They are dominant three-time defending champions, the third-fastest crew ever to take to the waters over two centuries at Quidi Vidi, and eventual shoo-ins for the Royal St. John’s Regatta Hall of Fame.
The members of the Outer Cove men’s crew have summoned up a lot over three years to achieve all that, but can they summon up even more to continue to chase the elusive rabbit that is a Regatta men’s course record?
“We are all pretty dedicated and committed when we all put our minds to it,” said the team’s No. 4 oar James Cadigan after helping Outer Cove to its latest Regatta championship Wednesday evening at Quidi Vidi. It’s the putting “their minds to it” that may be tough to do.
The team, which also includes stroke oar Brent Hickey, Brent Payne, Dan Cadigan, Mark Perry, Colin Stapleton and coxswain Mark Hayward, rowed a time of just over nine minutes and six seconds to easily take another title Wednesday. But even with a 20-second margin of victory, it was significant slower that the of 8:55.9 seconds they posted in winning the men’s morning amateur race.
And even though latter was the third best time ever by a men’s team in the 200-year history of the Regatta, it still more than four seconds off the standard of 8:51.32 set in 2007 by Crosbie Industrial Services
It has been breaking that daunting record that has been Outer Cove’s stated goal since the rowers banded together nearly three years ago.
In fact, James Cadigan says he would have “definitely” had a different answer about whether the team would return next year had Outer Cove broken the record Wednesday.
In other words, had they emerged as record holders, they probably would be taking some sort of break from rowing.
Without the benefit of those days of contemplation to which Cadigan referred, at least one his teammates was suggesting he could use some down time.
“I probably need a year off,” said Payne. “We just put in three years with very intense training and when you do that, it’s family and friends who are the biggest things that take a hit.
“Our commitment means they need to make a commitment, too.”
For an elite crew like Outer Cove, that’s a commitment that stretches beyond the dates that mark the local rowing season. It means days in January kicking snow away from the doors of their hometown training centre so as to put in some time in the ergometres. It means a practice-to-competition ration that is unseen in almost any other sport.
Consider this. Outer Cove rowed in the Discovery Day Regatta at Quidi Vidi, viewed as much as a warm-up as a competition. They rowed in the Time Trials, as much as a seeding exercise as a series of races. They didn’t row in Placentia or Harbour Grace.
All they put into their sport this year basically came down to two races on one day, which was Wednesday.
“There was a time I tried to explain that (to people unfamiliar with the Regatta), but now just don’t do it. It’s too hard to make them understand how you could put so much into something that might come down to what the weather conditions are like on a single day in Newfoundland.
“Maybe the best way to put it as that here, you’re kind of racing against history.”
Or in their case, racing to make it.
They came pretty close to doing that on what was a very good pond Wednesday morning. But in the evening retry, a breeze blowing in their faces proved too much of an adversary.
“We thought we could still be a few seconds faster heading down than we were in the morning and if we had the wind conditions in the morning , I think we could have made up the time, but it was a stiffer breeze,” said Payne.
“You want to stay positive coming down, thinking you can do it, but once you’re out there , you kind of know it’s won’t (happen).”
When asked if it might have made a difference had they gotten more of a push from one or more competing crews, Payne shook his head.
“Not to sound cocky, because we know how hard those other crews worked and how many great rowers there are, we didn’t have that push all year,” he said. “I guess you could say we were pushed in a different way, with goals and times to beat, whether it was full course or just over certain parts during training.
“Who knows what might have happened if there had been someone closer to us? But I think it was there, no matter who else was out there. You just needed the right opportunity and it just wasn’t there this time.”
Wednesday evening’s wind certainly was nothing that compared to what Regatta rowers have faced through much of this spring and summer, but it was enough to tilt the needle in the record chase, said James Cadigan.
“I think we’ve been unlucky all year with the weather, but this is a sport where you need to learn to take the conditions your given.
“Sometimes that’s hard to take, but it’s all you can do. You have to be tough in a lot ways.”
Now, they need to find out if they can be tough enough to roll that dice and do it all again.
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