Local Rowers Become Members of Ontario's Top Ten Club

Anna Ardiel and Robbie Puddy of SCS and Kayla Horvat of Holy Trinity became members of the Top Ten Club at the 16th Annual Ontario Ergometer Championships held at Ridley College in St. Catharines last weekend.

Ardiel placed fourth in a field of 39 competitors in the Senior Women's 145 pound event with a personal best time of 7:48.2 over 2000 meters - just two seconds of third place. According to coach Susan Fairley, "Anna kept her focus throughout the race and rowed precisely to plan." After the race, Ardiel said "I just wanted to smile at the 1000 meter mark. I just knew it was going well." Ardiel improved her time by more than ten seconds over last year.

Competing in the Junior Men's event, Puddy broke the seven minute barrier with a time of 6:59.4 beating his personal best by almost ten seconds. This placed Puddy in tenth spot in a field of 35 competitors. According to Jim Dover, "Robbie was out of the gate much faster than planned. He caught himself though and gained control to row the body of the race according to plan. Then he just nailed the finish."

Kayla Horvat beat her personal best by over seventeen seconds with a time of 7:58.6 to place ninth in a field of 63 rowers in the Junior Women's event. Kayla struggled in the final 250 meters but managed to dig deep to keep the power on. "My legs just felt like jelly near the end." said Horvat "But I could see I was going to beat my goal and I kept pushing."

Other rowers at the event were Laura Fisher also of Holy Trinity who finished eleventh in the Senior Women's event with a time of 7:39 - a disappointing four seconds off her personal best which would have also earned her membership in the Top Ten Club. Nick Ryerse of SCS and Tim Haviland of Holy Trinity competed in the Senior Lightweight Men's 150 lb. event earning times of 7:33 and 7:44 respectively.

According to Dover, "We bring Norfolk’s best high school rowers to this indoor event every year. They rowed their best against the best in Ontario. It's going to be interesting to watch what happens now on the water this season." Training will soon switch to the water as soon as the ice is off Silver Lake. The seventh annual Silver Lake Invitational High School Sprints will kick off the season on Saturday April 30th in Port Dover. High school regattas will then continue each weekend through to the first weekend in June.