26 top Mustangs rowers, along with coaches Volker Nolte, Stefan Schulze and Matthew Waddell, travelled to Burnaby, BC this past weekend to compete in the  Canadian University Rowing Championships against the top University crews across the country.  Both the men’s and women’s teams placed third overall with just a few points separating the top 3 schools in each category, also winning 3 gold medals. 
 
Time trials took place on Saturday, November 3^rd, where crews raced down the course against the clock in hopes their time would be fast enough to qualify for the A finals on Sunday.  In true Mustang fashion, every single Western crew advanced to the A finals, meaning all teams placed top six in their event.
 
In the heavyweight women’s single, Genevieve Favreau set the tone for a successful day of finals on Sunday, finishing second to world U23 gold medallist Carling Zeeman of Laurentian in the first event of the day.  In the lightweight women’s single, Sara Matovic finished 5^th in a close race, and Kieran Tierney, rookie on the lightweight men’ team, placed 6^th in the single.  Adam Rabalski had an incredible day on the water, winning the extremely competitive heavyweight men’s single by 3 seconds.
 
 In our lightweight doubles, the men’s crew of Marc Addison and Dakin Wilson finished fourth in their first sculling event of the season.  The lightweight women’s crew of Sarah Christensen and Alyssa Ethier finished 3^rd, heading home with a bronze medal.
 
Our heavyweight men’s pair (Mark Dawidek and David Lariviere) won the event on Saturday, but had to deal with broken boat steering from the start of their race on Sunday, ultimately finishing in 3^rd place.  The heavyweight women’s pair (Jody Schuurman and Addie Barr) raced strong on Sunday in a tight field, finishing 2^nd and walking away with a silver medal around their necks.
 
 Sara Matovic, Alyssa Ethier, Sarah Christensen, Melissa Faichuk and coxie Natasha Caminsky, fresh off their win at the Head of the Charles Regatta earlier this season, won a second gold medal for Western in the lightweight women’s four.  After a brutal season of injuries, the lightweight men’s crew (Graham Schenck, Marc Addison, Dakin Wilson, Kieran Tierney and coxie Meghan Erskine) pulled together for a fourth place finish in the lightweight men’s four.
 
Finally, in the highly anticipated 8s races, defending champions in the heavyweight women eight finished a disappointing 4^th place among fierce competition from the University of Victoria, UBC and Queen’s. 
 
Closing the day with an incredible result, the Western men won the hotly contested heavyweight men’s 8+. By winning the race, the crew, made up of David Lariviere, Mark Dawidek, Nick Schudlo, Lance Brazeau, Adam Rabalski, Gianrico DePasquale, Alex Munro, Graham Schenck and coxie Meghan Erskine, also put their names in the prestigious CURC Book of Honour. 
 
Mustangs rowers are now completing a tough week of fitness testing, while many go on to compete at the National Rowing Championships this weekend in Victoria, BC.