Local Rowers Win Gold and Silver at US National High School Championships

Laura Fisher of Holy Trinity and Ross Fairley of Port Dover Composite won gold and silver respectively at the 72^nd Scholastics National Regatta held in Saratoga Springs New York on the weekend.

The Scholastics National Regatta is held annually in the United States to determine U. S. National high school rowing champions. Each region in the United States is allowed a limited number of rowers who must qualify for their event. A limited number of spaces are also reserved for Canadian high schools who must qualify to enter. Both Fairley and Fisher had qualified to enter based on their performance at last year’s regatta as well as at the Canadian Championships held in St. Catharines.

Fisher advanced to the final in the Women’s Senior Single event on Saturday by winning her heat. In the final later the same day, she rowed to a convincing first place finish with a time of 6:26 – a full nineteen seconds ahead of the second place finisher.

Fairley also won his heat in the Men’s Senior Single event to advance. However, there was only three seconds separating the fastest four times in the heats. According to Mike Thompson Canada’s National Team coach, “After the heats, everyone knew the Men’s Senior Single final was going to be the closest race of the day. The Canadians wanted to finish one, two, three as they had done in Philadelphia last weekend.”

In the final, Fairley found himself in third place with just 600 meters to go. According to Fairley, “I had planned to start building for the finish at the 500 meter mark. But I just decided to go for it a bit earlier.” Fairley rowed past Dave Reynolds of St. Catharines to place second. Dave Wakulich of St. Catharines Collegiate placed first with a time of 5:45.9 followed closely by Fairley with a time of 5:50.73. John Reynolds of Dennis Morris placed third with a time of 5:53.38. “At the finish, Wakulich called out Canada sweeps! It was awesome that we placed one, two three again” said Fairley.

First Picture Left to Right: Laura Fisher, Ross Fairley

Second Picture Left to Right: Sue Fairley, Ross Fairley, Laura Fisher, Jim Dover

For more information related to the 72^nd Scholastics National Regatta, please visit: http://www.sraa.net

The Silver Lake Rowing Club was established in 1999 to promote the sport of rowing across Norfolk and Haldimand counties. Coach Sue Fairley (583-0461) can be contacted regarding more information related to racing. To find out more about the Silver Lake Rowing Club, please call Jim Dover at 426-5677 (Past President) or visit our web site at: www.silverlakerowingclub.com.