Rowing BC Crowned Grand Champions at 2023 National Rowing Championships

Rowing BC Athletes capped off a big weekend of success at the National Rowing Championships Regatta September 28th – 30th. Rowing BC Director of Performance, Terry Paul was on hand at the annual Athlete Awards Banquet held at Shawnigan Lake School to accept the Grand Championship Award for the province with the highest accumulated points.

Team BC athletes were selected for the National Rowing Championships after meeting performance criteria published in Rowing BC High Performance Pathway document, including Gold Medal winners in the small boat events at this past summer’s successful BC Championship Regatta.

W2-

Notable performances came in the Women’s Sweep category. In the Open Womens 2-, Rowing BC won Gold with Caileigh Filmer and Piper Battersby and were represented in composite crews for Silver and Bronze with McKenna Simpson and Kirsten Edwards respectively. Four out of six athletes on the podium represented Rowing BC.

The U23 category was also well represented with Gold for Sally Jones, Silver for the pair of Ellie Sousa and Mira Calder, and Bronze with Lyndsey Bryden. All four of these athletes represented BC at the 2022 Canada Summer Games and the U23 World Championships in 2023.

In the Junior Women’s 2- VCRC took home Gold with the speedy lightweights Sasha Fraser and Kate Watson, and Bronze with 16 year olds Ciana Della Siega and Willow Tzonev.

M2-

On the Men’s Side, Rowing BC won Gold by clear water in the Open Men’s 2- with Jack Walkey and Joel Cullen.  In the U23 event, Julien Wiese from UBC secured bronze with his World U23 teammate Aidan Hembruff from Western University. 

The Junior Men’s 2- was also dominated by Rowing BC athletes. Gold went to UBC freshmen Liam Muir and Peter Saccabarozzi. Silver went to VCRC athletes Declan Blue and James Gemmill, with bronze going to Vancouver College’s Nathan Brind and Patrick Boyle.

M1x

The Sculling events were highly contested and for the second straight year Rowing BC’s Liam Smit claimed Gold and the prestigious Derek Porter Trophy in the Open Men’s 1x. Liam Simpson placed an impressive 4th overall and Silver in the U23 Event also representing Rowing BC.

Although Rowing BC was shutout in the Jr. M1x, we had a large group finishing just behind who will be hungry to improve for this summer and beyond. 

W1x

In the Womens Open Sculling event Rowing BC’s top finisher in fourth place was Katie Clark. The Highlight in the Jr. Womens 1x was Rowing BC’s Lucy Hallett who claimed a solid silver medal recovering from a tough time trial that put her outside the top 24 thru to semi finals.

LW M1x 

In the Lightweight Mens 1x Rowing BC’s Giancarlo DiPompeo secured Silver medals in both the Open and U23 events.

LW W1x

The Lightweight womens 1x event was dominated by National Team veteran Jill Moffatt from Ontario who was hotly pursued by Rowing BC’s Sai Sai Faubert to take 3rd place in the Open Category and Silver in the U23 event. Elana Masys from UVic secured Bronze in the U23 W1x. 

PARA Events 

Rowing BC was well represented in the Para events securing Gold medals in the PR2M1x with Patrick Levis, Gold in the PR1W1x Christa Akins, and Gold in the PR3W2x with Danielle Main and Karen Burnett.