The juniors from the Delta Deas Rowing Club have had a great sprint season this spring, starting with Lake Stevens in Wash., where they came away with eight top-three finishes including four first-place finishes, one second-place finish and three thirds.
Then it was onto the highly competitive Brentwood Regatta, which attracts clubs from all over the Pacific Northwest, including many large and well-funded clubs from Washington. Despite the relatively small size of Delta’s junior program, the kids did extremely well, garnering three top-three finishes, including two second-place finishes in the women’s double and the women’s single and a third place finish in the men’s single event.
Shawnigan Lake continued the winning theme. Hilary Shaape placed first in the novice singles, beating her competitors by over 20 boat lengths and then garnering a second in the women’s doubles with her partner Amanda Serek. The club also took third in the lightweight boys doubles and Robert Hodgins, another novice, took second in his single race.
The last regatta of the spring season was Delta Deas’s own Scholastic Regatta. The juniors did well, taking seven top-three finishes, including a convincing win by Hilary Shaap in the girls lightweight single event. Shaap just started rowing last September which makes this even more notable. All of the kids did really well in what was a first regatta for a number of them.
Delta Deas is gearing up to host the 2012 B.C. Summer Games rowing venue for Surrey in July and the kids are preparing for the B.C. Champs in Victoria and the Canadian Henley in St. Catherines, Ont.
Delta Deas Rowing Club is looking forward to a busy summer season. Learn to row for youth has started and the club is actively looking for new youth to join the program. Information is available at www.deltadeas.com or by calling 604-946-3074.
