Rustlers win Gold at WCUR Championship | October 30, 2017
The Rustlers Rowing team was in Victoria on the weekend to participate in the Western Canadian University Rowing Championships. The Rustlers competed against teams from various teams across Alberta and British Columbia.
The Rustlers had two teams competing in events - women's novice 8 and men's JV 4. The men's JV 4 team struggled in their heat; however, the team was young and inexperienced. The JV class is meant for rowers with experience, which the Rustlers only had one had. The other members of the boat were two males newer to rowing and one female, as they did not have enough males to fill the boat. While the team finished 6th in the A Final, the race saw the team put forward their best technical effort of the season.
The women's team competed in the Novice 8 class, which is meant for rowers with little to no rowing experience. The Rustlers competed in the Novice 8 final and finished first, winning the gold medal at the Western Canadian University Rowing Championships. While the Rustlers finished on a strong note, it would take them the season to get there. The team competed in the B Final at a race in Calgary two weeks before Westerns, and that seemed to be the turning point for the crew.
Following their time trial in Calgary, they discussed the errors they had made, as they had many, and how correcting these errors would impact their performance. In the B final they went and proved to themselves that they can actually go faster by going slower, meaning they needed to slow down in the boat to make the boat itself go faster. Between Calgary and Western's, the team had two weeks of practice in which they use the smaller boats which would help them be in better shape when they got into the bigger boat.
In the final, the Rustlers competed against teams from Simon Fraser University, University of Fraser Valley University, University of Victoria, University of Calgary and the University of Alberta. The Rustlers and the University Alberta started strong, with the University of Alberta having a cleaner start. 3/4 of the way through the race they hit a crab which is where a rower fails to clear their oar from the water at the end of a power strip, causing it to act as an anchor. The crab the University of Alberta hit slowed down their boat and gave the Rustlers plenty of opportunity to pass them. The University of Victoria came from behind near the finish line to finish second.
The women's Novice 8 crew also competed in the JV event. Despite finishing last, they did well and saw where they could improve and get better, as the JV race was before the novice final. Rustlers Rowing team Head Coach Peter Walsh believed the JV race helped the team see what they could do in the final.
"In Calgary, the team finally listened and realized that coach knew what he was talking about," Walsh said. "They found out when they slow down in the boat they could go faster. The weekend in Calgary was a turning point for this team. In rowing, there's no silver or bronze handed out, its gold or go home. At the end of the race, Victoria was coming in so hard that if the race had been another ten strokes Victoria probably would've won. Even though it was challenging being a young team and new to the sport, the team was able to find their ability to focus, which is critical, as even a moment's lapse and you can be done."