Weston Rowers Participate in Royal Canadian Henley

The article below was provided by Elizabeth Russell-Skehan

Many Wayland-Weston Crew (WWCrew) rowers and coxswains spent their summer rowing on various club teams to sharpen their skills and improve their fitness. Most of these club teams race at The 130th Royal Canadian Henley in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. The Wayland-Weston athletes succeeded in these very competitive races against crews from Canada, the United States and other countries.

Will Purman of Wayland, rowing for the Vesper Boat Club of Philadelphia, won gold in the men’s senior 4x boat. He also placed third in a men’s heavyweight 8+ boat and second in a men’s lightweight 8+ boat, all for Vesper. Purman is a WWCrew alumnus and rows for the University of Delaware’s lightweight men’s rowing team. WWCrew alumna Jillian Zieff of Wayland also rowed to a gold medal finish in a lightweight 8+ boat from Vesper.

Coxswain Carly Skehan of Wayland, rowing for Community Rowing Inc. (CRI), captured third place in the under 19 men’s 8+ boat. This was the highest finish Boston’s CRI men’s team has had at the Canadian Henley inmore than 30 years. Skehan steered through high winds to advance through the heats and semifinals before finishing in the final just a half a second behind the second place finisher, Oakland Strokes of California. Home team St. Catharines Rowing Club captured the gold. Skehan has returned to WWCrew’s men’s team as a senior coxswain for the upcoming fall season.

Other WWCrew rowers competed at The Royal Canadian Henley on competitive summer rowing teams. From Wayland, coxswain Pardis Alizadeh-Shabdiz and rower, Catherine Chappell raced for CRI, and Jakub Buczek skulled (2 oars) for Cambridge Boat Club (CBC). Also from Wayland, Charlotte Smith, Gabriela Purman, Emily Huber, Hannah Brigham, Pippa Edwards skulled for Boston Rowing Club (BRC).

From Weston, Alden Harwood skulled for CBC, Naveed Hadayat competed for Riverside Boat Club of Cambridge, and Emily Phaneuf skulled for BRC.

Wayland and Weston High School rowers and coxswains return to their State Champion team, WWCrew, this month to begin practice for their upcoming fall season. To find out more about rowing for the Wayland-Weston high school team, visit www.wwcrew.org.