Eryk Taylor Wins Silver at Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships
Eryk Taylor of the Silver Lake Rowing Club placed second in the Junior A Lightweight Men’s event at the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships held at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga last Sunday. Taylor, a student from Simcoe Composite, rowed a personal best time of 6:43.8 - just 2.6 seconds back from first place.
“Eryk had posted a personal best time just a week ago beating his previous best by 4 seconds. To knock off another 5 seconds a week later is quite an achievement!” said coach Sue Fairley
Ben Auld also from Simcoe Composite and Zac Azzopardi from Holy Trinity posted personal bests at the Canadian Championships as well. Azzopardi placed 9th in a field of 34 rowers mostly from the university level in the Senior B Lightweight Men’s event with a time of 6:44.6. Auld broke the seven minute barrier for the first time with a time of 6:59.00 to place 18th overall in the Junior A Men’s Open.
Both Auld and Azzopardi were among the youngest in their respective age categories and have a number of years left to compete in their age group. According to Fairley, “When you take into account Zac and Ben’s age relative to their competitors, they both did extremely well. In fact, Zac beat everyone his age. Their potential didn’t go unnoticed on Sunday.”
Taylor, Azzopardi and Auld asked to train for the 2011 indoor rowing season even though the Silver Lake Rowing Club will not be able to operate any on water rowing programs this year due to the draining of Silver Lake. Their training began in September under Fairley’s guidance and will continue through to the beginning of March. “We couldn’t say no to them” explained Jim Dover President, Silver Lake Rowing Club. “These three, in particular, are exceptional athletes. They’ve looked adversity in the face and made the best of it. They’re an inspiration to us all for when we get back rowing on Silver Lake!”
Picture from left to right: Ben Auld, Eryk Taylor, Sue Fairley and Zac Azzopardi
For
more information about the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships, visit: http://www.cdnindoorrowing.or
The Silver Lake Rowing Club was established in 1999 to promote the sport of rowing in Norfolk County and surrounding communities. For information regarding Club rowing contact Susan Fairley Head Coach (519-583-0461). To find out more about the Silver Lake Rowing Club, call Jim Dover President, Silver Lake Rowing Club (905-318-5932 ext. 224 / 519-426-5677) or visit our web site at:www.silverlakerowingclub.com.