MONTREAL – The U of T Varsity Blues swept three events from the McGill University rowing club to capture the inaugural Toronto-McGill Challenge, Saturday morning.
The head-to-head competition in Montreal took place on a memorable, regal day of pomp and circumstance that coincided with the coronation of King Charles held in the United Kingdom.
The Toronto-McGill Challenge marked the historic renewal of a century-old rivalry that initially took place 97 years ago on Oct. 16, 1926 in chilly, windy conditions at Lachine, Que. At that time, it was billed as the first-ever intercollegiate rowing competition on Canadian waters.
For this year's meeting, due to safety concerns over choppy waters and windy conditions, a decision was made to cancel the event at the Lachine Rowing Club and relocate to Montreal's Olympic Rowing Basin, located about 10 kilometres away. This move delayed the planned start by about 90 minutes but the alternate venue provided sheltered, calm waters and partly-cloudy 22 C weather conditions with a mild head wind. Electronic timing was not available.
The first event, a 2,000-metre course, featured a "reserves mixed eight" composed of men and women. Toronto had two boats entered, compared to a lone McGill entry. The Varsity Blues "A" crew finished first, winning the Cup by a boat length ahead of the Toronto's "B" crew. The McGill eight followed, a boat length behind.
The Varsity Blues winning crew was composed of Peter
Hansen (coxie), Eren
Rudy, William
Lloyd, Youssef
El Mays, Navraj
Brar, Claudia
Makhanko-Tang, Roksolana
Nazar, Maia
Stelfox and Jane
Paterson.
The McGill reserves mixed eight featured Paige
McCallum (coxie), Anaë
Werner, Adam
Czarnecki, Heather
Chisholm, Avery
Seeley, Harrison
Roy, Theresia
Schwab, Mia
Stevanovic and Sofia
Campos.
In the women's eight, a veteran U of T crew that had finished fifth at the Canadian University Rowing Association championships in St. Catharines, Ont., last November, took an early lead and held it throughout. They won by a few boat lengths over the McGill crew, composed entirely of novices.
"Our women held their own and rowed an extremely clean race, considering where they are in terms of development," said
Dr. Philip Hedrei, a physician at the Montreal Children's Hospital, who volunteers as head coach at McGill. "We were impressed by their showing on the water."
The U of T winning crew included Katy
Myler (coxie), Katrina
Miehlbradt, Olivia
Brunnenkant, Alison
Okumura, Lark
Huska,
Krizia
Rust, Jamie
Rosenfeld, Lauren
Pureza-Dagenais and Sophie
Corradini.
The McGill boat comprised Paige
McCallum (coxie), Abigail
Powell, Alice
Saito, Caroline
Zimmer, Moka
Johns,
Amalia "Molly" Tinmouth, Mariam
Anwar, Emily
Lindquist and Sophia
Waller.
The men's eight followed, featuring one racing shell from each school. The teams were neck-and-neck over the first 500 metres, until Toronto pulled ahead for good, winning the Barber Pole Trophy by a boat length. At the Nationals last fall, McGill had placed fifth, while Toronto finished eighth.
The winning crew featured Jack
Pankratz (coxie), Ben
Humer, Noah
Campbell, Luc
Dodge-Terra, Kamal
Elboghdadi, Sebastien
Psarianos, Peter
Mikulash, Nick
Garcia and Eric
Liu.
The McGill eight was composed of Georg
Gaidoschik (coxie), Victor
Rolland, Markus
Maile, Patrice
Legare, Jocelyn
Blanchet, Edison
Luke, Jacob
Lofaro, Paul
Speciel, Federico
Sanchez.
An awards ceremony followed with the presentation of three trophies, donated by the head coaches of both schools, namely
Dr. Philip Hedrei at McGill and U of T's
Mark Williams. As per tradition, the winning school also received the shirts off the backs of the losing school.
"Given that this inaugural event had been postponed for the past two years due to the pandemic, our primary objective was to host a safe and fun event celebrating the best that both programs have to offer and showcase university rowing talent in Canada," said Hedrei.
"It was a highly enjoyable event that we hope to continue on an annual basis. This provides added motivation for our athletes to train hard during the long off-season. At some point during the OUA championships this fall, we are planning on issuing a ceremonial rematch challenge to be hosted by U of T next spring."
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
