Quebec rowing team training at Brome Lake
Thursday morning last week, some motorists may have thought that they had passed a truck pulling a trailer loaded with bright white missiles. Wrong. They were rowing sculls earmarked for the 22 athletes selected to be Quebec’s rowing team for the upcoming Canada Games. They have converged on TBL to take advantage of the prime conditions that Brome Lake has to offer rowers of any level.
Karol Sauvé, director general of Aviron Québec, has been involved with competitive rowing for over 35 years and says that Brome Lake is a perfect place for this kind of activity. Other rowing bases such as the Montreal’s Olympic Basin and Parc des Nations in Sherbrooke have been the most active places facilitating the sport, but Brome Lake is much better suited for overall needs as a developing sport. He is excited about the warm reception and enthusiastic response of the Brome Lake community.
For the next three weeks, these young athletes will be seen training as they prepare for the Canada Games in singles, doubles, quads, and octuples. They will be working on optimal transmission of power from rower to shell in order to go as fast as they can.
The excitement at Douglass Beach last
Thursday morning on that same trailer was the arrival of a 60-foot hull for an eight-man team. After an hour of assembling the two lengths of the sleek shell made of carbon-fibre reinfor ced plastic for strength and fastening the symmetrical riggers that service the oars, the eight-man rowing vessel steered by the “cox” was launched. Delicately manoeuvred down a narrow path to water’s edge, then lifted and flipped upright into the water, the careful balancing act began as each member embarked. All in, there was a pause of silence and inertia, and, then, off they went, rocketing across the water. Sauvé says that the movement of the athletes must be fluid and balanced.
The growth of the rowing program at Brome Lake started by B.C. native Gavin Mckay has taken off dramatically since he and his wife Andrea Wilson landed just over a year ago. Members of the new club’s committee, David and Sally Kinnonmonth, say that there is a lot of work ahead of them to be able to make the program available to more people. They must build their inventory but are hoping that eventually it will be a program reachable to everyone. But when it comes to the racing program, they are excited that the provincial coaches see Brome Lake as a good locale, and, hence, serving to raise awareness to a sport that is well suited for this type of waterway.