M5 and Outer Cove reclaim their crowns at the 2017 St. John's Regatta
M5 and Outer Cove have both reclaimed their crowns at the 2017 Royal St. John's Regatta.
Both teams won last year's women's and men's championship, respectively.
The M5 crew shaved 10 seconds off their winning time from last year, finishing with an official time of 5:00.71. Their time last year was 5:10.16.
The Outer Cove men's crew came close to beating the course record with an official time of 8:59.70. The course record is 8:51.32.
This is only the fifth time in the Regatta's history that the men's race has cracked the 9-minute mark.
The crews from JAC and Steers Insurance finished second and third, respectively, in the women's competition.
In the men's, Smith Stockley came second, bumping last year's second-place finishers Lamb's Rum to third.
In honour of Ron Cadigan
There was something special on all of the royal blue Outer Cove crew shirts this year. They all sported the number 10 -- the jersey number of HockeyNL hall-of-famer Ron Cadigan.
"He got us here, he got us into the sport," said James Cadigan. He and his brother Daniel are Outer Cove crew members. Ron Cadigan, who passed away this June, was their father.
"We're proud to be down here and he was proud to have us down here," said James.
"So we decided that we wanted to have him there in the boat and the best way to do it was to put him right on our shirt."
Dan Cadigan said his father's spirit inspired the crew this year.
"He was strong right to the end and we took that forward in the rowing. When you think you can't go anymore and you're battling so hard to keep going, that's exactly what he did for us."
Three-year plan
Many of the rowers on the M5 crew are old hands at winning. The team won the championship last year, and many of the crew have won championships with other crews before.
"We've been on a three-year plan," said crewmember Alyssa Devereaux.
"Last year was more getting back into rowing — a few of us had five or six years off. This year we picked up the intensity of it. We're just trying to row as fast as we can."
The goal of the three year plan is a great time next year at the Regatta's 200th anniversay.
Looking to 200
One hundred teams competed in this year's regatta. According to LeighAnne O'Neill, the regatta's general manager, it's been a long time since the number of teams broke the triple-digits.
"I believe I heard that the last time we broke triple digits was in the 90s," she said.
Chris Neary, the regatta's vice-president and course captain, suspects there are a lot of crews out there with a plan similar to M5's.
"I know there are a lot of good rowers that are away and they haven't rowed in a couple years and they're coming back," said Neary.
"There's a lot of teams that have been training for two, three or four years for the big race next year. Hopefully we can get a good day for it, and get some nice conditions, and see if there are some records that could be broken."
