Ravens prepare for OUA Championships this weekend
The Carleton University Ravens rowing team is gearing up for the 2011 OUA Championships this weekend, hosted by Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont.
The Ravens are looking to build on last year’s performance that saw Matt Fournier (Ottawa) and Kent Mamen (Chelsea, Que.) pick up a silver medal in the heavyweight men’s double sculls event.
Carleton has had a strong season so far under new head coach Ed Fournier, including a number of individual second and third place finishes at the Head of the Rideau and the Head of the Trent.
The Ravens will send 17 student-athletes to the championships this year, but this small roster presents some challenges.
“We are a small team in comparison to other clubs, so the options in combining athletes to form crews are limited,” says Fournier.
However, there is plenty of reason to be excited about the future.
“Amongst the few athletes we do have, there are many talented and dedicated rowers who will be returning to the team for the next three to four years,” says Fournier. “They provide a very strong base on which we can grow the team.”
For the past two months, the Ravens have been training for an hour and a half six mornings a week starting at 5 a.m. to prepare for this event.
“Rowing races is very discomforting and most would say painful,” says Fournier. “At this stage, the team needs to trust their training and dig deep to push past previous limits in order to achieve peak performances.”
The 2011 championships will be held at the Royal Canadian Henley Course on Saturday, Oct. 29.
