Katrina Hassell, Eric Pearson, and Brittany Hassell were the winners of the Challenge Bowl at the weekend as the Bermuda Rowing Association (BRA) hosted 17 rowers and two coaches from the Hillfield Strathallan College in Canada.

As well as rowing from the BRA's facility on White's Island, the two rowing squads competed on indoor rowing machines for the new Challenge Bowl at Bermuda High School (BHS).

Also taking part at BHS on Saturday morning were Stephanie Wright, Julia Judd, Leah Amaral, Ellen Amaral, and Danielle Thompson.

Seven pairs or athletes were matched to race over 1,000 meters, measured on the machines' onboard computers.

All of the athletes in the Bermuda junior squad are Bermudian, thus national records were established for various age groups.

This is the second year the College from Hamilton, Ontario, has visited and firm ties have now been created between the two clubs.

Giuliana Gonsalves, who has been coaching the squad three times a week, both on the water and on the rowing machines, was pleased with the performances of the whole squad.

"I am delighted at how well our athletes did against Hillfield, who are much more experienced rowers," said Gonsalves.

"Our squad was a little intimidated at first as they had never been able to compete outside of our squad.

"They soon found that the Hillfield squad was very friendly and the whole event was a lot of fun".

Founder and president, Michael Swain, also commented: "We receive a lot of enquiries from overseas rowers wanting to come to Bermuda and experience our amazing conditions.

"We are already discussing a third visit by Hillfield for next year.

"Our junior squad applied themselves and achieved a great result by training hard and supporting each other.

"Rowing is a technical sport and physically demanding, so the young athletes go through a lot together and form firm friendships."

"Our junior squad is currently training for an international regatta on Vancouver Island.

"We will be partnering with the Tourism Department in spreading the good news to the rowing community about the delights of rowing in Bermuda."