By Dan Marshall

Nanaimo Rowing Club finishes strong at last big fall regatta of the season

Oct 24, 2017 | 6:44 PM

NANAIMO — The last major rowing event of the fall took place over the weekend with the Head of the Gorge/Tail of the Gorge Regatta finishing up in Victoria.
 
Nanaimo rowing coach Craig Rutherford says the weekend was a success for his club with a number of top three finishes on Saturday and Sunday.
 
There were 22 athletes from the Nanaimo Rowing Club between the ages of 14-22.
 
Rutherford says there are a lot of positives to take away from the weekend results.
 
“The key ones for us were having both our junior men’s and women’s quads placing in the top three. That served notice to everyone else that we’d be ones to watch in the spring (of 2018). As well as some of our junior athletes competing in open events and still pulling off top three finishes against athletes that are already in university,” said Rutherford.
 
There are still a few interclub competitions left in the fall and one member of the NRC, Jordan Isnor, will be a part of Team BC for the upcoming 2017 RCA Canadian National Rowing Championships.
 
That event takes place over the November 11-12 weekend at Burnaby Lake.
 
Two notable results for Isnor this past weekend include a fourth place finish in the Open Women’s Single event and she was part of the group that finished third in the the Junior Women’s Quad along with Christine Duifhuis, Megan Knight, and Sophia Sung.
 
The Nanaimo Rowing Club has about 70 members spread throughout their junior, senior, and masters program.
 
Even though the number of competivitive events is winding down Rutherford says there’s no let up in training.
 
Weather may prevent some training sessions on the water, but the high end competitive rowers are still training six to eight times a week in some capacity.
 
Rutherford feels confident that with a talented group of local athletes 2018 will bring excellent results for the Nanaimo Rowing Club.
 
 
dan@nanaimonewsnow.com
 
On twitter: @danmarshall77