Raven rower Kent Mamen placed third in the men’s singles race and first in the mixed doubles race on Sept. 27 at the Head of the Rideau Regatta (Photo: Adam Dietrich)
Rowers from all over Ontario and Quebec put on their rain gear and hit the water on Sept. 27 for the annual Head of the Rideau Regatta hosted by Carleton.
The Carleton varsity rowing team put up a strong fight, but were only able to place seventh overall, with Kent Mamen being the only Raven to finish first in an event.
Trent University came in first with a total of 66 points closely followed by University of Toronto who finished with 65.
The regatta used a point system that combined the points won by individual athletes towards a university total that would determine the regatta winner.
This year was especially significant because Ottawa Rowing Club president Mike Walker introduced the new Kandahar Memorial Trophy.
Walker just finished a year running Canada’s Development Program in Afghanistan and brought back two ornamental vases from Kandahar. He decided to make one of them into the new award for the overall best university at the regatta.
“I coached University of Ottawa for a couple of years when I first got here,” said Walker, “so the university programs are close to my heart.”
Mamen was the first to row for the Ravens in the varsity men’s singles.
“It’s a tough course,” said Mamen, “a lot of long turns and some straight stretches where you have to push yourself, but it’s a fun course.”
Despite the sporadic showers and cold temperatures, Mamen battled through to place third in the singles race and later first in the mixed doubles. ????
“It’s a good event, you get a lot of different people from a lot of different areas,” Mamen said.
The course started five kilometres from the Rideau Canoe Club and wound its way down the Rideau River. It was a headrace, which meant the start was staggered with 20 seconds between each competitor.
“We’re pretty excited to have lots of other universities here,” said Ravens head coach Siobhan McLaughlin.
She said the race was the first real regatta for the team since last week’s friendly match against the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and gave the Ravens an idea of where they stand in order to prepare for Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships.
“I just wanted to do my best,” said Carleton rower Elise Damoiseaux. Damoiseaux competed in the varsity women’s singles race and is one of three girls on the Ravens team.
“There’s room for improvement, but it’s a definite start,” said Ravens rower Andrew Banks.
Banks rowed in the varsity men’s eight and said in the future the team is looking to manage their fitness, and really build the crew mentality to get the team working together as best as they possibly can.
“It’s a good team,” Damoiseaux said. “We do the best we can.”
And with that in mind, Carleton will look to improve in the standings in their next race, the Head of Trent, on Oct. 3.