ThunderstruckYear Two • Edition Two •

In this Issue:• Results from: Western Canadian Champions• Results from: Head of the Gorge• Looking Forward: CURC’s & NRC’s• Looking Back: Quick Hits from the Boathouse

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Dear UBC Rowing Community,

Welcome to year two edition two of Thunderstruck! We’re excited to be on the "double-double" issue of our newsletter. UBC rowing is off to a great start this fall with a couple regattas under our belt and with still a few more to come.

So grab a coffee or tea and read on to see a recap from the Western Canadian University Championships, Head of the Gorge, and find out about the anticipation that is starting to build coming up in to CURC's and NRC’s 2013!

We hope you enjoy this issue, please pass it along to anyone who might be interested and if you’d like to subscribe, or have any comments, questions or concerns email us at ubcrowingexec@gmail.com.

Enjoy!

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Thunderstruck

On October 21st, the UBC Thunderbirds made history when both the men’s and women’s teams won the Western Canadian University Championships (WCURC’s), for the first time in the regatta’s history.

The first final of the day was the women’s coxedfour, which saw UBC set the tone early when both theirfirst and second four finished an impressive 20 seconds ahead of the next boat. The women’s dominance through the day resulted in first place finishes in the open coxed four, novice coxed four, open single, lightweight coxed four, open pair, JV coxed four, and lightweight double. The women’s eight placed a disappointing 2nd behind UVic, and are looking forward to retribution at the upcoming Canadian University Championships.

The men got their first win in the men’s lightweight single and hadcontinued success throughout the day, as they went on to have seven morefirst place finishes in the lightweight and heavyweight single, lightweight coxed four, lightweight double, JV coxed four, and the Varsity, JV and novice eights. After racing was complete, the men were able to edge out the UVic team to become Western Canadian University champions.

Not only was WCURC’s a good measure of speed for the Thunderbird crews that will be racing at Canadian university championships on the 2nd and 3rd of November, but it also showcased the tremendous depth of both the women’s and men’s teams.

Canadian University ChampionshipsDouble Banner at the Western

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Thunderstruck

Head of the Gorge The foggy weekday weather turned into a beautiful saturday of racing for the UBC Thunderbirds as they crossed the Georgia Straight to race in Victoria at the annual Head of the Gorge Regatta. While the varsity team stayed in Vancouver to train on the Burnaby 2k course in preparation for nationals, the day of racing started with the JV Men stepping up and racing their 2v boat in the open/varsity eight event.

After some ferocious clashing before heading into the narrows, a tricky part of the course where the current runs particularity fast and there’s only room for one boat to pass through at a time, the second varsity men placed third overall with a time of 12:11.8. Over the 4.5km course the 3v men, racing in the Junior Varsity/Lightweight Eight event, tied for first with 12:24.9.

Coach Andrew Knorr says of his crews, "Both boats really dialed it in, trying to produce some of the best speed they could at this point in the season. The 2V men competed up a category and definitely rose to the challenge, while in turn building off their success at Western CUs last weekend. The 3V men also had a good race with first year coxswain Jessica Dizone steering a sharp and concise line on the challenging Gorge Waterway."

The Novice Men also built off the success they found last weekend at Western CU’s. Together the crew once again won in dominant fashion, passing several boats along the course and crossing the finish line in 13:31.00. A full minute ahead of their next fastest competitor.

On the women’s side, racing in the second flight of the regatta, UBC had two boats entered, a composite JV/Novice eight racing in the JV/Lightweight event, and a true novice eight. With both boats placing second in their respective events, stroke seat Alexis Thind and senior team member Emily Dvorak, both in the 2v8+ commented, “We had a strong start and our coxie, Margaret, got us through the rapids without a problem and even received commendation from the announcer. Although we did run into a setback when one of the girl's seats came off the tracks, we communicated with each other, made a fast recovery and were able to bring it up for a strong finish. We’re coming back from Victoria united as a crew, and we can't wait to further build upon our experience as a crew as we prepare for Seattle next weekend”.

Birds Battle the Narrows at

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Thunderstruck

Thunderbirds ready for Montreal and Welland

The Thunderbirds spread their wings over the Lower Mainland and Island this past weekend with the Varsity fine tuning at Burnaby Lake while the JV and Novice teams ran the Head of the Gorge in Victoria.

Hosting the Varsity Thunderbirds this weekend was the Burnaby Lake Rowing Club. It was here where the TBirds took advantage of their 2000m course to finalize the men and women’s Canadian University Rowing Championship (CU’s) line ups and make some key preparations before heading east to race in Montreal next weekend, and Welland the weekend after.

"We were grateful for a sunny weekend after over a week of fog! The water was great and we've had a good opportunity to do some speed testing which is nice to do for before CUs. The winning standards of the regatta are getting very fast so there is some comfort in knowing your speed before we line up against the best crews in the country," said men's coach Mike Pearce.

UBC will be landing in Montreal on Thursday to challenge for the CU’s banner which the men last won in 2005 and women last won at Montreal in 2004. With over 20 universities competing at Montreal’s Olympic basin, the site built for the 1976 olympics, the regatta takes place over two days with time trials on Saturday November 2nd, and finals beginning mid morning Sunday November 3rd. Last year uVic won the women's banner just two points ahead of UBC, while Brock edged uVic by one point for the men's championship, where UBC was fourth. Both Thunderbird teams are looking strong and ready to race coming off Western CUs wins over the Vikes last weekend.

After CURC’s part of the UBC team will head back to Vancouver while the rest of the team pares down into small boats to race with non-university senior and junior athletes at Canada’s National Rowing Championship (NRC’s). Competing only in pairs or singles each crew had to qualify and be invited to race. The regatta takes place at the Welland International Flat-water Center from Friday November 8th to Sunday November 10th.

Looking Forward:

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Thunderstruck Quick Hits from Around the BoathouseLooking Back:

Athletes of the Regatta: Western CURC’sLuc Briede-Cooper: A first year from the Gorge Rowing club, Luc raced in 4 events at WCURC’s. Showing great potential as a lightweight in both the 2x and 4+, Luc raced both these boats to two third place finishes, only being beaten by the UBC and uVic varsity crews. Accounting for heats and finals his four events totaled 6 races overall and throughout the day Luc demonstrated maturity in juggling each, always being ready to race and hot seat between boats.

Hillary Janssens: At WCURC’s last year Hillary was preparing a for her first ever regatta. But a year later you’d never know she was a 2012/2013 Tweedybird novice rower. Racing in three events Hillary collected two golds and a silver. Her first gold came in the form of a One-Two finish by UBC in the open 4+, the second gold after a dominating performance in the 2-, followed by and finishing the day with a silver in the 8+ helping the UBC women take home the overall points trophy for a second year in a row. Like Maxwell, Hillary is an essential part of the varsity team and will be racing the 2- and 8+ at CURC’s, and a 2- at NRC’s this year.

Thunderbird Athletic Council: Athlete of the Month Looking back on October rower Maxwell Lattimer was named the UBC Athletics Athlete of the month. In order to even be nominated you first must be an “Athlete of the Week”, an honour he won after his triple gold performance at the Western Canadian Rowing Championships in the lightweight single, lightweight coxed four and heavyweight eight, helping the UBC men win the overall points trophy. As an integral part of the varsity team Maxwell will be racing the same three events at CURC’s this coming weekend. At NRC’s he’ll be racing in the lightweight pair with current Thunderbird team mate Evan Cheng. Together in this boat class Evan and Maxwell placed fifth at the 2013 u23 World Championships.

A Boat Christening: Celebrating Eldon Worobieff On October 10th past and current UBC Thunderbirds, along with friends and family gathered to celebrate and remember Eldon Worobieff, his accomplishments, and the contributions he made to the UBC community and rowing in North America. As one of UBC’s Olympic athletes the new lightweight men’s and women’s coxed four bears his name, christened in his honour.

Former Thunderbird and Team Canada crew mate Roy McIntosh, and loving wife Leslie Worobieff both addressed the audience detailing his exceptional accomplishments including the path he took to becoming an olympian his work establishing one of the first women’s rowing program in the USA, and ways in which rowing helped facilitate a career change from coaching to financial planning. As the speeches ended current UBC rowers Martha Smith, Aaron Lattimer and coxie Molly Lai joined alumni Roy McIntosh and Deryl Sturdy to take the newly named boat for a loop down the river.

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Thunderstruck Athletes of the Regatta: Head of the Gorge

Emily Dvorak: We’ve finally got Emily back after her semester exchange to France! Beginning her third fall season with UBC Rowing, she’s picked up right where she left off and her smile and positive attitude are a staple at practice. Rowing as the most senior member of the JV 8+ Emily raced in 4 seat at the Gorge and her experience helped avoid disaster when she was able to fix and reattach five seat’s seat quickly mid race.

Jessica Dizon: Despite an untimely injury that stopped her from coxing at the Western Canadian University Rowing Championships Jessica came back swinging. Her dedication and the work she continued to do with the coaches and athletes at both the Varsity/JV and Novice erg sessions kept her sharp and in touch with her rowers. This was an asset that made itself apparent when she jumped back into the 3v boat a week before Head of the Gorge and proceeded to cox and steer her crew to a tie for first place on the tricky Gorge waterway.

This Summer and Fall UBC Rowing had:

• 7 current and past Thunderbirds training at National Training Centers

• 4 current athletes all place fifth in various A-Finals at the u23 World Championships

• 3 alumni competing on the Canadian Sr. Team at Lucern World Cup III

• 9 current athletes and 2 incoming recruits, now first years, competing at the Canada Summer Games

• 1 alumni, Paige Jackson, coaching the Men’s Sweep group at CanAmMex

• 1 at the time future, now a first year TBird racing at CanAmMex

• 1 alumni, Brenda Taylor, inducted to the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame along with her crew mates for their win at the 1992 Olympics in the coxless four

• 1 alumni, Curtis Dearden, winning the Time Trial at the Canadian Cycling Championships

The Canadian University Rowing Championship

Saturday & Sunday, Nov. 2nd - 3rdThe Montreal Olympic Basin

The Frostbite Regatta & Head of the Lake

Saturday & Sunday, Nov. 2nd - 3rdSeattle, Washington

The National Rowing Championships

Friday to Sunday, Nov. 8th - 10thWelland, Ontario