Norwalk River Rowing’s Kris Petreski and Liam McDonough won a gold medal at the 132 Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in St. Catharines, Ontario. This year, the regatta was held from August 3 to 10 and attracted 2,173 crews from 136 teams in ten countries, including the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Great Britain, Kuwait, Lebanon and Mexico. McDonough and Petreski won their gold medal in the U17 double. Their double took first place in every qualifying race. The final was held in a strong headwind and choppy conditions that caused them to “catch a crab” in the last ten strokes of their sprint, but they were able to regain their composure and the lead. This is the first gold medal won by Norwalk River Rowing in the prestigious Canadian Henley Regatta, and the only Henley Gold won by a Connecticut crew this year. McDonough and Petreski also rowed the final of the mens’ single dash (an open age category) with Petreski taking third.
It was a record year for Norwalk River Rowing at the Canadian Henley, with the club placing two additional boats in the finals – McDonough and Petreski in the U17 1x, for a total of five boats in the finals. Norwalk River Rowing also advanced four other boats to the semi-finals: (1) the mens’ U19 4+ with Lyon, Bauerfeld, Petreski, McDonough and Helms; (2) the mens’ U19 2- with Helms and Bauerfeld (they missed making finals by only nine-tenths of a second); (3) the womens’ U19 2x with Vacas and Ornato; and (4) the mens’ U17 1x with Andersen. In total, nine boats qualified for semi-finals, five of those made it to finals, one took a Henley Gold and one took third place.
