Sinking your teeth into rowing

If you ever find yourself on the banks of the Ottawa River, at a flicker of a moment past dawn, you may see a red-jerseyed figure in a long, sharp splinter of a craft gliding gracefully over the water. Chances are it’s Bruce Harfield.

But he won’t see you.

He’ll be far too focused on driving his oar with a strong even stroke into the smooth-as-glass water, sweat on his brow. No, he definitely won’t see you. Though it may seem like effortless movement, this 58-year-old rower knows what it takes to put the poetry of his passion into motion.

Sometimes, for just a moment or two, he may lose his momentum. He’ll catch sight of a gaggle of geese launch in a furious flutter from the calm river’s surface. They’ll be so close he could reach up and touch their wings. Then, with a faint smile on his face, he’ll ponder his hold on the oars, consciously relax his forearms, and make a point of keeping his hands soft. That’s because, by 8 a.m., he’ll have them in the mouth of one of his dental patients.

While Harfield is one of a core group of about two dozen “older” rowers known as “Masters,” he is quick to point out with a laugh, “Masters has nothing to do with skill, but age!”

The Masters Rowers are competitive rowers aged 27 or older who train at the Ottawa Rowing Club. It was founded in 1867, the year of Canada’s confederation, and is the country’s oldest such club. Their training program for 1000 or 2000 metre races is the same as that of the younger crews. However, limitations of work and family - in Harfield’s case, his dental practice or a son’s wedding - mean the Masters often set their own schedules.

Harfield actually followed his children into the sport after trying to figure out what they were doing and talking about.

His son Andrew, now 26, began rowing in high school and competed in the national championships. Tim, 24, also got involved and, eventually, daughter Jeanne, 22, started coxing (the person who steers the boat and calls the race strategy), eventually earning a rowing scholarship to Columbia University.

Harfield started with the adult rowing league the year he turned 50, learning in the “eights” (boats with eight rowers, each using one oar) with other adults who had never rowed before. Then he tried recreational rowing in which participants take out different types of boats, sculling or sweep boats. Scullers use two oars while rowers in sweep boats use one longer and larger bladed oar.

Over the last two summers, Harfield went to a Vermont rowing camp for adults and in the spring, he joined the Masters. He’s been out on the water practising his skills five or six mornings a week as well as competing in rowing regattas all over the province and in the United States.

In late August, Harfield competed in a series of races with his rowing buddy Francis Kenny and other teammates in a recreational “between the bridges” regatta behind Parliament Hill. For the Masters, the 1000 metre race between the Alexandra and Macdonald-Cartier bridges is part of their training program.

It’s a training program Masters coach Val Thompson doesn’t take lightly. She is one who is a strong advocate of adult rowing. An athlete all her life, she “happened” into the sport of rowing during a corporate challenge while working for a high-tech company in Victoria, B.C.

“There’s some kind of idea that rowing is a young person’s sport,” says the diminutive Thompson who is 46 though barely looks a day over 29. “But it clearly isn’t because there are a lot of people in the sport who are doing quite well and are quite competitive at a later age.

“I think I’m a role model because I don’t accept other people’s limitations. If I believe in them,” she says of her Masters trainees, “they’ll eventually believe in themselves.”

Thompson loves working with the Masters crew, encouraging them, supporting them, convincing them they can do what they believe they’re incapable of or don’t know how to do. As for Harfield’s rowing, she says, “he’s really improved and he is a lot more engaged than he has been in the past.”

Harfield agrees. He's discovered the effort is "70 per cent legs, 20 per cent back and 10 per cent arms." And he finds, as he puts in the effort, the rewards are there.

"It's always a learning thing, but I get a real feeling of satisfaction. Sometimes we’re rowing and it's calm. You get the endorphin of exercise and there's a real serenity to it."