VICTORIA, B.C. - When the University of Victoria men's and women's rowing teams take to Elk Lake, Mar. 9, they will be competing in one of UVic's oldest rowing traditions. The Vikes will go head-to-head against the Oregon State University men's and women's rowing teams in the annual Egg Cup, a race that goes back over 30 years as UVic and OSU take turns hosting the recurring event.
 
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For both the men's and the women's rowing programs the UVic-OSU Dual Meet will be another good test in the lead up to one of their biggest races of the year, the Brown Cup. Another head-to-head event, the Brown Cup is an annual competition against the University of British Columbia.
 
On the men's side the crews will be similar to those that raced the Elk Lake Spring Regatta, Mar. 2-3, as it will allow head coach Howie Campbell an opportunity to get a look at their speed after another week of training.
 
“As we can follow each race really closely this weekend it gives us a good chance to observe technique and endurance under race conditions,” said Campbell. “OSU is always a good test for us, win or lose, as the racing tends to be really close.”
 
In a head-to-head event such as the Egg Cup it is a fairly different psychology to that of a race with six or seven competing boats. With the race taking place over a 2000-m course, the Vikes are building up to the 3500-m Brown Cup. Led by fourth-year Will O'Connell (Victoria, BC) in the seven seat and coxswain Jane Gumley (Surrey, BC), the UVic men will certainly test their limits.
 
For the Vikes women the frosh crew are racing for a three-peat as they currently boast a two-year win streak while the Vikes' varsity boat got the best of OSU last year and are looking to defend their title.
 
“It's always a really tight race,” said Rick Crawley, head coach of the Vikes women's rowing team. “It's a great friendly rivalry that goes back a long time, we've had some encouraging work outs this week and we hope to row hard on Saturday.”
 
The varsity eights consists of coxswain Megan Smith (Vancouver, BC), Madeline Spangehl (White Rock, BC) at stroke, Claire McCormick (Vancouver, BC) in the seven seat, Rebecca Zimmerman in the six seat, Jillian Legare (Campbell River, BC) at five seat, Bronwyn Lawrie (Prince Rupert, BC) at four, Stefanie Miklosovic (Yellowknife, NWT) at three, Renae Barks (Regina, SK) in the two seat and Emily Garry (Victoria, B.C.) in the bow seat.
 
Racing will begin at 9:00 a.m., Mar. 9, when the UVic men's frosh eight take on the OSU frosh eight at Elk Lake.