Weekend Preview: Busy Weekend Ahead for Ontario Rowers
Competition/ Sep 21

Weekend Preview: Busy Weekend Ahead for Ontario Rowers


The 2022 World Rowing Championship will run in Racice, Czechia until Sunday while three regattas will take place at home on Ontario waters this weekend.

In Racice, Day 4 of the World Championships wrapped up earlier this morning with successful performances by Canadian boats. The M1x (Trevor Jones) and M2x (DeGroot, Stone) each finished third in their quarterfinal heats while the W2x (Bolinger, Duvernay Tardif) placed third in the repechage to advance to the A/B semifinals, which will take place on Friday. They join the W2- (Boekhorst, Walker) and LW2x (Casson, Moffatt) boats in the A/B semifinals, who advanced earlier in the week and will compete in their semifinals races tomorrow. The men’s and women’s 8+ qualified for the A Final earlier in the week and will both compete for a medal on Sunday. The men’s 8+ put the rest of the competing boats on notice by winning their heat in a time of 5:30.39, while the women’s 8+ looked strong in finishing second in their preliminary heat in a time of 6:12.72.

In Ontario waters, the Head of the Welland – Five Bridges Fall Classic and the Western Invitational Regatta will take place on Saturday, while the Head of the Rideau runs on Sunday.

The Head of the Welland is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and will take place from its home on the North Course of the Welland International Flatwater Centre. The head race is hosted by the South Niagara Rowing Club and will feature over 200 entries from 14 Ontario clubs as well as five from the United States. The action will start at 9am on Saturday and will conclude around 5pm after a special 8+ 500m exhibition race where the competitors are encouraged to compete in their best 80’s costumes.

The Western Invitational Regatta takes place from Fanshawe Lake in London and will be hosted by the UWO Boat Club. The invitational will feature rowers from seven university programs (Western, Brock, Waterloo, McMaster, Guelph, U of T, and Waterloo) as well as members of the LaSalle Rowing Club. The event returns to its typical September date, after being hosted last year in August. Last year’s edition was the first inter club regatta to be hosted in Ontario since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

The Head of the Rideau will be hosted by the Ottawa Rowing for the 48th time on Sunday. The head race will feature both 3km and 5km races across a full range of race categories. Almost 250 boats will take part in the event, with the majority of the clubs coming from Eastern Ontario as well as Quebec. The host ORC has the most entries with 49. The action will start at 8:35am and wrap up around 3:30pm.

For more information on World Rowing Championships, visit World Rowing.
For more information on the Western Invitational Regatta, visit, RegattaCentral.
For more information on the Head of the Welland, visit RegattaCentral.
For more information on the Head of the Rideau, visit RegattaCentral.

For the full regatta schedule in Ontario, visit the Row Ontario website.