Last Updated: 08.Aug.2014

Thursday was a packed day of racing at St. Catherines, Ontario for the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. The first day of finals lined up with heats and semifinals for other events, meaning that the Craftsbury athletes would race from 2-4 times, switching from singles to team boats and racing both sweep and sculling along the way.

The women's straight fours kicked off the racing, with Maggie Fellows, Amy Ludovici, Rebecca Donald and Brett Simpson taking second in their heat to advance to Saturday's final; while Keziah Beall, Emily Driessigacker, Jamie Chapman and Elizabeth Sonshine won their heat to join the other GRP boat in the final.

The lightweight pair of Phil Grisdela and Phil Henson was back in action next, winning their heat to advance to Saturday's final. Craftsbury is racing a full contingent of women's doubles, with four boats racing in the senior division, all advancing to Friday's semifinals.

In the afternoon both Phil Grisdela and Sarah Keller advanced to Friday's final for the men's and women's lightweight singles while the U23 double of Amy Ludovici and Brett Simpson won their heat to advance directly to Saturday's final.

The first final on tap for the GRP was the women's senior single, with both Elizabeth Sonshine and Maggie Fellows racing their third of four races for the day, taking home third and fourth place in the single. Phil Henson and Phil Grisdela were next to the line, racing in the men's senior lightweight double where they went from 6th place off the start to 3rd at the finish.

The real fireworks for the day came in the final of the women's senior single, where rower-turned coxswain Amy Ludovici guided the eight of Keziah Beall, Emily Driessigacker, Jamie Chapman, Elizabeth Sonshine, Sarah Keller, Maggie Fellows, Elizabeth and Rebecca Donald to an 8-second victory and the first Henley gold medal for the group at this regatta. Hopefully there are more to come, stay tuned for more finals on Friday and through the weekend! Go Green!

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