The University of Toronto was strongly represented at the 2008 Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships (CIRC) held yesterday (Feb. 3) at York University. A total of 36 Varsity Blues rowers put in strong performances and many of these athletes walked away with a much-coveted Canadian championship medal in the process.

U of T rowers won four medals at this year’s Canadian Championships: Michael Braithwaite took the silver in the Senior B men’s event in a blistering time of 6:12.9, while teammate Mike Harowicz equally impressed the field in the top men’s event of the championships – the Senior A men’s category, winning a silver medal in at time of 6:11.2.

U of T lightweight rower Dan Elliott impressed his teammates, in what could be his final competition under the University’s banner, and won a bronze medal in the Senior A men’s lightweight category in a time of 6:46.7.

Michelle Bradbury representing the University of Toronto at Mississauga (UTM) campus was awarded the silver medal after completing the 2000m race in a time of 7:43.2.

Meanwhile, Claire Hutchinson turned in a very respectable performance in the Senior A women’s category against some of the best rowers in the world. Claire’s time of 7:22.1 was the third fastest female university athlete’s time in a race dominated by Canada’s national team members.

In addition to the individual performances, U of T rowers captured three second-place finishes in the team events. Claire Hutchinson led a team of women, which included Chelsea Hughes, Janette Mason, Irada Ibrahim-Zada, Julia Matheson, Jennifer Rilstone, and Alanna Kosimar to take second place in the University women’s eight 1000m event in a time of 3:46.5. The U of T women were edged out by The Institut de technologie agroalimentaire du Québec (ITA Québec).

For their part the men’s university eight team of Mike Braithwaite, Jamy Li, Jeff Chadwick, Scott Sinclaire, Graeme Maitland, Kyle Vernest, John Hoppe, and Dan Elliott also placed second in their team event in a time 3:18.1. This event was also won by ITA Québec in a time of 3:14.0.

The UTM rowers put in an equally strong performance in the men’s club four team event when they placed second out of 10 teams with a time of 3:08.0. The team of Dennis Moiseenko, James Walker, Dennis Harlung and Yuri Dashko finished a mere 1.5 seconds behind gold medalist Leander Boat Club of Hamilton, Ont.

Full results can be found at http://www.cdnindoorrowing.org/.