OUA Rowing Preview: Excalibur Rowing team's preparation has them ready to race at the OUA Rowing Championships
The Trent Excalibur Rowing team is set to head the OUA Rowing Championships this weekend in Welland, Ontario, with Trent Athletics acting as the administrative hosts to the event. With a strong return to training and competition, the team is ready for big races over the weekend.
"The team is very excited to get to the start line this weekend," said Grace VandenBroek. "We are focusing on our crews and the goals that we have set for ourselves. At the end of the day this is just another race, and we need to do our very best."
Travelling to Welland, Ont., on Friday , the team will be able to test the water before the boats hit the start line on Saturday. With the different levels of experience within the team, they hope to take each race at a time and support each other along the way.
As a close-knit team, training together on the Otonabee River throughout the fall, the team has continued their strong bond and they hope that each member of the team can achieve their shared and individual goals. Whatever the goal is, Shepherd believes that the OUA Championship will be a great experience.
"We have some crews who will race strategically and try and get into positions to win medals in the A finals. Other crews will lay it all out and try and race their heats as fast as possible to test themselves," explained Rosalyn Shepherd. "It's great that we have this dynamic. Young talent coming up, and a strong focus on the development of a varsity athlete."
Coming off her third U23 Rowing Championships with Team Canada over the summer, VandenBroek returned to the OUA circuit, capturing three wins in the women's 1x event. Shepherd has had a strong season of her own as well, winning the lightweight 1x race at the Head of the Rideau earlier this season, before two silver medal finishes at the Head of the Trent Regatta.
Shepherd, VandenBroek are joined by a strong veteran group to lead the the rest of the team into this weekend. Simon Grasdal, Brianna Tombs, and Taylor Bryan have shown leadership on and off the water, transferring to dominant races throughout the season. With strong competition set to hit the water on Saturday, the Excalibur rowing team will be ready to race.
"We know that there are some fast crews out there and we are confident that we will be able to be right alongside them if not in front," said VandenBroek. "It is important that we stay internal within our crews and race our race. Nerves are going to be high but we have been working on turning that into speed on the water."
Follow along all the action this weekend and all season long by visiting our Excalibur Varsity page, and following us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for the latest updates on the Excalibur.
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