The great thing about an eight are all the personalities involved. Each guy brings different talents to the table and it is the job of our coach to use these talents to make the eight go fast.
As you know, I sit at the stern, or back of the boat. Each member is assigned a number from bow (front) to stern (rear). The bowman is also known as #1. The guy who sits in front of me is #8 and is also known as the stroke man.
Here we go
(L-R) Dominic, Ben, Jake, Andrew Kevin, Mike (coach), Malcolm, Kyle, Me, Adam (seated)
#1 - Kevin Light - 6'4" 200lbs - Sidney, BC 28yrs old
I have been rowing on the National Team with Kevin since 2000. I was the spare for the Sydney Olympics and he was rowing the Under-23 Men's Pair. I started to give him pointers & tips as he wasn't getting much attention from the head coach at the time. The coach saw me doing this and asked me if I would like to be the coach of the U23 Pair and take them to the Under-23 World Championships. I of course said yes and we won a silver medal together! We have been members of the Eight from 2001-2005 & 2007.Kevin is a 2-time World Champion in the Eight, won a bronze medal in the Men's Pair in 2006 and was also in the Olympic Eight in Athens.
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#2 - Ben Rutledge - 6'6" 210lbs - Cranbrook, BC 27yrs old
He came on the scene from the UBC Thunderbird Rowing program in 2002 as a relatively unknown and had a big breakthrough early in the 2002 season placing 3rd at our National Team Pair Trials. This unexpected success earned him a spot in the Eight for the summer. The boat enjoyed success with him in it winning the Royal Henley Regatta and a bronze medal at the Lucerne World Cup Regatta. 2 months of making his first National Team boat.....Ben was a World Champion in Seville at the World Rowing Championships.I remember him doing his first 2000m ergometer test and beating many of the current National team members. I turned to the coach and said "who is that guy, and where did he come from?" We have been members of the Men's 8 from 2002-2005 & 2007.
Ben is a 2-time World Champion in the Eight and member of the Athens Olympic Eight.
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#3 - Andrew Byrnes - 6'7" 210lbs - Toronto, ONT 24yrs old
Here we have the rookie of the crew. Every team has to have a rookie and this is ours. In 2006 Andrew was poised to make the step from Under 23 to the Sr. Eight for the World Championships when disaster struck and he fractured his rib. He had to take a few weeks off right in the peak of the season and he ended up becoming a spare for the Eight. This turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise as the coaching staff decided that the spares would row in a coxed pair and I would be the cox. We ended up winning a Bronze medal and he got his first taste of "big league racing".Andrew won a Bronze medal in 2005 in the Under-23 Eight, and a Bronze medal in the coxed Pair in 2006 and this is his first season in the Sr. Eight. He is one of the future stars on the team.
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#4 Jake Wetzel - 6'5" 210lbs - Saskatoon, SK 31yrs old
A very unique story behind Jake. He carries dual citizenship and has rowed in the Olympics for both Canada and the USA. He first arrived on the Canadian Team in 1998 after having flourished rowing for the University of California Bears and winning back to back National Championships. Upon his arrival to the Canadian Team he clashed with the coach at that time and just wasn't enjoying life on the team at the time and left to row for USA. (The Americans were doing extremely well at that time internationally and Canada was not.) He won a Gold medal in the coxed four at the 1999 World Championships in St. Catherines, Ontario and then switched to sculling and rowed in the Sydney Olympics placing 5th in the final.He took some time off to complete his schooling, (degree in finance) and have surgery on both of his shoulders. (non rowing accident) When Rowing Canada secured Mike Spracklen as the head coach, he felt the environment had changed back to something he wanted to be a part of. We of course welcomed him back with open arms! (he is really strong and very competitive!)
In 2003, Jake again became a World Champion, this time in the straight four (no cox) and went on to win a silver medal in Athens, missing the gold medal by 0.07secs. A true heart breaker.
Post Athens he had to have back surgery to repair a herniated disc and now that it has fully healed he is back to chase the gold that eluded him in Athens.
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#5 Malcolm Howard - 6'6" 215lbs - Victoria, BC 24yrs old
A graduate of Harvard University with a degree in biology and is a pre-med student. Malcolm won 3 straight US National University Championships in the Men's 8 and his success hasn't slowed up since joining the Sr. National Team.Malcolm is an extremely bright individual and has a real penchant for numbers. He is the guy we get to quickly analyze and remember our 500m times, figure out 250m times and also what times the other crews have done. Of course we have turned it into a game and if he gets one wrong, we bug him about it.
His success on the Sr. Team so far has been in the Men's pair finishing 4th in 2005 and winning a bronze medal in 2006 with our bowman Kevin Light. Malcolm is known for his amazing strength on the rowing machine and has been able to translate that into speed on the water as well.
Kevin told me that in the final 500m before they won the bronze medal in 2006, he was just holding on for dear life trying match the power Malcolm was putting on the oar!
He has had a well decorated career winning medals at the Junior, Under 23, and now Senior World Championships.
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#6 Dominic Seiterle - 6'4" 215lbs - Montreal, QC 32yrs old
He is the "old" guy of the crew. Thank goodness he is 6 months older than me!!Dominic had an extremely interesting summer....similar to me actually. While at the Worlds his wife gave birth to their first child...a healthy baby boy named Max. The type of guy that Dominic is, he was worried that the crew would be wonder about where his focus would be. We said "don't worry about it...we trust you, enjoy the fact that you're a Dad!!"
Although this year is Dom's first real taste of success, he rowed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the Mens Double where he placed 13th and then took some time off to pursue some career goals. He made a comeback in 2003 but about 2 months before the final 2004 Olympic crew selections were made he slipped and fell while doing some cross-training and ended up with blood poisoning ending his Athens comeback. He fell off the rowing radar till showing up at the training centre in the fall of 2006 and showed us that he had indeed kept his fitness up and was ready to make another serious fun at the Olympics. Dom is one of the strongest guys on the team and is very fast in his single scull. Our coach convinced him over this past winter that the best boat for him to be in was the Eight and I am extremely glad that he agreed to row in it.
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#7 Adam Kreek - 6'5" 210lbs - London, ONT 27yrs old
After graduating from high school, Adam headed out to Alberta and worked on an oil rig for almost a year to make some money an experience something totally different than he had ever done before. Of course, working this hard taught him many great lessons that he would use in his future rowing career.After his oil rig career he enrolled at the University of Victoria and joined the rowing team where his success began winning several Canadian University titles and has been a member of the Men's 8 since 2002, only missing 2005 while taking a year off the team.
Rowing has allowed Adam to also pursue scholastic goals. After Athens he and his wife moved down to California where he attended Standford University, captained their rowing team and graduated with a degree in Geological Engineering.
Adam has always been one of the fastest rowers in the country whenever we have trials in pairs and is well respected as a very strong individual with great rhythm which is why he almost always ends up in the 7 seat.
He won a gold medal in 2001 in the Under-23 Eight, gold in 2002, 2003, 2007 in the Men's Eight. As you can see, he knows how to win in an eight.
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#8 Kyle Hamilton - 6'6" 210lbs - Richmond, BC 29yrs old
Here we have the Captain of the heavyweight men's program. Kyle burst on the the National Team in 2002. He was pretty much totally unknown until he and Ben Rutledge placed 3rd in the 2002 National Team Pair Trials. By placing 3rd he got a chance to go on a European tour with the eight and in doing so, quickly solidified himself as a member of the crew. 2 months of making his first National Team boat.....Kyle was a World Champion in Seville at the World Rowing Championships. He continued to be a key member of the success we experienced from 2002-2004 in the eight.Kyle is a graduate of UBC and is currently on a leave from UBC Law School. (he's no fool!) It didn't take him long to realize that his Olympic dream was not over after our 5th place in Athens. He was one of the first guys back to training in the early fall of 2004. Our coach made him the captain of the Heavyweight Men's Team in 2006 and he has adopted the philosophy that leading by example is the best way to get men to follow you. We all have an immense amount of trust and confidence him.
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As I read over these descriptions I realized that all of these guys are not only very successful on the water but are extremely smart individuals off the water with respect to the educations they have completed or are taking leave from completing.
It is truly an honour to be able to work with each one of these guys on a daily basis. Sometimes I forget the caliber of athletes that I am working with and that these guys really are the best in the country and we proved this year......the best in the world!!!
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