2022 Row Ontario Annual Award Winners Announced
Row Ontario celebrated an outstanding 2022 season for the Ontario rowing community on and off the water by announcing the 2022 Annual Award winners on Friday.
A deserving group of award winners included athletes, clubs, coaches, umpires, and volunteers as 11 annual award winners were announced, along with 53 long service award recipients and 44 volunteer certificate recipients. Row Ontario returned to a full awards program for the first time since 2019 this year, after two years of a modified awards program due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earning the coveted Athlete of the Year award in a deep group of strong nominees was Jacquie Groenewegen of the Argonaut Rowing Club / Queen’s University. Groenewegen competed at both the club and university level this year, earning a total of 17 medals (7 gold, 9 silver, 1 bronze) across the spring, summer and fall racing seasons in a wide variety of boat classes. She began her year with a silver in the U19W2- at the Row Ontario Small Boat Regatta in May and continued that momentum into the summer where she earned three medals at the Row Ontario Championships and a silver medal and fourth place finish at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. She transitioned to the university season in the fall, and earned two medals at the OUA Championships, a silver at the Canadian University Championships, and she aged up to take a bronze in the U23W2- at the National Rowing Championships. In addition to her work on the regatta course, Groenewegen worked full-time with the Argo’s as a camp counsellor while also training 2-3 times per day and despite the workload was an incredibly positive force and a strong leader on both the junior and senior teams.
The two coaching awards went to Zak Lewis of the Ottawa Rowing Club and Kirsten Ryan of the Hanlan Boat Club, who took home the Competitive Coach of the Year and Learn to Row/Recreational Coach of the Year respectively.
On the regatta course, Lewis helped lead the Ottawa Rowing Club members to one of the strongest seasons in club history. The crews he coached earned six medals (4 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze) at the Lachine Canal Challenge, three gold medals as well as the Comstock Trophy (Efficiency) at the ERA Regatta, ten medals (5 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze) at the Row Ontario Championships and ten top-3 finishes including three gold medals at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. Off the regatta course, Lewis helped build a winterized space at the club that is now home to winter training. Since joining the club four years ago, he has helped redefine the ORC club culture into a positive, inclusive, community-oriented space that prioritizes access to rowing for all and he has spearheaded outreach with LGBTQ2+ communities, low-income family support, as well as BIPOC initiatives at the club, including the nationally acclaimed Everybody Rows Ottawa Campaign. From high performance to community support Lewis went above and beyond in 2022.
At the Hanlan Boat Club, Ryan had a busy year serving as lead coach of the masters program, volunteering regularly to assist with the inclusive rowing league program, coaching learn to row programs and mentoring learn to row coaches, coaching novice adult rowers and even filling in for the club’s head coach when they were overseas. She also assisted with oar and equipment repair and led the club’s education program on care and use of club boats. An exceptional coach who brings experience, expertise, humour, and humility to the coach boat, Ryan received much praise from the athletes she coached with many of them thanking her for her efforts throughout the year and making their experience at Hanlan in 2022 one to remember.
The Hanlan Boat Club was also honoured for their exceptional year by being named Row Ontario’s Club of the Year. In 2022, the club adopted a new strategic plan with the goal ‘to be the place where everyone loves to row’ and began the first year of the plan by introducing the sport to 228 new rowers. The new rowers included 73 participants of the first-year Hanlan Rowing League (a social league where rowers learn to row, train and race in eight weeks) 38 participants in their Summer Camp (which included 33 equity-deserving youth attending free of charge) and 117 participants in their learn to row program and/or Come Try It days. They also finished a major boathouse improvement thanks to a successful Trillium Grant, engaged over 80% of the membership as volunteers and created a club-wide on-line program where members can connect with each other and share their love of rowing through photos and social media posts.
Throughout the year the club displayed excellence in club management, coaching and in competitions. They also expanded their coaching team, programs, and equipment and collaborated with other clubs and organizations in the Ontario rowing community in hosting coastal rowing camps, helping run the annual Dominion Day Regatta, hosting two rowing tours to Toronto Island, and running multiple ‘best practices’ conference calls with other Ontario rowing clubs.
The 2022 Chair’s Award was awarded to Doug Diet of the LaSalle Rowing Club. Diet, the President and coach at the LRC, has helped lead a resurgence at the Windsor-based club which enjoyed numerous high points throughout 2022. An increased emphasis on grant writing and fundraising efforts resulted in the purchase of new equipment at the club which allowed their programming to expand. The LRC offered more opportunities to row than ever before and 2022 saw the largest membership numbers ever at the club, a feat even more impressive coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that number is still growing as new rowing community members are joining their winter indoor rowing program. In partnership with the University of Windsor, they ran a successful ‘Come Try Rowing’ Day which attracted 51 participants and the 2022 season also saw the club, for the first time since the early 2000’s, compete on the water at regattas in London and Peterborough.
Under Diet’s leadership, the club has also become a leader in the para rowing community by starting a program at the club that has garnered significant attention from local media, town counsellors, and the nationwide rowing community. Countless hours of effort by Diet and other club leaders were put in place to support the new program, including holding swim tests, tip and flip practice at a local pool, and getting the athletes out on the water for the first time in a safe and supportive environment. The LRC is a 100% volunteer-led club with no paid staff, and the success they achieved in 2022 was made possible by a strong feeling of community Diet has helped foster in the Windsor rowing community.
Two junior-aged athletes were honoured with monetary awards thanks to their achievements and contributions in 2022 as Maddox Harrison was named the High School Bursary recipient and Elena Sati was named the Claude Saunders Award winner.
Harrison, who hails from St. Catharines, had a busy 2022 rowing for the St. Catharines Rowing Club as well as Governor Simcoe S.S. during the high school season, and Brock University in his first varsity season in the fall. He competed in a total of 16 regattas throughout the year and won a gold (MLwt8+) and a bronze (M2-) at his first OUA Championships with the Badgers. He earned the co-rookie of the year award thanks to his outstanding first season at Brock. In the classroom Harrison was just as impressive earning the Alex Wilson Scholarship, given to a graduating Governor Simcoe S.S student who excels in sports and academics, the John Park Chemistry Award, the John Graves Simcoe Award for the highest student achievement in Grade 12 and the Department of Science Award.
Sati joined the Don Rowing Club in 2017 as part of their summer youth rowing camp and has been a staple at the club ever since. She has steadily improved each season and in 2022 won the Senior W2x at the Row Ontario Championships and made the final in both of her events at Henley. She also joined the newly introduced coastal rowing program at Don’s and took to the new discipline quickly. Her hard work resulted in her being named to the national team that competed at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Saundersfoot, UK. Sati’s attitude and commitment to training has influenced her fellow rowers at the club and has helped create a strong and respectful team environment. She is an active volunteer and has coached learn to row classes for the last two years. She is also now a strong advocate for coastal rowing and has encouraged her peers to try out the exciting discipline.
Three umpires were also announced as award winners as Judy Sutcliffe and Dave Derry received the Umpire Lifetime Achievement Award and Ross Yeo was named Umpire of the Year.
Sutcliffe, who was also inducted into the Row Ontario Hall of Fame in 2022, was Chair of the Row Ontario Umpires Committee from 2008-19 and during her time as Chair established mentor program for Assistant and Associate Umpires, which led to increased success rate of umpiring exams, developed application process for national juries and to become a World Rowing umpire, started a database to track umpire attendance and activity and tirelessly promoted umpire recruitment through enhanced communications, leading to an increased pool of active umpires and a 65% increase in the number of women umpiring in Ontario. She has been an Umpire Clinician since 2011 and Chair of the RCA Umpires Committee since 2018.
Long-time umpire Derry first started driving umpire boats in 1976 and received his CAAO umpires license in 1978. Since receiving his umpire license he’s consistently umpired at regional, provincial, and national regattas and has been a mentor to countless other umpires in rowing and always had the best interests of athletes in mind while umpiring. He has also made his mark at the international level after obtaining his FISA license in 1992. Among his international assignments include umpiring at two world championships, World Cup events in Lucerne, Switzerland and Munich, Germany, the World University Games, the World University Championship, and the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Yeo started umpiring in 1972 and continued to umpire until 1977 when he left his native St. Catharines to complete his Ph.D. at Rice University in Houston, TX. When he returned to St. Catharines in 2009, he began umpiring again and has attended between 10-15 Ontario regattas each year since. In 2022 he umpired at 12 regattas including the CSSRA Championships, Row Ontario Championships, Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, and OUA Championships. Yeo has a depth of knowledge of rowing and is a strong umpire who consistently ensures safe practices, exhibits fair judgement and makes excellent and objective decisions.
Rounding out the award winners is Ava Semeniuk of the Argonaut Rowing Club who wins the first ever Row Ontario Performance of the Year Award. Semeniuk’s outstanding performance came at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, where she competed in four race divisions and 12 races over the course of the week. Semeniuk and her U17 W4x crew won the gold medal by a margin of over 14 seconds, and she also led her team to a fourth place finish in the U17 W8+, the first time an Argonaut 8+ had been in a Henley final in many years. Later that week, she claimed a 2nd place finish in the U19 W4x event and followed up later that day with a 5th place finish in the U17 W1x. The Performance of the Year Award was determined by an online vote from Ontario rowing community members which opened last Friday and closed yesterday.
Row Ontario 2022 Award Winners
Athlete of the Year – Jacquie Groenewegen, Argonaut Rowing Club / Queen’s University
Competitive Coach of the Year – Zak Lewis, Ottawa Rowing Club
Learn to Row/Recreational Coach of the Year – Kirsten Ryan, Hanlan Boat Club
Club of the Year – Hanlan Boat Club
Chair’s Award – Doug Diet, LaSalle Rowing Club
High School Bursary Award – Maddox Harrison, Governor Simcoe S.S. / Brock University
Claude Saunders Award – Elena Sati, Don Rowing Club
Umpire of the Year – Ross Yeo
Umpire Lifetime Achievement Award – Judy Sutcliffe & Dave Derry
Performance of the Year – Ava Semeniuk, Argonaut Rowing Club
Long Service Awards
Given to participants of a member club who has volunteered in the Ontario rowing community for 15 years or more.
15 Years
Michael Greig – Argonaut Rowing Club
Kate McLachlan – Collingwood Rowing Club
Jessica Wilson – Guelph Rowing Club
Joel Wilson – Guelph Rowing Club
Pearl Schaffer – Guelph Rowing Club
Josipa Paska – Hanlan Boat Club
Maureen Williams – Hanlan Boat Club
Brian Singleton – Hanlan Boat Club
Ken Norris – Island Lake Rowing Club
Rami Maassarani – Kingston Rowing Club
Bernard Rochon – ONEC Rowing
Alistair Hensler – ONEC Rowing
Mary Clark – ONEC Rowing
20 Years
Dave Lovell – Argonaut Rowing Club
Jeany Ellis – Argonaut Rowing Club
Jo-Anne Costello – Guelph Rowing Club
Scott Pollard – Guelph Rowing Club
Sonia Spekkens – Guelph Rowing Club
Jim Wilson – Guelph Rowing Club
Gerard Bellefleur – Guelph Rowing Club
Al Harris – Guelph Rowing Club
Susan Wright – Hanlan Boat Club
Avtar Dhanota – Hanlan Boat Club
Sarah Roth – Kingston Rowing Club
Elizabeth Ward – ONEC Rowing
Jonathan Morris – ONEC Rowing
Norma Strachan – ONEC Rowing
25 Years
Grant Sommers – Argonaut Rowing Club
Matt Miller – Argonaut Rowing Club
Teresa Read – Argonaut Rowing Club
Brad Brennan – Kingston Rowing Club
30 Years
Lynda Dundas – Don Rowing Club
Satinder Singh – Hanlan Boat Club
Barbara Prevedello – Hanlan Boat Club
Susan Gustavison – Hanlan Boat Club
Sam Baio – St. Catharines Rowing Club
George Darte – St. Catharines Rowing Club
Ian Muir – St. Catharines Rowing Club
John Mirynech – St. Catharines Rowing Club
Greg Pinder – St. Catharines Rowing Club
35 Years
Jenn Blunt – Argonaut Rowing Club
Judy Sutcliffe – Argonaut Rowing Club
Milan Sreckovic – Argonaut Rowing Club
Steve Dmytrasz – Don Rowing Club
40 Years
Dave Wigg – Argonaut Rowing Club
Bill Ross – St. Catharines Rowing Club
45 Years
Michael Thompson – St. Catharines Rowing Club
50 Years
Ian McFarlane – Kingston Rowing Club
Paul Beedling – St. Catharines Rowing Club
James Walker – St. Catharines Rowing Club
55 Years
Barry Shaw – Argonaut Rowing Club
Brian Thorne – St. Catharines Rowing Club
Jack Lovett – St. Catharines Rowing Club
Club Volunteer Certificates
Presented by member clubs to their hard-working volunteers who have invested countless time and energy into the sport of rowing.
Argonaut Rowing Club
Shannon Pearson
Tammy Curtis
Graham Bolton
Rebecca Orr
Dave Wigg
City of Welland
Jirianna Couroux
Collingwood Rowing Club
Greg Patterson
Dominion Day Regatta Association
Charlie Stevens
Don Rowing Club
Duncan Cameron
Sophia Lipowski
Gordon Mack
Lorne Thomas
Guelph Rowing Club
Pam Healey
Pat Shaver
Hanlan Boat Club
Deborah Cumming
Hugh Fletcher
Island Lake Rowing Club
Brian Price
Paige Sze
Muskoka Rowing Club
Anita Ward
Niagara Falls Rowing Club
Dan Reid-Tavano
Notre Dame Rowing Club
Dennis Zahorchak
Ontario Adventure Rowing
Peter Jepson
Orillia Rowing Club
Barb Pidgen
Ottawa New Edinburgh Club
Alistair Hensley
Ottawa Rowing Club
Ryan Fazzari
Marc Marion
Janet Buchan
Christina Fernandez
Greg Brown
Peterborough Rowing Club
Mike Vanderpost
Martha Faulkner
Matt Hagopian
South Niagara Rowing Club
Tom Chopin
Kathleen Lamoureux
St. Catharines Rowing Club
Dereck Schwandt
Andrew Carr
Karly Matwjow
Aly Meade
Maddie Hingston
Liz Harold
Peter Somerwil
Jacob Thomas
Thunder Bay Rowing Club
Matthew Granger
Certificates and Long Service Award pins will be sent to all clubs who submitted nominations for distribution to their award winners at a later date.
Row Ontario thanks everyone throughout the Ontario rowing community who submitted nominations and/or votes for the 2022 Awards, and for making 2022 a year to remember.
