Rowing for the podium

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/11/2015 (3694 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mother Nature may soon freeze the river, but that won’t stop the athlete.

Emma Gray has barely been rowing six months, but the 17-year-old Manitoba Rowing Association (MRA) member has been identified by Rowing Canada as having the highest level of potential and ability to make it to the podium as a future Olympic medallist for Canada.

The St. Vital resident was identified by MRA’s head coach Antony Patterson in the spring, when she was 16, while he was conducting a potential athlete testing during the Row To Podium testing at her high school, University of Winnipeg Collegiate. Officials say the teen achieved the best collective test results in the country, and was invited to meet with Patterson, RC officials, and Olympians Jeff Powell and Janine Hanson to learn more about the sport.

Curiously, it was one of Gray’s teachers that first encouraged her to take part in the testing.

“I actually did the testing for gym credit with my school’s phys-ed program,” Gray said. “I had no intention of doing it until one of my teachers encouraged me to do it, curious how I’d do. Being a very competitive person, I could not say ‘no’. Upon researching the sport before the testing, I instantly fell in the love with the idea of it and was intent on hitting the markers before I even knew what the test entailed.”

This competitive spirit, fused with her obvious physical prowess and strength, has brought the six-foot-one teen considerable success for both herself and the provincial rowing program in the space of a few months.

Her accolades so far include a gold medal at the Western Canada Summer Games in the women’s single event — a first for Manitoba — and she also placed third in the double category along with teammate Anne-Marie Goytan. Add to that a third place at the National Rowing Championships in the junior category and gold in the women’s single event at the North West International Rowing Association Championships, and the future looks bright for Gray.

Her upcoming targets include the Junior World Championships in 2016 and the 2017 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. The pinnacle would be an Olympic Games, she said.

Gray has an accomplished background in various sports — including football, basketball, weightlifting and taekwondo (she’s a black belt) — and now she hopes other young people may follow her example and think about giving rowing a try.

“There are so many things I love about rowing — the amount of hours and work it requires to be successful; the sense of overwhelming satisfaction when you finish a hard piece, race or workout and know you couldn’t have taken another hard stroke or pushed yourself any further; or the bad days when you break down, give up, yet keep going, battle with yourself to find that fire you know you have,” Gray said.

The MRA and the Winnipeg Rowing Club is based out of the same facility (20 Lyndale Dr.) due to the small numbers involved with both organizations.

“To be part of the MRA, you must also be a club athlete and participate in a certain amount of club regattas throughout the season,” she said.

For more information, go online at rowingmanitoba.ca  

simon.fuller@canstarnews.com

Facebook.com/TheLanceWPG
Twitter: @lanceWPG