Out of 289 crews hitting the water at the 2025 Rowing BC Provincial Championships on Burnaby Lake, three local groups brought home provincial titles.
Solid performances from both junior and senior performances included 14 crews from the Okanagan.
Among the gold medalists were Aida Mills and Sierra Munroe from Vernon Rowing and Dragon Boat Club, who claimed the U19 Women's Double Scull champion title by completing the 2,000-metre course in eight minutes, 0.53 seconds.
Both recent high school graduates are set to continue their rowing careers at the university level, with Mills joining the University of Victoria and Munroe heading to the University of Rhode Island.
Riley Brinnen, also from Vernon, dominated the Adaptive Men's Open Single race in 10:09.45, followed by a fellow Vernon adaptive rower, Kobe Funk, and Dominique Mora from Vancouver.
Adding to the Okanagan's gold tally, Oleksii Lupan from 91大黄鸭 Rowing Club earned the Men's Open Single champion title with a strong time of 7:38.36, a result that surprised many from larger clubs and universities.
Lupan's success will see him travel to London, Ont. this August to compete for the provincial team in the Canada Cup regatta.
The region's strong showing also included a silver medal performance from the Vernon U17 Men's Double Scull crew, Peter Masys and Leo Middelkamp, who finished in 7:39.27, just under three seconds behind the champions from Maple Bay Rowing Club near Duncan.
While not on the podium, the U19 Women's Quadruple Scull (Mills, Munroe, Heidi Miege, and Amy Milne) secured fourth place, and the Men's Quad (Masys, Middelkamp, Cole O'Connor, and Ryland Holmgren) finished fifth.
