Nipissing Lakers rowing wrapped up its season last weekend. The coaches, Dean Hay, Brian Siebert, and Brent Holmes, were impressed by the strides taken this year by veterans and novices alike at the Head of the Trent (September 29), Brock Invitational (October 6), and OUA championships (October 27).

Nipissing travelled to Peterborough for Trent's popular homecoming regatta. At the Head of the Trent, boats race one at a time along a four km long river course, which requires keen navigation and bursts of speed to pass slower crews.

The first Nipissing boat to test the winding course was the women's lightweight single, with senior Emma Langill making her second sculling start in Lakers colours. Making the transition from sweep to sculling was always going to be a challenge, especially navigating an unfamiliar course. Langill was off the pace in 22:11, but used the race to gain valuable experience.

Next up for the Lakers was the women's double sculls. Of the 10 crews racing in the division, Nipissing's duo of Olivia Petroff (stroke) and Marlese Coombs (bow) finished in a time of 21:42 – good for sixth place. The result was a bit frustrating for the crew as they were held up by slower crews in the narrow canal where passing was prohibited. "With a clear course, fifth place was a definite possibility," said head coach Dean Hay.

Next on the course was the lightweight women's double, powered by Lindsay Desroches (bow) and Brogan Shaw (stroke). They finished ahead of Ottawa in 8^th position in a time of 22:01.

Last racing of the day included the much-anticipated novice eights, where splashing oars and crashing boats are not rare occurrences. Nipissing's entry was in the women's division, with Evelyn Bianchin (coxswain), Clara Jarvis, Chloe Lalonde, Olivia Fetterly, Alysia Bianchin, Jill Sommers, Kylie Cranston, Brianna Fournier, and Ulrike Hagg (bow) eager to start their first race of the season. Under the steady hand of their coxswain, the women set a strong pace, overcoming several crews before the canal. Near disaster struck at the finish line where another school's boat got turned sideways, forcing the Lakers to stop briefly. Despite the mishap, the crew finished in 8^th of 16 boats, and were within 5 seconds of 5th.

The following weekend, two crews made their way to the Brock Invitational Regatta in St. Catherines. Unlike the head racing at Trent, boats at the Brock regatta lined up side by side for 2000m of fast-paced action.

First up was Langill in the lightweight women's single. Despite a well-executed race plan and finishing ahead of Ottawa in the heats, Langill failed to qualify for the final.

Petroff and Coombs were hoping to build on their form from the previous week in the women's double. The crew had a poor start, leaving the blocks dead last. Over the body of the race, they gained momentum, passing two crews before the finish. Overall, they were faster than four crews, but were not in the top 6 qualifiers for the finals.

The end of October marked the OUA championship weekend for rowing. Normally a two-day regatta, a forecasted Saturday storm forced all racing to be condensed into Friday's schedule.

The women's double got on the water first, hoping their good block of training on Trout Lake would result in a path to the A final. With both Petroff and Coombs nursing injuries, however, a top result was always unlikely. A shaky start put them behind at the 500m mark, a deficit from which they were unable to recover, relegating them to the B final.

The novice women's eight took to the water next in only their second race. Because of the condensed schedule, novice finals were cancelled, meaning that the rankings would be based on heat times. This was a disadvantage to the Lakers crew, as they had only rowed as a complete crew once before at Trent (the team trains as two squads of four on their home course). With only a short warm-up, the crew lined up against 4 other boats in their heat, hoping for the best.

A mis-timed start and a broken speaker system would not deter the women, who passed UOIT and were within striking distance of McMaster. Despite finishing fourth in their heat, the Lakers were sixth fastest of the 15 boats racing that day – which would have qualified them for the A final: a bittersweet ending indeed.

Langill spent most of the day waiting for her chance to put the perfect race together in the lightweight women's single. Despite being assigned to the lane most affected by the increasing cross winds, Langill had her best race of the year, beating two boats and finishing fifth in the A final.

Last up was the women's double in the B final. The athletes were banged up, but ready to give their all. A strong effort saw them beat the Ottawa crew they lost to in the heats, and five seconds behind Trent. Although they didn't finish with a win, Petroff and Coombs formed the team's most consistent crew over the season and will be looking to climb the rankings next year.