VICTORIA – The UVic Vikes men's rowing program honoured the past while taking a step into the future with the unveiling of a brand new lightweight eight boat on Sep. 1.
The boat was christened the 'Mike Lewis' in honour of the former UVic rower who captured a bronze medal in the lightweight men's coxless four at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
"It's hard to put into words, it's a huge honour for me," said Lewis of the honour. "I came to UVic because of it's great history of athletes and coaches and to be a little piece of that history moving forward is an awesome honour and I feel very blessed."
Lewis, who rowed for five years with the Vikes and was named UVic's Outstanding Athlete of the Year in 2003, did not start rowing until grade 12 and graduated from UVic with a bachelor's of science degree.
"I got along really well with my teammates and I set an example of, if you want to work hard you can achieve great things. Mostly the honour is just being a part of the Vikes history. UVic is on it's way to having a top history as far as rowing schools go and that drives a program to excellence."
Joining Lewis at the ceremony were two other members of the Olympic medal-winning lightweight boat, Jon Beare and Iain Brambell.
"They went up and only said the nice things about me," said Lewis. "It was great to see them because we went through some good and bad times together even though they only talked about the good times."
The boat is the first lightweight men's eight boat for a UVic men's rowing program that is continues to build upon the legacy of excellence left behind by distinguished alumni like Lewis.
Lewis, who rowed with current Vikes head coach
Aalbert Van Schothorst while both were members of the Vikes, was quick to ascribe the program's current upwards trajectory to the hard work of the coaching staff.
"Wherever Aalbert has gone the program has built and I can tell right now that with the momentum the Vikes rowing program has, that both the men's and the women's teams are building toward really great results."
