Weekend Wrap: 77th Annual CSSRA Held in St. Catharines
The top high school rowers from across the country flocked to St. Catharines last week for the 77th annual Canadian Secondary School Rowing Association Championships. The regatta took place as always from Martindale Waterways over three days of exciting action from May 31 – June 2.
The event hosted a total of 136 clubs and 724 entries, an increase from 128 and 648 respectively from 2023. Ontario high school programs totaled over half of the number of clubs with 71, while the USA was strongly represented at the regatta by 23 different programs. A total of 15 BC schools travelled east for the event, while Quebec (8), Nova Scotia (7), Alberta (5), Manitoba (3), New Brunswick (1), and Saskatchewan were all represented. There were even four entries from Windsor High School in the Bahamas.
Fonthill, ON’s EL Crossley had the most success over the three-day event, bringing home a total of 16 gold medals. The Cyclones capped off a strong high school rowing season which saw them finish as the top performing school in many of the early season races. Next on the gold medal tally was Brentwood College School (Mill Bay, BC) who earned five, followed by Saint Paul CHS (Niagara Falls, ON) with three, and Sir Winston Churchill SS (St. Catharines, ON), Claremont Sports Institute (Victoria), Vancouver College Rowing, and Canisius HS (Buffalo, NY) with two. Other Ontario schools earning gold medals included Notre Dame College School (Welland), Ridley College (St. Catharines), Branksome Hall (Toronto), and Eden HS (St. Catharines).
The rowers competed in 42 race categories across junior, senior, and novice divisions in men’s, women’s and mixed open and lightweight categories. With the high school season now over, many of the CSSRA competitors will move to club competition for the remainder of the rowing season.
For full results from the CSSRA Championships visit the CSSRA website.
For the full regatta schedule in Ontario, visit the Row Ontario website.
Photo is property of Banting Rowing.
