Piedmont High School Students Competing in Canadian Regatta This Week

Nine varsity rowers and coxswains from Piedmont traveled to Canada on Saturday with the chance of a lifetime — the opportunity to compete in the prestigious 129th Royal Canadian Henley Regatta.

The young women are part of a group of 27 who are participating in the annual international race with Oakland Strokes, a private competitive rowing club which practices along the Oakland Estuary. Individual races started Sunday, July 31 and go through Aug. 7.

The club makes rowing accessible to about 200 youth across the East Bay.

Sarah Bird, president of Oakland Strokes and a Piedmont resident, said the girls have been training for the event for the last five weeks, practicing six days a week, four hours a day with their coach Derek Byrnes. The long hours helped the rowers practice to compete in as many races as they can while in Canada.

Bird said this is the first time in at least the last three years since she has been with the club that they have sent rowers to the Royal Canadian Henley.

The nine girls, all affiliated with Piedmont High School, are: Sally Ashton (rising junior), Katie Bird (rising senior), Cassey Chan (rising senior), Katie Hubert (rising senior), Mhairi London (rising junior), Katie McKeen (2011 graduate), Kelly Peterson (2011 graduate), Amanda Rutherford (rising senior) and Abigail Thacher (rising senior).

Chan and Rutherford are attending as coxswains — those who help steer the racing shells and make technical and motivation calls — while the others are rowers.

Three of the Piedmont rowers competed in the US Rowing Youth National Championships held in Oak Ridge, Tenn. in mid-June. Bird and Thatcher were part of a lightweight 8 which took second place overall and McKeen rowed in a quad which took sixth overall.

Check back with Piedmont Patch for results on how the Oakland Strokes Crew fared during the event.