Richmond rower heading to UBC Thunderbirds

A Richmond rower has been accepted into UBC and onto the university’s rowing team.

Rohin Kanwal will be rowing for the UBC Thunderbirds program next season, having graduated from the International Baccalaureate (IB) French Immersion program at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary in Vancouver.

Rohin has been rowing with the Thunder Rowing Crew, based out of the UBC Boathouse on the Fraser River’s middle arm, for almost five years.

The Richmond crew’s Elizabeth Liu and Hunter Sowle have also been accepted into UBC’s rowing program.

“The program is pretty excited; one of our key goals is to develop local athletes toward high performance opportunities at the next level, working with UBC,” Vince Amodeo, Thunder Crew’s head coach, told the Richmond News.

Rohin, said Amodeo, has been rowing with the Thunder since the fall of 2016 and was the men’s captain in both the 19/20’ and 20/21’ seasons.

His accolades include:

-2019 Royal Canadian Henley -1st in U17 Men’s quad sculls. 3rd in U17 Men’s double sculls.

-2019 Head of the Lake-1st in U17 Men’s coxed quad sculls. 3rd in U17 Men’s Eight.

-2019 Shawnigan Lake Regatta-1st in U17 Men’s Single scull.

“He has been one of the most consistent athletes in the program over the past three and a half years,” added Amodeo.

“He really embraced the new standard we set and has grown into a great leader both in the boat, and outside of the boat.”

“Rohin had to put in some time to grow as an athlete and person, his commitment to personal growth has been nothing short of outstanding, while always keeping the program front of mind.”

In addition to on the water, Rohin also started coaching with the program in 2019, and has been helping develop the next group that will race for the program.