U.S And Canada Win Rowing Event

Saturday, October 13th 2007, 5:37 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The reigning world champions in eights racing, the U.S. women and Canada's men, overcome windy conditions to win today in the USA Rowing World Challenge on the Oklahoma River.

The event, which featured teams from nine nations, was touted as a preview for next year's Olympic Games in Beijing.

The U.S. women won the 2,000-meter eights race in 6:43.68, about five seconds ahead of Canada. Australia was third, another second back.

Canada won the 2,000-meter men's race in 5:54.92 seconds, holding off a late rally to finish about three seconds ahead of the U.S. Teams from the Czech Republic and Mexico finished well behind the two leaders.

Rowers struggled with a strong crosswind. The south wind blew over the east-west course at about 25 miles per hour consistently, with gusts to 35 miles per hour.