University of Victoria Vikes host Canada’s best rowers at Elk Lake

In just days, the best rowers from across the country head to Victoria to take part in the two-day Canadian University Rowing Championship at Elk Lake.

Fleets of rowing shells will start arriving from across the country towards the end of the month, getting ready for when the course opens for two days of training on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

Seeding time trials begin at 9 a.m. on Nov. 2, running until 3 p.m. with boats rowing every 10 minutes. The time trials determine which boats will compete in the A and B Finals for their designated classification on Sunday, Nov. 3.

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Those competing range from Rowing Canada Aviron national team athletes that have represented Canada at the Senior World Championships, U23 World Championships, Pan-American Games and the Canadian Henley Regatta. Men and women will send forward 14 athletes per gender to race in six categories: open singles, lightweight singles, open doubles, lightweight doubles, open eight and lightweight fours.

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Athletes will be crowned champions of specific events and a point system is in place to reward teams based on how they finish in each category. By the end of the competition, the school with the most points will be crowned national champion and take home the 23rd CURC banner.

The list of competing schools is still being determined.

Last year, UVic went up against boats from the University of British Columbia, Queen’s University, Brock University, Western Ontario University, the University of Calgary, the University of Toronto, the University of St. Francis Xavier, the University of Ottawa, Laurentian University, the University of Guelph McMaster University and Trent University, to name a few.

The entire day of finals (Nov. 3) will be broadcast through Roll Focus Productions on the Vikes Facebook page.

For more information visit govikesgo.com/sports/2019/9/27/CURC.aspx.