Row Nova Scotia developing, promoting and growing the sport of rowing in Nova Scotia
Four Nova Scotia rowers have been selected to represent Canada this summer at international regattas around the world. “This level of success is unprecedented,” notes Row NS President, Katie Edwards. “The athletes’ selection to national teams is indicative of years of their hard work, as well as the dedication of provincial team coach, Pat Cody.”
Claire Ellison, of the Halifax Rowing Club, will attend her second straight World Rowing Junior Championships after being named to the Canadian women’s quadruple sculls crew on Thursday. The 18-year-old rower was a member of the junior women’s quad that placed sixth overall in last year’s event in the Czech Republic. This year, Ellison is one of sixteen athletes who will represent Canada at the World Rowing Junior Championships in Tokyo, Japan, from August 7 to 11. Taking place at the new Sea Forest Waterway, this competition will also serve as a test event for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. And, Nova Scotia’s Pat Cody, who has been named lead coach for this regatta, will coach Ellison and her crew.
Emerson Crick and Carolyn Culen, both of the Halifax Rowing Club, have been selected to the Canadian CanAmMex team. For both rowers, it is their first selection to a national team and will mark their first taste of international racing. The two Halifax rowers will take part in a training camp from July 6 to 12 before the regatta takes place July 13 to 14 in Sarasota, Florida – the site of the 2017 World Championships.
Ben Walls, of the North Star Rowing Club and the University of Victoria, has been named to the Canadian team that will compete at the U21 Trans-Tasman Regatta at Lake Karapiro in New Zealand from August 22 to 24. This is Walls’ first selection to a national team and creates a stable platform from which he can climb to the next level of competition.
These four rowers will join Andrew Todd, of the North Star Rowing Club, and Cody Bailey, formerly of Mic Mac AAC Rowing, who are currently training in Victoria, BC, with the Canadian Senior National Team and competing at World Cup events this summer. Todd, a Paralympic Bronze medallist in Rio and World Champion in the pair last summer in Bulgaria, was named the 2019 Support4Sport Senior Athlete of the Year by Sport Nova Scotia in May. Bailey, who rose through Pat Cody’s coaching via the Row to Podium program in Nova Scotia, has been training with the national team in Victoria and recently won a bronze medal with the Senior Men’s 8 at World Cup II in Poznan, Poland.
“These are not accidental choices,” remarks Edwards. “This is the result of solid strategic visioning; diligence on the part of athletes, coaches, and clubs; and remarkable support from our provincial governing bodies. We are incredibly proud of our athletes and Coach Cody, and know that this is just the beginning of an extraordinary era in Nova Scotian rowing.”