The trip north to the famous Brentwood Regatta on Vancouver Island in Canada is always a tough one — there’s the journey, the competition and the wind. All three played a part this year, but Burton Beach Rowing Club athletes can hold their heads high after a weekend of racing strong competition in tough conditions. BBRC’s final medal tally was two golds, a silver and three bronze medals.
Kicking things off for the club were sophomores Ros Bellscheidt and Ava Lorentzen, who blitzed a field of 18 crews to win the JV girls’ double by nine seconds. And in what may have been one of the greatest performances so far by the young club, the novice boys’ coxed four (Joe Barnes, Braden Edwards, Simon Grant and Davis Kelly, coxed by Keziah Rutschow) found its groove and fantastic form to win gold over a strong squad from the Vashon Island Rowing Club.
In the girls’ sculling events, BBRC were the fastest American crews in the single, double and quad. A quad of Mabel Moses, Kate Kelly, Bellscheidt and Lorentzen (with Rutschow coxing) put up a great fight and attained the bronze medal behind two Canadian crews, with the race being won by a superb outfit from Delta Deas in Vancouver. Other bronze medals were achieved by the boys’ novice quad and the girls’ pair of Kelly and Bellscheidt.
A bittersweet moment came in the girls’ varsity double event, where Kate Kelly joined with Moses to row an incredibly determined race to secure the silver medal in a very strong field, behind the winning crew from Crofton House School (Vancouver). For high school senior Moses, this was her final Brentwood regatta as she approaches the end of her junior rowing career and heads to the University of British Columbia in the fall.
“It was my last ever race on the Brentwood course, and I was thinking about my teammates and all the years of effort,” she said. “It just made me dig that much deeper, and Kate and I were really happy with the outcome.”
After the race, coach Richard Parr shared his thoughts on his soon-to-fledge athlete.
“I was so happy for the girls in the double who put up a huge fight against super quality competition,” he said. “Mabel has pretty much rowed in every category here during her time in junior crew. Her Brentwood highlights have included wins in the lightweight eight and four, and it was great to see her finish up with such a strong performance. I’ve coached her for five years, and we’ve been through some amazing highs and some pretty devastating lows together, and to see her character shine through wasn’t a surprise at all. I feel very fortunate to be able to work with such an outstanding person.”
Next up for BBRC is a pre-Regionals scrimmage with seven clubs from Washington and Oregon at Vancouver Lake on Sunday.
— Written by Sarah Low, Beachcomber reporter, with contributions from Richard Parr, BBRC coach and Low’s husband.
