Athletes from the Nanaimo Rowing Club competed in their first event of 2022 on Mar. 5-6. Club members posted strong results at the Elk Lake Regatta. (Craig Rutherford)

By Dan Marshall

Rowers Return

Nanaimo rowers garner impressive results at first Island regatta of 2022

Mar 10, 2022 | 7:13 PM

NANAIMO — Local rowers are looking forward to the first full regatta season since 2019.

On March 5 and 6, athletes from Nanaimo Rowing Club took part in the Elk Lake Spring Regatta in Victoria.

Rower and coach Craig Rutherford said there was only one local rowing event in 2021 and Elk Lake was the first regatta this year.

“We didn’t have high expectations because we had a lot of people who had never raced before. This was an early season event to get everybody back into it. Our main racing season is in April and May.”

NRC had one first place showing, two second place efforts and a pair of third place honours.

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Rutherford himself won the master’s men’s singles and was part of the second place mixed masters quad team with Karen Knight, Meg Watkins and Jackie Churchill.

Knight and Churchill along with Kimberly Jackson and Kate Rutherford made up the second place group in the masters women’s quad.

The two Nanaimo based third place teams were Peter Rogers and Mark Kurovsky in the men’s open lightweight division and Laura Mckenzie and Alyssa Morgan in the U15 women’s double.

Rutherford said the season picks up in late April after a couple of smaller regattas.

“The first big event is the Brentwood Regatta in the last week of April and then a couple of weeks later is the Shawnigan Lake School Regatta. Our own event in Nanaimo is the last week in May.

The top athletes from NRC will have a chance to compete in the prestigious Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in St. Catherines, Ontario in August.

Rutherford said some Nanaimo club members attending various universities around North America will augment the local contingent for Canada’s premier national rowing event.

Over the next month NRC will look to increase membership with a pair of learn to row clinics.

A spring break session for ages 12-18 will take place at Long Lake from March 14-18 and an adult session is slated for April 5.

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