TORONTO 鈥� Rower Liz Fenje of Victoria could be excused for feeling a sense of d茅j脿 vu as she won gold Tuesday with Katherine Sauks from the Victoria City Club in the women鈥檚 lightweight double sculls at the 2015 Pan American Games.
The Games course, in St. Catharines, was where Fenje competed in her very first regatta in Grade 10 for St. Michaels University School.
鈥淚t鈥檚 neat . . . full circle,鈥� she said before the Games, about going back to St. Catharines.
Fenje said she fell in love with the sport during her first time on Elk Lake when she 鈥渉eard the bubbles鈥� ripple up after oar strokes. Those bubbles have carried her to top rowing and academic institutions Stanford and Oxford as a history major. With school done, the focus is now singular.
鈥淐ollege was about balancing academics and athletics. I can now focus solely on athletics,鈥� said Fenje, who rowed to victory with Sauks, as Cuba took silver and the U.S. bronze.
Victoria coach Howie Campbell鈥檚 Canadian men鈥檚 quad-sculls crew 鈥� pulled by Elk Lake rowers Rob Gibson and Will Dean along with Julien Bahain and Matthew Buie 鈥� also won gold Tuesday as the beat continued unabated for the more than 50 Island-based athletes competing in the Games.
The men鈥檚 quad and Fenje and Sauks brought to six the number of gold medals won in events featuring Island athletes over the first four days of competition in the Games. They joined the Langford-based Canadian national teams in both men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 rugby sevens, Elk Lake rowers Will Crothers and Conlin McCabe with Kai Langerfeld of Parksville in the men鈥檚 coxless fours and UVic Vikes-product Antje Von Seydlitz in the women鈥檚 double sculls.
Rower Rosie DeBoef of Victoria captured bronze in the women鈥檚 coxless pair while two-time world-champion Catharine Pendrel, the native of New Brunswick who began mountain biking on the trails of the Lower Island when she converted to mountain biking after being a casual athlete in the University of Victoria Triathlon Club, won silver.
There was heartbreak for others. Richard Weinberger was a little-known Victoria open-water swimmer when he struck for a breakout gold at the last Pan Am Games in 2011 at Guadalajara, Mexico, en route to bronze at the 2012 London Olympics. Weinberger settled for an agonizing fourth place here at Toronto 2015, missing the podium by just 1/100th of a second, while world championships silver-medallist Eric Hedlin of Victoria was ninth.
For rower Saul Garcia of Victoria, there was disappointment in finishing fifth Tuesday in the men鈥檚 lightweight double sculls, yet a broader sense of satisfaction form finally being able to compete for sa国际传媒 at age 31.
Garcia came to the Island in Grade 12 from Mexico as an exchange student at John Barsby Secondary, where he began with the Naniamo Rowing Club. That led to the UVic Vikes rowing team and a deep affection for his adopted country.
鈥淚t was all the clich茅s when I was sworn in as a Canadian citizen, right down to the knots of pride in the stomach,鈥� said Garcia, who works for the Tartan Group in Victoria.
鈥淸Saanich-Gulf Islands MP] Elizabeth May helped me during the process. Everyone was so supportive. They knew I was not shopping around. I have a lot of respect for my ancestry and roots, but I am Canadian.鈥�
Swimming began Tuesday with Alec Page of Victoria finishing fourth in the men鈥檚 200-metre butterfly final.
