Former Trent Excalibur student-athletes, Trevor Jones, Joshua King, and Bayleigh Hooper will trade the Trent green and white for Team Canada red and white, rowing for gold in Tokyo at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Trevor Jones: Racing to the top of the podium

Trevor Jones is a two-time under-23 Team Canada world champion, racing to the top of the podium in 2017 and 2018.  Trevor, originally from Lakefield, Ontario, joined the Trent Excalibur in 2015, training with coach Carol Love, Rowing Canada NextGen coach, athlete mentor, and '76 Olympian, and rowed as a member of the Trent Excalibur varsity program for a total of three seasons. Trevor also competed in the 2019 World Championships, the 2017 World Cup, 2016 World under-23 Championships and the 2015 World Junior Championships. 

Continuing to compete under the Peterborough Rowing Club, Trevor has made his mark as one of the youngest Olympians competing in the men’s sculls at the Olympics. He will enter Olympic competition after a second place finish at the World Rowing Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland. 

"This has always been the end goal for the past six years now, so it's been about making sure that everything I do is working towards this Olympic berth," Trevor said, after qualifying for the Olympics in May.

Bayleigh Hooper: Competing with the best-of-the-best

Making her Paralympic debut in Tokyo, Bayleigh Hooper, of Chatsworth, Ontario, started rowing in 2017 with the Trent Excalibur novice rowing team and the Peterborough Rowing Club. She has been a national team member since 2018, and made her international debut at the World Championships that same year, rowing to a fourth place finish with the PR3 Mix coxed four team. In her first year with the Excalibur varsity rowing team, she helped the novice women’s eight team capture gold at the 2017 OUA Championships. Following her first season at Trent, RCA NextGen coach and former Canadian Olympian, Carol Love took her under her wing, introducing Bayleigh to the possibility of competing in the Paralympics. Since then, Bayleigh has been motivated to show what she can do.

Bayleigh is headed to Tokyo to compete for Canada as a member of the PR3 Mixed coxed four team after finishing in first place, with a team best performance time of 7:08.87, at the final Paralympic qualification regatta in Gavirate, Italy on June 5.

“Bayleigh was a great athlete when she came to Trent,” says Coach Love. “It takes huge amounts of work ethic and discipline to make it to this level. For Bayleigh, it’s huge, because she might have never seen the Paralympics as a possibility and it’s very transformative for her. Trent Athletics has always supported the individuals who wanted to pursue high performance. With the river and the facilities at the doorstep, so for athletes who find Trent and have a passion, the resources to development are incredible.”

Joshua King: A leader on the water

Making his Olympic debut in Tokyo, Joshua King ,from Ottawa, Ontario, will be participating as an alternate in the men’s four rowing event. As the captain of the Trent Rowing team and Trent University Rowing Club Executive, Joshua’s leadership on the water led the team to a 2014 OUA silver medal, before racing to two OUA gold medal finishes in 2015, which earned him a nomination as OUA rowing athlete of the year. Upon graduating from Trent with a degree in Computer Science, Joshua was also the recipient of the Arthur Cup in 2016 in recognition of outstanding contribution, sportsmanship, participation, and leadership in Trent’s athletic programs.

Joining the national team in 2016, Joshua enters the Tokyo Olympics with experience representing Canada at the 2019 Pan American Games and 2016 World Championships.

Rowing at the Olympic Games in Tokyo gets underway Thursday, July 22 at 7:30 p.m. EST. Follow all the action from Tokyo on CBC Sports, Team Canada and the Canadian Paralympic Team. Rowing at the Paralympic Games will start on Thursday, August 26 at 8:30 p.m. EST.

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