Athletes from the Orillia Rowing Club were able to reap the fruits of their winter training at the Nancy Storrs Ontario Indoor Rowing Championship in St. Catharines, with plenty of top-ten finishes across the board, as well as multiple personal bests.
Orillia had 12 athletes in 10 events divided by age, gender, distance and weight with over 600 athletes from 38 clubs entered overall.
Brothers Sam and Mathew Pecorella competed in the junior high school men under 150 lbs, 2000m, where they finished with times of 7:30 and 8:12 respectively, both with a personal best.
Fedor Radzievskii, racing one weight bracket higher in the under 165 lbs category for junior high school men, finished in 7:54 in his first ever race. Racing in the junior high school women under 135 lbs 2000m event, Maelle Bouchard finished in 8:41, earning her a finish in the top quarter of her race and a personal best.
All of these athletes competed in a second, shorter race later in the day, a 500m sprint. In the U15 women Maelle Bouchard finished her race in 2:00, earning fourth place. Sam Pecorella and Radzievskii raced in the U15 men category, now joined by Justin Yao. Pecorella placed second with a time of 1:38, followed by Radzievskii in 4th with a 1:40 finish. Just missing a top ten finish by one second, Yao finished with a time of 1:47, landing him in 11th.
In the U13 men's sprint, Matthew Pecorella finished first with a provincial record for age and distance of 1:49.6. Racing in the senior high school 145 lbs women event, Molly Hazel, fresh off a skiing competition, managed to pull a 7:59, a time which landed her in fifth place. Competing in the senior high school 150 lbs men, Elias Fiddick finished with a time of 7:31, placing him 18th.
Three athletes represented Orillia in the open women’s category with Iris Fiddick, fighting through to a 7:50 time, earning herself a personal best and sixth place while sisters Chilvn Fenton-Stickle, with 8:15 and Taryn Fenton, 8:16 in their first ever regatta, placing them in ninth and tenth. Rounding out the athletes was Kristine Riedel-Fiddick, competing in the masters women's event, finishing in a time of 8:22, a personal best which, after age adjustments, landed her in tenth.
Internationally, Sarah Pidgen, a former rower with the Orillia Rowing Club competed in the Women's Versa Challenge at the World Indoor Rowing Championships in Prague. The Versa Challenge consisted of five different races/challenges on the rowing machine over two days. There were 11 international women who qualified to participate in the event and Pidgen finished 10th.
"It was not my best finish," said Pidgen, who finished 7th overall last year in the same event.
Feb. 24 was Indoor Rowing Day in Canada and the Orillia club did its part with several events taking place. Locally,the club provided free coaching at the Orillia Recreation Centre to anyone wanting to try indoor rowing for the first time. In addition, some Orillia rowers came to the Rec Centre to row and log their total meters towards the Coast-to-Coast indoor challenge.
