Weekend Wrap: Action Packed Weekend for Ontario Rowing Community
The Ontario rowing community had a busy weekend as rowers from the province competed in a total of five regattas across Ontario, Quebec, and the United States.
The jam-packed weekend began on Friday with the first day of action at the CanAmMex International Regatta in Sarasota, Florida, while on Saturday the Central Ontario Rowing Association (CORA) Championships took place from St. Catharines, the Eastern Rowing Association (ERA) Regatta saw its first of two days on the regatta course in Montreal, and the 63rd Duluth International Rowing Regatta was held in Duluth, Minnesota. The weekend wrapped up in a big way on Sunday with the RowOn Masters Championships on the North Course in Welland.
Masters from across Ontario and the Eastern United States descended on Welland on Sunday to compete at the RowOn Masters Championships with a total of 23 clubs represented. The competitors competed under a mostly cloudy sky throughout the day as the forecasted rain held off after showers on Saturday night. The Don Rowing Club showed the strength of their masters program by bringing home the most gold medals to Mississauga, earning a regatta high 11. Next on the leaderboard was Leander Boat Club with nine golds, followed by the London Western Rowing Club (7), the Hanlan Boat Club (6), and the Argonaut Rowing Club (5). A total of 13 clubs earned first place finishes, including the Peterborough Rowing Club (3), Georgian Bay Rowing Club (3), St. Catharines Rowing Club (3), Sudbury Rowing Club (1), Niagara Falls Rowing Club (1), and South Niagara Rowing Club (1).
Some masters rowers pulled double duty in the Niagara region over the weekend as the 2023 CORA Championships featured masters, U17, U19, U23, Senior and Para races. Held on Martindale Pond in St. Catharines on Saturday, the CORA Championships featured 18 member clubs from Central Ontario. There were 368 total entries at the event, a big increase from the 312 in 2022 as rowers returned to racing regattas after almost two years away because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The St. Catharines Rowing Club had an impressive day on their home course, earning a total of 22 gold medals. Next was the Notre Dame Rowing Club with 16, followed by the Peterborough Rowing Club with 12, and the Argonaut Rowing Club and Niagara Falls Rowing Club with ten apiece. Also earning gold medals on Saturday were the Guelph Rowing Club (6), Georgian Bay Rowing Club (4), Orillia Rowing Club (2), South Niagara Rowing Club (2), Don Rowing Club (2), Ridley Graduate Boat Club (1) and London Western Rowing Club (1).
The ERA Regatta was held on the Olympic Basin in Montreal on Saturday and Sunday with 305 entries from 21 clubs from Quebec, Ontario, the Maritimes and United States. The Ottawa Rowing Club were the big winners, earning the coveted Comstock Trophy, which is awarded to the club tallying the most overall points at the regatta. The ORC finished with 160 points, almost doubling the total of the host Montreal Rowing Club, who finished in second with 81.8 points. The Kingston Rowing Club also had a solid day finishing in fifth place with 35 points, while the St. Catharines Rowing Club finished in eighth with 28 points despite only having five entries in the regatta.
The Thunder Bay Rowing Club was the lone Canadian club to participate in the Duluth International Rowing Regatta which took place from the Duluth Rowing Club Boathouse on Park Point. A total of 11 clubs, mostly from Minnesota and Michigan, took park in the event which had over 400 rowers. Despite some rough water and race cancellations, the Thunder Bay Rowing Club finished sixth overall in the standings and earned an impressive six medals.
Meanwhile in Florida, the CanAmMex Team took on their counterparts from the United States, Mexico and Barbados in a crucial development regatta for NextGen rowers. The Canadian team featured ten Ontario-based rowers on the 17-member squad, including three from the Ontario NextGen Performance Centre (Malarie Jones, Meghan Harris, and Michael Gore). The regatta was run in conjunction with the Summer Festival of Rowing and took place after a week-long training camp with the participating teams. In total, the Canadian team won 12 medals, including three golds in the women’s single, women’s double and women’s quad.
2023 Canadian CanAmMex Regatta Results
Junior Women’s Single (JW1x): Gold, Elizabeth Najjar (Don Rowing Club / Ontario)
Junior Women’s Double (JW2x): Gold, Sasha Anderson (North Star Rowing Club / Nova Scotia), Elizabeth Najjar (Don Rowing Club / Ontario)
Junior Women’s Quad (JW4x): Gold, Chloé Fortin (Aviron Lachine Rowing Club / Quebec), Sasha Anderson (North Star Rowing Club / Nova Scotia), Meghan Harris (Guelph Rowing Club / Ontario), Elizabeth Najjar (Don Rowing Club / Ontario)
Junior Women’s Single (JW1x): Silver, Chloé Fortin (Aviron Lachine Rowing Club / Quebec)
Junior Men’s Double (JM2x): Silver, Zachary Kano (Wayland-Weston Rowing Association / Massachusetts), Caillen Piekenhagen (Ridley College / Ontario)
Junior Women’s Pair (JW2-): Silver, Talia Nixon (Ridley College / Ontario), Jade Postma (Ridley College / Ontario)
Junior Men’s Quad (JM4x): Silver, Zachary Kano (Wayland-Weston Rowing Association / Massachusetts), Caillen Piekenhagen (Ridley College / Ontario), Michael Gore (Ontario Next Gen Performance Centre / Ontario), Conor Dillon (Claremont CSI / British Columbia)
Junior Women’s Coxed Four (JW4+): Silver, Sabrina Seville (cox) (Branksome Hall / Ontario), Eryn Wale (Victoria City Rowing Club / British Columbia), Sydney Swick (Ridley College / Ontario), Rachel Dirks (Havergal College and Argonaut Rowing Club / Ontario), Mélanie Helfenstein (North Star Rowing Club / Nova Scotia)
Junior Women’s Eight (JW8+): Silver, Sabrina Seville (cox) (Branksome Hall / Ontario), Mélanie Helfenstein (North Star Rowing Club / Nova Scotia), Rachel Dirks (Havergal College and Argonaut Rowing Club / Ontario), Eryn Wale (Victoria City Rowing Club / British Columbia), Anya Prokopchuk (Brentwood College / British Columbia), Talia Nixon (Ridley College / Ontario), Jade Postma (Ridley College / Ontario), Malarie Jones (Notre Dame Rowing Club / Ontario), Sydney Swick (Ridley College / Ontario)
Junior Men’s Eight (JM8+): Silver, Zachary Kano (Wayland-Weston Rowing Association / Massachusetts), Caillen Piekenhagen (Ridley College / Ontario), Conor Dillon (Claremont CSI / British Columbia), Kevin Edmonds (Mexico), Emiliano Cuevas (Mexico), Tirso Abrica (Mexico), Pedro Contreras (Mexico), Santiago Valencia (Mexico)
Junior Men’s Single (JM1x): Bronze, Zachary Kano (Wayland-Weston Rowing Association / Massachusetts)
Junior Women’s Double (JW2x): Bronze, Chloé Fortin (Aviron Lachine Rowing Club / Quebec), Meghan Harris (Guelph Rowing Club / Ontario)
Junior Men’s Single (JM1x): Fourth, Michael Gore (Ontario Next Gen Performance Centre / Ontario)
Junior Women’s Pair (JW2-): Fourth, Malarie Jones (Notre Dame Rowing Club / Ontario), Anya Prokopchuk (Brentwood College / British Columbia)
For full results from the RowOn Masters Championships, visit RegattaCentral.
For full results from the CORA Championships, visit RegattaCentral
For full results from the ERA Championships, visit RegattaCentral
For a report on the Duluth International Regatta, see here
For full results on the CanAmMex International Regatta, visit Crew Timer
