The Brown Cup is at once a spectacle and sporting event — this nation’s answer to the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race down the Thames.
The annual 3.5-kilometre match-race down the Gorge between Canadian rowing powers University of Victoria Vikes and UBC Thunderbirds, featuring their eight-oared crews, takes place today from Gorge Narrows to the Steamship Restaurant in the Inner Harbour. The varsity races begin a 1:05 p.m. for the men and 1:25 for the women. They will be preceded by the reserve crews racing at 12:05 p.m. for the men and 12:25 for the women.
Hundreds are expected to line the course, including from above, as the Selkirk Trestle and Johnson Street Bridge are popular viewing points to watch two programs that have produced numerous Olympians for Canada.
“This is the biggest event of the spring in Canadian rowing. You are watching future Olympians,” said UVic men’s head coach Aalbert Van Schothorst.
“These are the two best university crews in the country going head-to-head. It’s going to be an end-to-end race. There are unbelievable athletes in both boats.”
Historically they have been as UBC and UVic rowers have produced several Olympic medallists for Canada, Thunderbirds rowers at Melbourne in 1956 and Rome in 1960 and Vikes rowers from Los Angeles 1984 to Tokyo 2020 including gold-medallists Dean Crawford, Kevin Neufeld, Grant Main, John Wallace, Derek Porter, Darren Barber, Bruce Robertson, Andy Crosby, Kevin Light and Adam Kreek.
The UVic men lead the all-time Brown Cup series 20-10 but are looking for their first Brown Cup championship since 2018.
“UBC [the past few years] has had a dominant crew described as the Crew of the Century. But we have a quiet confidence and real sense of purpose heading into this Brown Cup with rowers who have represented Canada,” said Van Schothorst.
The Vikes varsity crew is led by U-23 world championship bronze-medallist Giancarlo DiPompeo, U-23 worlds rower Andrew Hubbard and 2023 Santiago Pan Am Games rowers Connor Attridge and Quinn Storey. The rest of the UVic crew is Nicholas Murray-Coplen, Samuel Ree, Kai Bartel, Matthew Thompson and Jesse Harold.
The UVic women’s rowing program most recently produced Tokyo 2020 Olympic-medallists Avalon Wasteneys and Caileigh Filmer. The program shows no signs of letting up and won the 2022 and 2023 national university championship and the Vikes are the defending Brown Cup champions and lead the all-time series against UBC 26-4.
“This might be the physically strongest crew I’ve had in the Brown Cup,” said Vikes women’s head coach Jane Gumley.
The UVic stroke is Ellie Sousa and she is backed by Mikaela Holthuis, Danica Ariano, Gabby Kieser, Natalya Ariano, Pepper Howe, Kaliya Javra, Belen Reed and coxswain Helen Ross.
“It is great for our athletes, and great for our sport of rowing, to go under the bridges packed with people,” said Gumley, of the Brown Cup spectacle.
