NEWS RELEASE
ORILLIA ROWING CLUB
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After a successful summer of competition, the competitive team at the Orillia Rowing Club continues to impress with its performance in the fall head races.
Unlike summer races that are typically one or two kilometres in length, “head races” are much longer (three to ten kilometres) and usually held outside of the summer. The Georgian Bay Rowing Club’s three-kilometre Muskoka Fall Classic was held on Sept. 15 this year at Gull Lake in Gravenhurst.
The Orillia Rowing Club stood out this year and not just because of their florescent racing shirts and bright green boat. Their skill and performance also drew notice.
Molly Hazel came second in the U19 single and, together with Autumn Prior in the U19 double, they won by a significant margin. They capped it off with a win of the U19 quad while still only being an average age of 14, thanks to the contributions of their teammates Maelle Bouchard (age 12) and Sophie Stegenga (age 15).
Sam and Matthew Pecorella finished fifth in the U19 men’s double, which was still impressive in that they were probably the youngest crew in the event at an average age of 12 and yet were disappointed with their result!
There were also strong performances from Barb Pidgen in the grand masters single and with Jane Bonsteel in the masters double. Iris Fiddick (age 19), in her first year of competition, ended fourth in the open single.
Coach Anne Hodkin was pleased with their results and performance. “This is a local regatta in Gravenhurst that we love to support and we had so many more athletes this year.”
At the Head of the Welland, a much longer course at 5.2 kilometres, there were more age-specific events and the athletes did not disappoint.
They won the U17 women’s quad with the same lineup as Muskoka .
Sam and Matthew Pecorella won the U15 men’s double by over a minute!
Maelle Bouchard and Sloane Trainor (first ever race) won 2nd place in the U15 women’s double.
“We love racing the quad,“ says Autumn Prior. “Everyone notices our shirts and the pretty green boat and it makes us feel good. We even have a matching lucky green speed coach (a monitor that tells the speed, stroke rate and distance),” she said with a laugh after the racing.
Other results were Iris Fiddick coming fourth in the women’s open single, Manuela Lord and Kristine Riedel-Fiddick coming sixth in the masters women’s double, and Barb Pidgen coming fourth in the masters G+ (65 years or more) women’s single.
Next the team heads to the Head of the Trent in Peterborough this weekend.
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