Brentwood College and rowing have become synonymous over the years.
Producing Olympic-medallist alumni such as Dave Calder, Malcolm Howard, Scott Frandsen, Blair Horn and Darren Barber has a tendency to do that for a school’s reputation.
The greatest public manifestation of that, in terms of events, is the annual Brentwood Regatta. The invasion begins, with 1,653 rowers from 35 schools and clubs from B.C., Washington and Oregon converging on Mill Bay for the 45th Brentwood Regatta today through Sunday.
When you add in coaches, parents and support staff, there is a rowing-related influx into Mill Bay of about 5,000 people this weekend. There will be live entertainment and an art show. It takes the entire student body and staff of Brentwood College to pull this off.
On the water, it’s quite an organizational feat as boats seven abreast leave the start line to race about every seven minutes.
The hosts look to be strong and are led by a couple of Grade 12 rowers — Brentwood boys’ team captain Elliot Rogers and Sidney Payne from the girls’ squad — who are headed in the fall to row in the NCAA Pac-12 with Cal-Berkeley.
“Out of a student body of 480, we have 92 students who are on the rowing teams. We’re looking for a new generation. We feel it’s a strong program, especially with our Grade 11 class,” said Debbie Sage, director of rowing at Brentwood College.
“And this is a qualifier for the Canadian school championships in June at St. Catharines, Ont.”
