Rowers from the South Cariboo Rowing Club competed at the Head of the River Regatta on Sept. 23.
The race is held each year on the Nicomekl River in White Rock, B.C. and is a 6 kilometre timed head race.
The rowers wet launch at Crescent Beach and row up to the start where boats marshal in groups according to size.
Larger and faster boats, 8’s and Quads, start first at 20-second intervals followed by pairs and singles.
Over 80 boats competed from 16 clubs in several categories.
Rowers must navigate around tight turns, other large watercraft, seals, sandbanks and a narrow bridge at full speed to complete the race.
This year’s regatta was especially exciting; the tide provided an extra challenge for athletes, resulting in many close calls. Some boats lost their course and nearly ran aground. Others had trouble passing and were involved in collisions, and a couple capsized on the last stretch of the race as they entered Boundary Bay.
The South Cariboo rowers, Courtney Cave, Heather Heales, Noah Betz and Lydia Kinasewich had an excellent race.
They rowed a straight quad flawlessly down the course with a raw time of 25:18 and finished 11th out of 22 quads. Their raw time put them 37th out of 84 boats, and with a handicap of +2:32 for age and gender, they placed 66th overall.
“I was very pleased with the juniors’ performance. They rowed well and did what they set out to do at this regatta,” says coach Will Van Osch.
Donri Helmer also competed in the regatta in the women’s singles event with the Fort Langley Community Rowing Club. She had a great race and finished with a time of 32:15.
