MONTREAL – Dr. Philip Hedrei, head coach of the McGill University crew, was recently named the recipient of a 20-year Long Service Award from Rowing Canada. It's the second such award for Hedrei from the national governing body, which previously recognized him for 15 years of service.

Currently on staff as a pediatrician at the Montreal Children's Hospital, Hedrei is a 46-year-old native of Town of Mt. Royal. He joined the McGill crew in 1998 during his third year of medical school and graduated in 2000 with an MDCM. Hedrei volunteered for the team's coaching staff in 2004 and was appointed head coach in 2009.

"Coaching is not something that I had envisioned when I started out as a rower, but it has become a side career for me," said Hedrei, who was previously named OUA men's rowing coach of the year in 2009 and won a similar coaching award two years later for his work with the University's novice program. "It has been both rewarding and motivating. I really do love interacting with our coaches and athletes. The feeling that you are imparting something unique on their university experience that will stay with them for a long time.

"Once I assumed the role as coach, my competitive nature has come out in a coaching role, knowing that I was not destined to go to the Olympics, I had other ideas and projects in mind that kept me going as a coach here. I must admit that the true attraction is that I'm in love with the McGill rowing program and all that it has done for me. On a personal level during the time that I was a student-athlete, it helped me build confidence and carried me through my studies as a medical student.  It was a very important outlet for me and the experience itself had a transformative impact in terms of what McGill meant to me personally. Certainly, there was no way that I would have considered coaching and sticking around had that not been the case."

Hedrei has truly paid his dues and risen through the rowing ranks at the University. He started out in a novice boat in 1998. The next year, he earned a spot on the heavyweight eight, where he rowed until 2002 before taking a break to complete his residency in pediatrics. He served as co-captain of the team, was elected club president, has overseen numerous fundraising ventures, and contributed significantly with gifts to the program.
 
Hedrei began his volunteer coaching career with the Montreal Rowing Club in 2003, then added to resume by beginning his current coaching stint at McGill the following year.
 
"This has been quite a momentous and historic year for the McGill crew in 2022-23," notes Hedrei, who indicated that the annual team budget is upwards of $60,000, which includes boats, upkeep of gear, equipment repair and rentals, storage fees and league membership in the OUA. "We returned after two years lost to COVID and had some success on the water.  Aside from reaching the 20-year mark on the coaching staff, we have reinvigorated the relationship with our Friends of McGill Rowing alumni and had our best-ever McGill-24 (a one-day crowdfunding campaign that brought in more than $67,000). We also christened a new men's coxed four last fall, named after Olympian Derek O'Farrell, and will be launching another boat shortly. And most recently, we have initiated an annual Toronto-McGill boat race, which will take place on May 6 in Montreal."
 
In 2021, O'Farrell became the second rowing Olympian in recent years to be inducted to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame. He joined Doug Vandor, who received his laureates in 2018.

The McGill crew has about 20 boats in its fleet and most of them are at least 10 years old. The objective for a high-performance varsity program is to provide appropriate training for top varsity athletes while supporting novices and junior varsity as well. To accomplish that, Hedrei indicated that an ideal goal would be to have a fleet of 32, including eight eight-man racing shells, along with a half-dozen fours and eight pair-doubles and eight singles.
 
A brand new eight is upwards of $50,000, a four is over $30,000 and the pair doubles is over $20,000 and a single ranges between $10k and $15k, in addition to oars, which cost a few hundred dollars apiece.
 
"In the more than 20 years that I have been involved as a McGill coach, plus the five as an athlete, most of our fundraising drives have been focused on travel and equipment purchases, including boats," he said. "We're hoping that we can draw on more concerted fundraising that supports the greatest needs of the program, that we can draw from. We are planning a longer-term vision to have a way of turning over our fleet, in addition to adding to it. We also want to take our team to new places, to initiate a coaching leadership endowment fund, and to reduce costs for our athletes to participate."

SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca