The Tribune

BAHAMIAN brothers William Stanhope, 19 and Ethan Stanhope, 16, won gold in the Men's Intermediate Quadruple Sculls this past weekend at the 2018 US Rowing Club National Championships held at Cooper River, New Jersey.

Ethan Stanhope sat at stroke seat with William behind and with their two training mates Wester Thompson and Matt Kohler in the bow, they represented the Oklahoma City High Performance Center, where they are training this summer.

This is the first gold medal ever won by Bahamians at a US Rowing sanctioned national club regatta. Emily Morley, current president of the Nassau Rowing Club and The Bahamas' first Olympic rower, won the Women's Collegiate 8+ at the Dad Vail Regatta in 2016, which is one of the largest collegiate regattas in the United States.

Both brothers also competed in the Men's Intermediate Single Scull, Double Scull, and U-19 Single, racing 10 times, and up to three times per day over the past five days.

Racing against other high-performance clubs within the United States of America, the Stanhopes were the only Bahamians competing this weekend in preparation for their personal World Rowing Championships appearances on July 25 and August 8.

In all events, the Stanhopes first had to qualify to race in fields of up to 75 boats. From there, they had to finish in the top 18 for semi-final, top six for finals, against rowers who were older and more experienced in the intermediate events, which is considered "open" to all club rowers regardless of age. William Stanhope will be competing in the Under-23 World Rowing Championships July 24-28 in Poznan, Poland, in the Men's Single Scull.

Ethan Stanhope will be competing in the Junior World Rowing Championships on August 8th to 12th in Racice, Czech Republic in the Men's Single Scull.

Both boys are training with Reilly Dampeer, the new high performance coach at The Oklahoma City High Performance Center. She has coached the US National Teams since 2010, including U23 World Championships, two Pan American Games, five World Cups and the 2016 Final Olympic Qualification Regatta.

The Stanhope brothers are no strangers to the international regatta stage; William Stanhope first raced the Junior Men's double scull with Lex Fountain in 2015 in Rio de Janeiro. Since then he has represented The Bahamas in the single during the last two summers at the highly competitive Under 23 World Championships.

This past weekend, along with winning the Men's Intermediate Quad, William Stanhope placed 6th in the Men's Intermediate Double and placed 8th in the Men's Intermediate Single.

"Training for Under 23's is going very well. We are rowing around 210-220k per week in the singles (about 30k a day)," said William Stanhope about his training in preparation of the Under 23 World Championships

"This has been instrumental to building a good base as well as good for building better technique and efficiency in the boat. The Olympic training center in Oklahoma has also been very good as they have training resources for rowing that we do not have in the Bahamas. Resources such as altitude chambers, tanks, boats, and a buoyed straight 2000 meter course."

Ethan Stanhope competed internationally for the first time this past spring at the Youth Olympic Qualifier, and placing 6th within the Americas. He also had an impressive showing this weekend, placing 10th in the Men's Intermediate Double placing 9th in the Men's Intermediate Single placing 9th in the Men's U19 Single.

"Club Nationals was a great experience. Working alongside great teammates was the best part. Even though in my races I had some "small" setbacks it prepared me for the bigger regattas like Worlds," said Ethan Stanhope about his performance at the US Rowing Club National Championships.

"The competition this year was tough because in one race I had to compete against my own brother. I learned endurance and strength from competing in 9 races. I was especially proud of my teammates and I when the men's intermediate quad won gold by 3 seconds after only rowing together 4 times. As a 16 year old competing in 3 intermediate events, the competition was more advanced but I felt like I held my own."

Morley, who help to supervise the Stanhope brothers when they train at home, is also hopeful.

"It is always amazing to see a small country perform at such a high level," she stated. "The Stanhope brothers are a great example to young rowers here that you can be successful and competitive when you put the time, dedication and training behind your passion. The Bahamas should be proud to have up and coming Bahamian athletes like the Stanhopes."