SAN DIEGO, CA - The UBC Thunderbirds varsity men's 8+ won the San Diego Crew Classic's American Specialty Cal Cup on Sunday. The win is the first ever for a Canadian men's university 8+ at the regatta.

UBC topped 21 entries in the tier 2 event, and in the grand final they managed to lead the pack from start to finish. The Thunderbirds were pushed in the early stages of the race by Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Drexel of Philadelphia.

"We ran through the first minute of the race a rating much higher than normal, but everyone was so pumped to get the lead and it just seemed to work," said three seat Garret Bouhuyzen-Wenger.

The Thunderbirds won the race in head wind conditions in 6:14.0 over Drexel 6:18.8 and Notre Dame 6:19.6.

"I am really pleased with how the team has come together this year. Everyone has been really committed to improving and that fuelled our gains in boat speed all season. After a narrow loss to the Vikes last weekend it was great to come here and end the season with a big win," said men's coach Mike Pearce

On the women's side, the Thunderbirds were able to regroup in the Petite finals finishing 14th overall amongst a very deep field of NCAA Division 1 teams and the lightweight Thunderbirds finished fourth among the five lightweight entries.

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