Adam Scotti

As the year’s first snowfall blankets the city, and the water is drained from the rowing basin in Parc Jean Drapeau, McGill’s Crew season comes to an end.

The McGill rowers, under the guidance of Head Coach Philip Hedrei, trained nearly every morning since late August and had a successful season, with promising results throughout the fall. The women’s lightweight crew, comprised of Patricia Latendresse (Coxswain), Marie-Christine Razaire (stroke), Emma Sheehan, Iris Karry, Jennifer Allan, Bridget Schrempf, Fred de Muszka, Leiya Kenney, and Megan Lydon were recently voted “Crew of the Year” at the season ending banquet. Their season was highlighted by impressive performances at the  Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston (placing in sixth, a mere seven seconds off fourth place) and at the OUA final in St. Catherine’s, finishing third with a time of 6:55.8, three seconds behind the first place Queen’s University. Allan received the Crew’s MVP award and was one of four McGill lightweight women (along with Razaire, Sheehan, and Karry) to travel to Victoria in early November and participate in the Canadian University Rowing Championship. After making the A final, the lightweight four finished fifth overall.

On the men’s side the lightweight four, made up of veteran rowers Renaud Garon-Gendron, Michael Ross, Nate DeBono, and Evan Dejonghe, and coxed by Rinita Mazumder, had success throughout the season. Their third place finish at Head of the Charles, a painstaking 1.5 seconds off first, along with a third place finish at the OUA final were some of the many successful results of the season.

Finally, the novice men’s eight finished their season impressively, winning silver at the OUA finals.

McGill’s outlook for the future is promising given the tremendous dedication and success shown by this year’s novice rowers and several retuning rowers next season.

MVPs: Jen Allen and Renaud Garon-Gendron

Players to Watch:  Philippe Toren and Leiya Kenney