LOCAL ROWERS ADVANCE TO FINALS

Four out of five high school crews from Holy Trinity and Simcoe Composite advanced to the finals at the annual Mother’s Day Regatta held in St. Catharines on the weekend.

Both Josh Azzopardi and Spencer Fraser from Holy Trinity and Eryk Taylor and Ben Auld of SCS advanced to the finals in the Junior Men’s Double event. Taylor and Auld narrowly missed bronze after gaining significant ground in the final 750 meters of the race. Unfortunately, Fraser suffered an injury and Holy Trinity was not able to row in the final.

Both Chaundra Monorome of SCS and Zac Azzopardi of Holy Trinity advanced to the finals in their single events. Azzopardi captured bronze and was just one second back from a second place finish. Monorome finished sixth in the Senior Girls single event. Also competing were Danielle Culp, Frankie Dunn, Robyn Millson, Gillian Byron and Shannon Murphy who placed fifth in their heat of the senior girls’ cox four event.

With the draining of Silver Lake, high school crews have been training on the water in Tillsonburg and Oakland since April. According to coach Carla Aitken, “This was our first regatta of the season and with all the challenges we’ve been facing in our training, it was great to see all of our rowers pleased with their races.”

“Four of our five crews advancing to the finals at a regatta like this is pretty good, I think” added coach Sue Fairley.

Picture: Zac Azzopardi with his bronze medal

The Silver Lake Rowing Club was established in 1999 to promote the sport of rowing in Norfolk County and surrounding communities. For information regarding high school rowing contact coaches Carla Aitken (519-428-7592) and Susan Fairley (519-583-0461). To find out more about the Silver Lake Rowing Club, please 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.