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NOTL's Ingrid Eshuis named to Junior National rowing team

Eshuis will row in the women's four on the 2024 Olympic course in Paris, France in August

Eden High School graduate Ingrid Eshuis has officially earned her chance to compete for Canada at the 2023 World Rowing Under 19 World Championships in Paris, France.

The Niagara-on-the-Lake resident, who captured the gold medal in the Open Women’s Single at last month’s Canadian Secondary School Rowing Association championships in St. Catharines, will be racing in the junior women’s four Aug. 2 through 6.

Rowing Canada Aviron made the announcement last Wednesday. Eshuis, a member of the St. Catharines Rowing Club is one of nine Niagara area rowers named to the junior team. 

“Throughout the competitive selection period, our crews faced challenges and tough decisions were made,” said Rowing Canada's NextGen program lead Chuck McDiarmid in the announcement. “But this fostered a strong sense of camaraderie and passion as we head into the regattas. I am elated for these young athletes, many of whom will make their debuts at this elite level, and I have no doubt that the nation’s rowing community will rally behind and support them.”

“I’m super-excited,” enthused Eshuis. “It’s really the opportunity of a lifetime for me. And the Olympics next year are in Paris. We’ll be rowing on the Olympic course. They call us kind of the Olympic guinea pigs.”

Eshuis, Eden High’s 2023 oarsperson of the year award winner, has already begun to train with her crewmates in the four: Emma Goedhart and Stella Bittman, both from the Notre Dame Rowing Club, and Novella Rusman, from British Columbia’s Brentwood College School.

“We’ve were on the water all last week,” says Eshuis, taking a break Tuesday before heading to a weight training session in Welland. “It’s intense. We train twice a day most days, then two days a week we’re on the water once and do a weight session.”

Of working with Goedhart, Bittman and Rusman, Eshuis says, “we have a great crew. We have already hung out a lot just in a week with all our practices. It’s been really great getting to know them.”

Eshuis, who will begin her freshman year at Boston University in September on a rowing scholarship, has the luxury of training for the national team right here in Niagara. She also has the additional luxury of having Eden’s head rowing coach, Mike Petrychanko, working with her in the women’s four.

“He is fantastic,” she says. “It’s been really great to hear his feedback and to be coached by him.” 

Her usual coach with the rowing club is Michele Romak-Fisher. As Romak-Fisher is not a designated RCA coach this summer, she won’t be involved in Eshuis’ training for the first summer in a few years. 

“The key to success for Ingrid,” Romak-Fisher wrote in an email to The Local, “is that she can find the joy in every day training and maximize what she gets out of it. Her ability to learn and express her thoughts are really advanced. That helps the coach-athlete communication greatly.  Ingrid gets right to the point and collaborates on how the training is contributing to strategic goals. And she has a lightheartedness that helps to not sweat the small stuff.”

“I won’t be there with her at the Worlds,” Romak-Fisher continued. “But she is in good hands and she knows what needs to be done leading up to the race to have a peak performance. At this point I’m one of her biggest cheerleaders in the background. I’m so proud of her.”

One person that will be with Eshuis in Paris is her close friend and rowing club boatmate Makeda Harrison. They will, however, compete in different boats in the World Championships. Makeda will be teamed with Sarah Stacey of Welland’s Notre Dame Rowing Club in the women’s pair. 

Eshuis and Harrison have rowed together for a number of years with Romak-Fisher as their coach. They competed together this spring in the Ontario Small Boat Trials. Their winning performance there in the pair is what earned them their seats on the junior national team. 

“It’s pretty exciting to experience Paris with her,” says an enthusiastic Eshuis. “It’s a dream come true for both of us. We’ve come up in rowing together, so it will be great to share this experience with her too.”

The 2023 world junior championships showcase the best rowers aged 18 and under from around the world, competing in 14 boat classes over five days. 

Rowers who represent Canada at this regatta, as well as at the Under 23 World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and at the 2023 CanAmMex International Regatta in Sarasota, Florida, are expected to fund much of their own cost for their trip. RCA has launched their “Fuel Dreams, Forge Champions” campaign to support these exceptional rowers in their pursuit of excellence on the international racing stage.

To help fund Ingrid’s trip to Paris next month, visit rowingcanada.org/donate-today.

 



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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