MONTREAL – The U of T Varsity Blues swept three events from the McGill University rowing club to capture the inaugural Toronto-McGill Challenge, Saturday morning.
The event in Montreal took place on a memorable, regal day of pomp and circumstance that coincided with the Coronation of King Charles held in the United Kingdom.
The Toronto-McGill Challenge marked the historic renewal of a century-old rivalry that initially took place 97 years ago on Oct. 16, 1926 in chilly, windy conditions at Lachine, Que. At that time, it was billed as the first-ever intercollegiate rowing competition on Canadian waters.
For this year's competition, due to safety concerns over choppy waters and windy conditions, a decision was made to cancel the event at the Lachine Rowing Club and relocate to Montreal's Olympic Rowing Basin, located about 10 kilometres away. This move delayed the planned start by about 90 minutes but the alternate venue provided sheltered, calm waters and partly-cloudy 22 C weather conditions with a mild head wind. Electronic timing was not available.
The first event, a 2,000-metre course, featured a "reserves mixed eight" composed of men and women. Toronto had two boats entered, compared to a lone McGill entry. The Varsity Blues "A" crew finished first, winning the Cup by a boat length ahead of the U of T "B" boat. The McGill eight followed, a boat length behind.
The Varsity Blues winning crew was composed of Peter Hansen (coxie), Eren Rudy, William Lloyd, Youssef El Mays, Navraj Brar, Claudia Makhanko-Tang, Roksolana Nazar, Maia Stelfox and Jane Paterson.
The McGill reserves mixed eight featured Paige McCallum (coxie), Anaë Werner, Adam Czarnecki, Heather Chisholm, Avery Seeley, Harrison Roy, Theresia Schwab, Mia Stevanovic and Sofia Campos.
In the women's eight, a U of T crew featuring five athletes from the boat that had finished fifth at the Canadian University Rowing Association championships in St. Catharines, Ont., last November, took an early lead and held it throughout. They won in dominant fashion over the McGill crew.
Their U of T winning crew included Katy Myler (coxie), Katrina Miehlbradt, Olivia Brunnenkant, Alison Okumura, Lark Huska, Krizia Rust, Jamie Rosenfeld, Lauren Pureza-Dagenais and Sophie Corradini.
The McGill boat featured Paige McCallum (coxie), Abigail Powell, Alice Saito, Caroline Zimmer, Moka Johns, Amalia "Molly" Tinmouth, Mariam Anwar, Emily Lindquist and Sophia Waller.
The men's eight followed, featuring one racing shell from each school. The teams were neck-and-neck over the first 500 metres, until Toronto pulled ahead for good, winning the Barber Pole Trophy by a boat length. At the Nationals last fall, McGill had placed fifth, while Toronto finished eighth.
The winning crew featured Jack Pankratz (coxie), Ben Humer, Noah Campbell, Luc Dodge-Terra, Kamal Elboghdadi, Sebastien Psarianos, Peter Mikulash, Nick Garcia and Eric Liu.
The McGill eight was composed of Georg Gaidoschik (coxie), Victor Rolland, Markus Maile, Patrice Legare, Jocelyn Blanchet, Edison Luke, Jacob Lofaro, Paul Speciel, Federico Sanchez.
An awards ceremony followed with the presentation of three trophies, donated by the head coaches of both schools, namely Dr. Philip Hedrei at McGill and UofT's Mark Williams. As per tradition, the winning school also received the shirts off the backs of the losing school.
Source: Earl Zukerman / McGill Athletics
