McMaster rower brings home three medals from Canada Summer Games

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[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/canadagamespair.jpg” caption=”Doug Csima, left, and Brandon Batey compete at the Canada Summer Games.”]He came home with not just one, but three medals from the Canada Summer Games this week.

Third-year nursing student and McMaster rower Doug Csima claimed two silvers and one bronze medal during the Games held August 15 to 18 in Regina, Saskatchewan.

“It means a lot to come away with three medals,” says Csima. “We (including Csima's partner Brandon Batey from Grimsby) have devoted a lot of time to training, with the Canada Games being our primary focus.”

Csima was one of the only rowers to compete in three rowing events at the Games. He received silver in the 8+Cox, 4's without, and a bronze in the pairs without. “The greatest challenge that we faced was hafting to adjust to the 1,000-metre course,” he says, adding rowing is usually completed on a 2,000-metre courses. “It was also a challenge hafting to race in so many events and fit in as much practice time as possible, because few rowers had to compete in three events.”

Csima, who was selected among more than 70 rowers to join the 2005 Canada Summer Games team, hopes the experience will develop him as an athlete and ultimately achieve his future goals of rowing for the national team, and eventually, the Olympics.

This fall, Csima will enter his third year in nursing at McMaster. He also is on McMaster's rowing team. “I joined the team two years ago with no previous experience. The men's program has improved every year with a second place result at last year's OUA's in the men's 4+. I am looking forward to the university season and rowing with the Oldham twins (U23 National team athletes). We are expecting to continue to improve and hopefully continue to see results at OUA's.”

This past season for the Marauders, CSIMA won a silver medal as part of the men's coxed four crew that placed second at the 2004 OUA Rowing Championship. Individually, Csima placed third in the Under 23 Men's division at the 2005 Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships. He finished the indoor championship with a time of 6:19.8 just .8 of a second behind the winners.