Lambda

Lambda

Laurentian University's English Student Newspaper

Laurentian’s Halladay and fellow Canadian Paralympic rowers lead in repechage, advance to Final A

– Posted in Sports

By Riley Brooks

On Friday morning, while most of us were enjoying the Sudbury September sunshine, fellow Laurentianite Curtis Halladay was helping the Canadian Paralympic rowing team set the second fastest time in their qualifying heat.

Halladay, who only began rowing in 2014 here at Laurentian, is currently in Rio representing Canada at the 2016 Paralympic games in the Mixed Coxed Four race. Halladay and the rest of the Canadian team finished second in their heat, just over three seconds behind the first place United States team.

The winners of each heat, the United States and Great Britain, advanced directly to the finals, while placing second in the heat advanced Canada to the repechage race. Although the Canadians had not yet qualified for the finals, the Canadian rowers posted the second fastest time out of both qualifying heats, a time almost five seconds faster than the Chinese who would also be vying for a place in the finals.

The repechage race, a sub-heat giving Halladay and company another opportunity to qualify for the finals, just took place September 10 at 10:50 in the morning. Canada lead through the repechage, finishing with a time of 3:33.85, meaning they are heading to Final A tomorrow morning, on September 11.

Since sending Paralympic teams to compete in the games in 2008, Canada has finished no better than sixth. Halladay and the rest of team Canada are writing Canadian rowing history when they step back into the boat tomorrow morning in Rio in hopes of getting one step closer to a medal.

Photo credit to Curtis Halloway’s father, via @Lu_Rowing on Twitter