne,” Cookson explains.

The men’s four that finished fourth at the 2015 world regatta trailed the bronze British entry by only 1.1 seconds and was 3.34 seconds back of the winners from Italy. Canada’s crew, from bow to stern: Will Crothers, 28, of Kingston, Ont.; Tim Schrijver, 24, of Thedford, Ont.; Kai Langerfeld, 28, of Vancouver; and Conlin McCabe, 25, of Brockville, Ont. They are coached by Martin McElroy. No changes to the four are anticipated.

The men’s lightweight four was fifth in the B final last year and that was just good enough to land a Rio berth. That crew from bow to stern: Matt Lattimer, 22, of Delta, B.C; Brendan Hodge, 31, of Delta, B.C.; Nicolas Pratt, 30, of Kingston, Ont.; and Eric Woelfl, 26, of St. Catharines, Ont. They are coached by Al Morrow.

Water quality at the Lagoa Stadium rowing venue is a concern.

Athletes have been advised to make use of vaccines and on-site plans include bleaching oar handles and washing boats inside and out after each training session or race. Workout garb will be washed at high temperatures. Nicks that rowers get on the backs of their calves from their sliding seats will be cleaned and covered to reduce chance of infection.

“We’re taking all precautions to ensure the safety of our athletes,” says Cookson.

“We’ve had crews down there, we’ve learned a lot and we’re incorporating what we’ve learned into our preparations.”

What about the traditional dunking of the coxswain after a win?

“I have a suspicion that if the women’s eight wins gold they’ll be throwing Lesley into the water,” says Cookson.

Rowing Canada has a June 28 deadline to submit to the COC the names of athletes who will sit in the boats that will race in Rio, Aug. 6-13. Intense training lies ahead.