A COURSE FOR SUCCESS: Two days of Head of the Trent homecoming action
Annual regatta and homecoming is a celebration of the sport
Expanding the 49th Head of the Trent Regatta to two days made it a more inclusive event this year.
While Ontario university crews dominated the waters Saturday, the focus would shift Sunday to the masters and junior divisions. It helped grow the number of entries from 450 to 520 with room for 900 in the future.
More masters divisions allowed Trent Excalibur alumni such as 1992 Olympic gold medallist Rob Marland to jump in an eight with old teammates.
“When I started rowing here I couldn’t make the varsity crew. I was on a junior varsity crew because I wasn’t very good,” said Marland.
It was 1983. Five years later, Marland rowed at the Seoul Olympics and in 1992 won gold in Barcelona in an eight.
Peterborough Rowing Club and Trent coaches like Terry Kelly, Brian Love and Carol Love were mentors.
“Carol Love got me on the national team in 1985 much like she has Trevor Jones, Andrew Stewart-Jones, endless names, more recently,” said Marland. “To come back and be a part of this and socialize and volunteer and also row here is magic.”
The regatta is the first on the OUA schedule to bring all university crews to one meet. Second-year Trent rower Spencer Kielar, coming off a summer where he rowed the World Rowing U23 Championships and Pan Am Games, won the Champs division of the men’s single sculls. He edged Peterborough native Michael Bryenton of Queen’s who was Kielar’s teammate at World U23s.
“He beat me at a regatta earlier this year in Vancouver, so I wanted to get him,” Kielar said.
Kielar will also row a double with teammate Ian Holmquist, of Peterborough, recent winner of the RBC Training Ground National Final, a talent search for future Olympians.
“With practice we can do some damage,” said Kielar.
HOTR coincides with Trent’s Homecoming Weekend, but it was also a homecoming for Bryenton. It was his fifth HOTR after making his international debut in the summer.
“It’s the best regatta to kick off the season because the atmosphere is so great,” he said. “There is Head of Rideau which a lot of universities go to but you don’t have anything like the canal and it is Trent’s homecoming so everybody is having a good time.”
He drove a bunch of first-year Gaels around Peterborough Friday showing off city landmarks like the Lift Locks. “Mom makes me some food and I get to race and see a bunch of friends. My grandparents wouldn’t go to a race in St. Catharines, where a lot of the racing happens each season, but they always come here. It’s also one of the best places to watch races because it’s so close,” he said.
Race chair Neil Horne said sunny conditions made for ideal race and spectator conditions.
“This is really the epitome of fall racing,” Horne said. “When it’s cool and crisp in the morning and bright and sunny in the afternoon with a little breeze. It’s what you want.”
Spreading races over two days streamlined the event and new dash races near Trent’s campus proved popular. Already his committee is thinking ahead to next year’s 50th anniversary.
“We’ll be putting together a gala for all former Trent and PRC rowers to recognize the regatta’s history,” Horne said. “We’ll certainly try to put on an afternoon party here in some fashion for all of our alumni who have enjoyed the water and feel a part of our greater rowing family in Peterborough.
“We’ve also created through Trent University a rowing-specific endowment,” he added. “Those are some of the things we’re starting to work on.”