Western Mustangs Rowing Alumnus Cam Sylvester Wins World Cup Event

BLED, Slovenia- Former Western Mustangs rower Cam Sylvester struck gold at the first event of the Rowing World Cup in Bled, Slovenia (May 27-30) on Sunday.

The Rowing World Cup is an annual team competition, created in 1997, comprising three international regattas per year. It is organized by FISA, the International Rowing Federation, and includes teams from 38 countries.

Sylvester (Caledon, Ont.), who rowed for Western from 2005 to 2008, earned gold in the lightweight men's double with teammate Doug Vandor (Dewittville, Que.). The pair, representing Canada, earned the gold with a time of 6:27:80, while Italy (6:31:87) and Germany (6:33:24) took silver and bronze respectively.  Sylvester was the recipient of the Dr. Claude Brown Memorial Trophy in 2009 as Western's top male athlete, and competed for Canada in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

While ecstatic about the win, Sylvester and Vandor are keeping their eyes on the road ahead.

"Doug and I are happy with the race," said Sylvester "After a hard winter of training it was nice to put our fitness to the test to see how we stand against some of the competition. We're looking forward to getting back to Victoria to continue our training and preparation for English Henley and Lucerne (the remaining event of the Rowing World Cup)."

At the same event, Londoner Ashley Brzozowicz, sister of former Western Mustangs basketball guard Alex Brzozowicz, also earned gold in lightweight women's doubles.

Along with teammate Krista Guloien of Port Moody, B.C., the pair powered to a convincing win with a time of 7:20:60 in their race, ahead of China (7:22:81), and defending world champions and 2008 Olympic gold medalists Susan Francia and Erin Cafaro of the United States (7:22:86). The pair had turned heads early on in the event dominated the defending World Champion American team in their qualifying heat.

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