After the 2016 Rio Olympics, Emma Twigg was finished with competitive rowing. She finished a heart-breaking fourth in the single scull event by less than a second. She had to stand to the side as her competitors mounted the podium. While this would be a hard circumstance in itself, it was devastatingly familiar. Twigg had finished fourth in the 2012 London Olympics. This was her worst nightmare, repeated. While she had completed an outstanding career as an admirable rower, she announced her retirement soon after the closing ceremonies.

And yet … now she’s back.

It was after volunteering at the 2018 Winter Olympics, that the Olympic fire in her, reignited. In March of last year she told newsroom.co.nz: “There’s a lot of work to do, because I haven’t touched an oar pretty much since I left Rio. Maybe I’m being completely unrealistic, but it’s one of those things that I’ve got to try.”

But Twigg didn’t just sit on the couch since Rio wrapped up. Last year, Twigg, Sarah van Bellekom and Rebecca Wardell, began a charity bike ride from Lake Geneva in Switzerland to Lake Hawea, in New Zealand. The ride benefited a New Zealand organization called, Forward Foundation, which seeks to inspire the next generation of female leaders through sport. Twigg rode through the first five months of the odyssey, clocking 100km bikes everyday while still stopping to erg and row along the way. She had to cut her participation short to make sure she returned to New Zealand with enough time to start her rowing training formally. To track the remaining two riders on their journey, visit their website.

To say the least, Twigg’s path has been unconventional. But it isn’t even the first time she had broken from the common route. Before the Rio Olympics, she had taken a break from the New Zealand training centre to complete her Master’s degree in Europe. She qualified for that Olympics, at the, ‘last chance’ regatta.people.”

Now 31, Twigg won Rowing New Zealand 2019 Single Scull Trials in the first weekend in March. Her performance cements her place on the country’s international team that will compete in the World Cups and World Championships this summer.

“Obviously, I wouldn’t be coming back not to win a medal,” Twigg told NZOlympics in an interview at the Trials. “But I think at the end of the day having a medal or not having a medal is not going to define me. I think it’s more about what I get out of the sport and what I can give back to other people.”

Sometimes the conventional path is overrated. She will be a story to watch in the months ahead.

Last weekend, rowers in Canada gathered at Burnaby Rowing Club outside of Vancouver to fight for the title of the best in the country at the National Rowing Championships (NRCs).

The annual regatta is ran as a small boat championship; the only events are pairs (two people sweep boat) and singles (one person sculling boat) for both men and women.

The Canadian National team had just come off of their yearly break and were challenged by the University and Club rowers, who were coming in with Nationals as their main seasonal focus.

Rio Olympian Carline Zeeman competed in her signature event, the women’s single, she continued her domination of the single scull, winning by an eight second lead. Second place came to Andrea Proske, another National team member who won silver in the double at World Cup III this past summer. Third place went to Louis Munro, rowing for Ontario. The event had the most entries ever for the regatta, with 61 women competing.

In the women’s pairs, the National team sweepers were spread across several boats, making for a hotly contested final. The reigning World Championship pair of Hillary Janssens and Caileigh Filmer was split up for the regatta, however, their boats still came first and second. Filmer and her partner Avalon Wasteneys, old partners from their University of Victoria training days, took first, while Janssens and Nicole Hare, Under-23 World Champions from 2016, came in a close second. Third place went to Kristen Bauder and Lisa Roman.

In the Women’s Lightweight single skull, Jill Moffatt, coming off a fifth place finish at World Championships this past summer, led a close final start to finish. Finishing second was Jaclyn Stelmaszyk, a former National team member who has been training in Durham Rowing Club, Ontario, made a surprise appearance at the regatta and came in second. Ellen Gleadow, chased her down and came in a close third.

The heavyweight men’s single event was full of heavy-hitters, including two-time Olympic single scull Champion Mahe Drysdale from New Zealand. The Kiwi had been training with the Canadian men at Elk Lake in Victoria for the past month and received special permission to compete at the Nationals. He was challenged by the field, coming in fourth in the final. Matt Buie, National team veteran fought hard against young up and comer Gavin Stone to squeak across the line first. In the men’s pairs, Kai Langerfeld and Conlin McCabe beat out a field of their National team peers. Matt Lattimer won the lightweight men’s single.

For the first time, the NRCs were broadcast by CBC. Live videos of the events can still be seen on the Rowing Canada Aviron Facebook page.

For full results see Regatta Central here.

The racing coincided with a reunion event of the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic rowing teams to celebrate their 10th anniversary. The Olympic rowers team won four medals and the Paralympic rowers were members of the first every Canadian Paralympic rowing team.

In coastal rowing, races are done on the rough water of open ocean, in more sturdy, wider boats and are usually four to six kilometers long. The race course goes out and around buoys, with multiple boats jostling for position during the race.

In addition, the race starts with crews on the shore, and then they must hustle to the boat, strap in, and start racing.

When conditions on the water are windy or wavy, there can be sensational and dramatic breaching of boats and while crews push and plow through each other and the waves to reach the finish line first.

Unfortunately, when crews gathered in Sydney, Victoria from October 11th to 14th, the conditions would have been enviable by those into regular rowing events.

While the calm waters and sunny skies disappointed some of the more adventurous athletes, there was still much praise for the organization and level of racing. Over 30 nations took part, with 600 athletes taking part. Races were run in the single, double, and coxed quadruple sculls for men and women. In addition, this year was the first World Championships to include the mixed double.

The event had great participation from Canadian rowing clubs, including the Victoria Rowing club, the Winnipeg rowing club, the Delta Deas Rowing Club, the Maple Bay Rowing Club, Club d’Aviron de la Capitale, the Salish Sea Coastal Rowing Club, Club d’Aviron d’Alma, the Nelson Rowing Club, and Aviron Lachine Rowing. There was also international representation from Spain, France, Hong Kong, Germany, Italy, Russia, the USA, New Zealand, Sweden, the Ukraine, Brazil, Ireland, Denmark, Great Britain, Croatia, and Monaco.

Podium results were distributed across countries, but what all the countries were willing to share in was the approval of the friendly people and beautiful location of Sydney. The organizers got rave reviews for a smooth and well-attended event. Maybe next time there will be some rip roaring waves to liven things up!

For more results click here.

For videos and pictures of the event click here.

Caileigh Filmer and Hillary Janssens took a hard-earned gold in the Women’s Pair early in the competition, and the Women’s Eight wrapped up silver on the final day of competition. The regatta ran this week from the 9th to the 16th in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Filmer and Janssens are having a stellar season. All year, they have chased down the reigning World Best Time holders in the Women’s Pair, Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler from New Zealand. The Kiwis were the reigning World Champions. Filmer and Janssens had come close second two months ago at World Cup III in Switzerland. After that event, the pair went to work on their final sprint, with the hopes they could reel in the competition in the closing meters.

Their attention to detail paid off. Halfway through the race, Filmer and Janssens had taken the lead, edging ahead of the black New Zealand boat. It was the Canadian’s final sprint that kept their lead alive as the Kiwis tried to wheel them in.

Filmer and Janssens crossed the line in first at 6:50.67, with a new Canadian Best Time and only one second short of the World Best Time.

“We are still a very young team so we will keep working hard over the winter to ensure we keep getting better and faster!” Hillary Janssens told Rowing Canada.

This is the first season the pair has raced together, so it is expected they will only improve on their performances leading into Olympic qualifying year.

The week did not start as planned for the Women’s Eight. Despite a strong showing at the World Cup in June, a new line-up of Rebecca Zimmerman , Jennifer Martins, Susanne Grainger, Madison Mailey, Stephanie Grauer, Christine Roper, Sydney Payne, Lisa Roman and coxswain Kristen Kit seemed to create challenges as the eight came last in their opening heat.

They fought back in the repechage (or retry) heats to claim an A- final spot, but still qualified third behind the Netherlands and Romania. The women really needed to keep their heads and trust in their training heading into the A final on Sunday.

Their trust was rewarded. While the USA charged to a clear lead, the Canadian’s entered the second half in fourth position. The Canadian cox, Kristen Kit, a Bronze medalist at the Rio Para-Olympics, called the crew to move early with 600 meters to go. The ladies responded. They held on to narrowly edge out the Australia’s for second in 6:03.05, behind the dominant USA crew who won gold with a 6:00.97.

“We were a bit shaken after our heat but we still believed we were better than that [performance],” returning veteran Jennifer Martins told Rowing Canada. “We knew we had another gear that we hadn’t shown yet.”

While not reaching the podium, many of the women’s team had strong results. Gabby Smith and Andrea Proske won their heat and semi-finals, and raced to fifth place in their A final of the Women’s Double Sculls. While a stellar result for the new combination that has been taking the international stage by storm, they come away thirsty for a podium performance in the future. In the lightweight women’s single, Jill Moffatt battled through a packed event and several qualifying round to finish fifth. In the very competitive lightweight women’s double, Jennifer Cassons and Kate Haber won the B final.