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NOTL’s Kai Bartel helps team win gold

Kai Bartel (left) with teammate Shane Keagan of Fonthill were happy with their fourth place finish. Bartel and Keagan were both part of the team who won gold in the men’s eight rowing event at last week’s Canada Summer Games.
Kai Bartel (left) with teammate Shane Keagan of Fonthill were happy with their fourth place finish. Bartel and Keagan were both part of the team who won gold in the men’s eight rowing event at last week’s Canada Summer Games. (Nancy Boese)

Niagara-on-the-Lake resident Kai Bartel is moving from one potential once-in-a-lifetime experience to another this week. 

Just two days after winning gold in the men’s eight rowing event at last week’s Canada Summer Games, the Eden High School grad jumped into a car Tuesday with his father Paul to cross into the U.S. They are on their way to the west coast where Kai will be heading back to the University of Victoria for his second year studying commerce. 

“We’re crossing over in Sarnia, I think,” the 19-year old told The Local. “We’re going through Chicago and Minnesota and Dakota. We’re going to stop at Mount Rushmore, Montana and Seattle before heading to Victoria.”

Bartel was still buzzing in the aftermath of his crew’s Sunday win over B.C. in the final race. Team Ontario crossed the finish line on the Henley course just 0.42 seconds ahead of B.C. to capture the gold. 

Last Wednesday, Bartel’s crew went up against Saskatchewan and Quebec in a three-boat heat, finishing in a blazing 5:57.89, almost a full 25 seconds ahead of the second place boat. 

“Our coach (Grant Boyd) did not want us to let off the gas at all in our heat,” he explained. “We rowed it down as hard as we could. He didn’t want us to let anyone get close to us, and he didn’t want us to have our first hard race be the final.”

Team B.C. actually won their heat with a faster time than Ontario’s. Both crews punched their ticket directly to Sunday’s final, avoiding having to compete in the repechage as did the other seven teams.

Sunday’s final didn’t get off to the best start. Team Ontario was trailing the front-running Team BC by about a boat length for the first half of the race. 

“We had a race plan going into it,” Bartel confessed, “but that fell out the window once we got behind. Our coxy just made calls to push back. We made our move just after the 1,000-metre mark, just after everyone else finished their moves. That brought us up into close second. Then we turned on the jets and sprinted for the last 500 metres and edged them out for the exciting finish.”

Though his experience rowing in the men’s pairs race didn’t result in a medal, Bartel and teammate Shane Keagan of Fonthill were happy with their fourth place finish in the field of eight boats. 

Bartel and Keagan finished second in their heat behind B.C. on Wednesday morning, forcing them into the repechage later that afternoon. Another second place standing in that race allowed them to avoid being relegated to the two-boat consolation heat and earned them a chance to launch from one of the six lanes in Saturday’s final. 

“Going into the final we were trying to go for bronze,” the 6’4” rower said. “We made a sprint from third but didn’t quite grab the medal. We were happy with the outcome, though. It’s the hardest boat to row, and it’s not my usual event, either.”

Bartel had very little time to relax after walking off the medal podium before boarding the team bus for the trip to Niagara Falls to participate in the closing ceremony. He was among the 2,500 athletes and their coaches and mission staff who paraded down the Niagara Parkway in front of the Horseshoe Falls to the sounds of the Niagara Regional Police Pipe Band. 

“That was a lot of fun,” he said Monday of the gathering at the park. “It was amazing to see all of us together in our colours. I didn’t realize how many athletes there actually were. We all walked in together, that was pretty cool. And I loved the fireworks.”

One thing he forgot to do was wear his gold medal at the closing ceremonies, but he said no one else in his winning crew remembered to wear theirs either. 

Bartel enjoyed the week staying with his fellow Team Ontario rowers at the athletes’ village at Brock University, though he admitted he didn’t have a lot of time to meet athletes from other sports or other provinces and territories. 

He did, however, participate a bit in the unofficial “sport” of the Canada Games - trading provincial pins. 

“I wasn’t as hardcore as some people were,” he laughed. “I dabbled here and there. Some people were going pretty hard at the trading. Everyone was after the pins from all the territories. I was able to get a few Northwest Territories but that was about it.”

Bartel said the entire experience of his week at the Canada Games was “super fun.” And he feels that having a chance to scope out his competition from all corners of Canada will bode well for his preparation for the upcoming USports (the national governing body of university sport in Canada) rowing season. 

And when he and Paul arrive in Victoria after five days on the road, it will be back on the water with his Vikings crewmates the very next day. 

The soft-spoken Bartel, by the way, will have some ammunition if he wants to give the gears to some of those crewmates. A few of the members of the B.C. crew that Team Ontario edged for the gold are also University of Victoria Vikings. 

“That made it feel even better to win,” Bartel laughed. “There was a lot of chirping back and forth. It made it even more fun to win. One of the guys in our boat had a bet with another guy in their boat. They weren’t too happy when we beat them.”




Mike Balsom

About the Author: Mike Balsom

With a background in radio and television, Mike Balsom has been covering news and events across the Niagara Region for more than 35 years
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