Seniors prepare to host championship in November
Photo courtesy of Vikes women’s rowing.
UVic will host the Canadian University Rowing Championships at Elk Lake on Nov. 2 and 3, where the Vikes women’s team has a chance to capture the national banner for a third consecutive season — something they haven’t done in over a decade.
After their three-peat in 2012, the program endured eight years without winning nationals. During this time, University of Western Ontario won five championships consecutively, followed by UBC winning a three-peat of their own. In the past two seasons, the Vikes have won the title back to back.
The team enters nationals this season with the momentum of a six gold medal performance at the recent Western Canadian University Rowing Championship in Burnaby in October.
This season’s national regatta will be particularly special for Vikes’ assistant captain Paige Letham. Not only will it be her final nationals appearance for the Vikes, but it will also take place at Elk Lake, where she’s trained since first picking up the sport in middle school.
Photo courtesy of Vikes women’s rowing.
Letham has been a key contributor for the Vikes in each of their last three nationals appearances, highlighted by a gold medal in the lightweight 2x with Genevieve Olsen in 2022 that she called her favorite race memory.
After trailing at the halfway mark of the race, the duo accelerated through the final 1 000 metres to a finish so close they had to wait for the race times to be officially published before realizing they’d won.
Later that same day, Letham helped the Vikes secure the overall points win and national championship banner when their lightweight 4+ team won a silver medal.
“It was the first time the UVic women won the banner in ten years, so it was really cool. And then to do it again last year was crazy,” said Letham.
Photo courtesy of Vikes women’s rowing.
This season, Letham decided to take on a new challenge — attempting for the first time to earn a spot in the Vikes’ 8+ boat at nationals.
“It’s been really cool having different experiences each year in the double and the four, and I’ve been lucky to race in both of those events the past three years [at nationals],” said Letham.
“But I found coming into my last year, I wanted a different experience. I wanted to see how I could rank amongst the open weight group and see if I could get a seat in the eight [boat].”
However, nothing is guaranteed in rowing. And, although a senior, Letham will still need to earn her seat in the 8+ boat over many of her teammates. Only 14 of the 24 women on the Vikes’ roster will be selected to race at nationals in November.
Fourth-year rower Kaliya Javra, also an assistant captain, is one of Letham’s UVic teammates competing for a seat on the 8+ boat.
Javra, though, has an advantage — she helped the Vikes secure the 2023 national championship last November, when the 8+ boat she rowed in won the gold medal in the final race of the championship, securing the overall points lead and national banner.
“That was electric,” said Javra. “I tear up every time I think about it … We were so dialed and committed to one another that there was no doubt in my mind that the person in front of me wasn’t going to be pushing themselves that much harder.”
“That’s what we want to bring into this season,” Javra added, explaining that the team will have weekly meetings heading into nationals to establish specific training and race plans.
Photo courtesy of Vikes women’s rowing.
As the Vikes approach the regatta, those hoping to secure a seat in a national bound boat will need to amp up their desire to win as the team’s training intensity increases.
Rowing at the Vikes’ level requires full commitment — both physically and mentally.
The Vikes’ twenty-two hour per week training schedule includes 5:45 a.m. Monday to Friday rowing sessions, afternoon training sessions four days a week, and two rowing sessions on Saturday morning to complete the week before resting on Sunday.
“It’s such a grueling sport sometimes. Getting up at 5:00 [a.m.] in the pitch black in November. You’re in the dark the whole time, it’s raining, it’s cold — you just want to be in bed asleep,” said Letham, who admitted to battling some burnout coming into her final collegiate rowing season.
“There’s been times where I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to keep doing this.’”
Letham, who’s endured three separate rib stress fractures — a common overuse-injury for competitive rowers — said it’s her teammates that keep her motivated.
“I need to be there for my team as a captain and a teammate,” said Letham. “But also, seeing how much my teammates believe in me when I’m in those dark holes reminds me maybe I should believe in myself too.”
Javra added that, no matter which athletes fill the final seats in the boats slated for nationals, it’ll be a team effort to get to that point and “awesome to be able to have everyone there to watch.” UVic hasn’t hosted the national regatta since 2019.
Tickets to the Canadian University Rowing Championships at Elk Lake on Nov. 2 and 3, featuring both the women’s and men’s team, can be purchased on the Vikes website.
