Aaron Hyde is a member of the Cascades rowing team. At the Canadian University Rowing Championship in November, Aaron raced the men’s double which placed fourth in the B final and 10th overall for UFV Rowing.
~~What is the best part of rowing?~~
You compete with yourself as much as you compete with the other athletes.
I have to constantly [work to] beat my own times to push myself to a point where I can start competing with the people beside me.
You push yourself to the limit because it’s a sport about pure physical evolution.
~~Are you a morning person or a night owl?~~
For basically my entire life, I was very night owl oriented … right up [until] university. I’ve been programming at five in the morning … [and] then I joined the rowing team. I had to be ready to push off the dock at 7 a.m. in Fort Langley.
~~What’s something you like about the computer sciences program?~~
[I like the] smaller class sizes and [the] Bachelor of CIS was appealing to me. It cut out all of the general sciences and math that you [would normally] have to do for [a] Bachelor of Science. [It] focuses on the stuff that you want to take.
~~Could you tell us about Peter Inden?~~
He’s my doubles partner; we did all of our races together this season. He’s a pretty chill guy, good rower. He’s really easy to be in a boat with because he’s super laid back … it’s a very [relaxing] experience.
There’s not really any pressure. We just go out [and] do our thing. [If] it’s not really a great day, he’s not upset about it. He’s just happy to be out on the water every day in the morning.
~~What do you like to do in your free time?~~
My hometown is very outdoorsy [and] rural, so I did a lot of hiking, mountain biking, snowboarding, [and a] little bit of hunting. I just got my snowboard back … if we get any snow, that might be an option.
~~Do you have a guilty pleasure meal?~~
Chicken fettuccine alfredo. Well, chicken penne … nothing special, just [a] couple chicken breasts, classic alfredo sauce, [a] box of high fiber penne, and a little extra parmesan cheese.
~~What do you do as a team to improve?~~
Rowing is a very intimate sport … and a sport that requires a very high level of coordination and synergy. Everything that one person does affects the other person in the boat as a whole. We do a lot of drills to stay in-time together.
We have to keep perfect balance and [rhythm], so our effort is put into the same part of the stroke.
[If] one person pushes early and one person pushes late, then it’s not as efficient of a stroke — you lose power there — so that can get frustrating.
~~Favourite movie franchise or series?~~
Fast and the Furious [is] pretty inspirational … one of the bigger ones for me … my dad was a car guy, a little bit of that rubbed off on me.
~~Who makes your mornings on the water better?~~
Maya [Drisner] and Sophia [Halas] definitely add some colour to the team. Very energetic, very positive people.
[They’re] bright spirits on the dock early in the morning — 7 a.m., cold [and] it’s raining sometimes, everyone’s tired … we’re not always super happy [to be there] — they’re always so positive.
~~What is your training like?~~
Bekah [Stokes] is always on the ball. When we’re doing our indoor training, if it’s a four minute rest — we’re [only] resting for four minutes … we’re setting a timer and then we’re going again. [She] doesn’t mess around.
Core is another thing that we do [for] rowing training, and then we do weights. Bekah is the number one core advocate. Even if [we] don’t want to [we] will because she’s doing it with [us]. We’ve done planks on the dock before [too].
Q&A has been edited for length and readability.
Veronica is a Staff Writer at The Cascade. She loves to travel and explore new places, no matter how big or small. She is in her second year at UFV, pursuing the study of Creative
Writing.
