Brock rower wins Canadian erg title
Brock’s Sarah Slattery won the open women’s division at the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships.
Sarah Slattery’s brief Brock University career is winding down in impressive fashion.
The 28-year-old former Port Dalhousie resident last rowed at the high school level for Saint Francis when she was 17 before joining the Brock rowing team last year. She was chosen to compete in Brock’s women’s eight at last fall’s Canadian University Rowing Championships and last weekend she won the open women’s division at the virtually staged Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships.
It was her first time competing at the Canadian indoor championships since high school.
“It was a long time ago,” she said, with a laugh. “I can’t even tell you how I did in high school. I was probably in the under-17 category.”
The professional kinesiology master’s student was delighted with her performance.
“It sounds pretty awesome but I know there are tons of fast open weight women who weren’t competing in this race so it’s relative to the competition but it is still a great feet considering I am work in emerg (emergency ward at the Welland hospital) and doing my master’s.”
The registered nurse competed in the event in comfortable surroundings.
“I have a home gym out of my garage but it was a bit cold out there so I moved the erg into the living room. My boyfriend (Connor McCulloch) put the virtual race up on our TV,” she said. “It was kind of weird but I don’t really mind. It was actually more convenient for me to be at home.”
While the race was on TV, Slattery didn’t take the time to see where she was as the 2,000-metre event played out.
“I messaged my coaches in the days before talking to them about where my fitness was at and we made a game plan. I just focused on sticking to the game plan and I didn’t even consider where everybody else was.”
At the end of the race, McCulloch was urging her on.
“He was saying ‘Come on Sarah’ because he could tell I was starting to gas out in the last 100 metres. He was cheering but quite generically.”
Slattery has talked with Brock head coach Peter Somerwil about potentially competing in the world indoor championships if her Canadian championship time allows her to do so. She also hopes to row at the Ontario indoor championships at Ridley College.
Slattery played soccer for Ryerson while completing her undergraduate degree in nursing. At Ryerson, she was named a second team Ontario University Athletics all-star.
She never considered playing soccer for Brock.
“I knew I wanted to do my masters and I felt rowing was a sport I could handle jumping back into because my fitness (level) was still quite high and I didn’t want to do something volatile like soccer where the risk of injury is pretty high.
Slattery’s performance highlighted a strong showing by Brock rowers:
Other results included: Sam Stewart, who was the top Canadian and placed second in the men’s under-23 division with a personal best time of 6:04.6; Grimsby native Jared Boles, who usually racing as a lightweight, placed sixth overall and was third fastest Canadian in the under-23 men’s event; Stephen Harris from Guelph placed third overall in the men’s under-23 lightweight event behind two athletes from Uruguay; Jonathan Cinquina was fourth in the men’s under-23 lightweight event; and, Brock freshman Elijah Lopez, who only has one year of rowing experience was the top Canadian and fourth overall in the under-19 men’s event.
“This is a very solid performance showing lots of potential in the future,” Somerwil said.
Below is a list of top five results:
Under 23 men’s 2,000 metres: 2. Sam Stewart, Brock; 4. Jared Boles, Brock.
Under 23 lightweight men’s 2,000 metres: 3. Stephen Harris, Brock; 4. Jonathan Cinquina. Brock,
Lightweight women’s under-19 2,000 metres: 2. Makeda Harrison, St. Catharines; 4. Ana Cumming, St. Catharines;
Lightweight men’s under-19 2,000 metres: 4. Preston Darling, Notre Dame.
Women’s open 2,000 metres: 1. Sarah Slattery, Brock
Men’s under-19 2,000 metres: 4. Elijah Lopez, Brock.
Men’s under-17 2,000 metres: 1. Alessio Perco, Notre Dame; 3. Leo Biancaniello, St. Catharines; 4. Caillen Peickenhagen, Ridley College.
Women’s under-17 2,000 metres: 5. Mackenzie Murray, Niagara Falls.
Lightweight women’s under-19 500 metres: 5. Kaitlyn Furtney, Notre Dame.
