Weekend Wrap: Guelph Invite Opens University Rowing Season

The university rowing season kicked off in earnest on Saturday with nine Ontario university programs competing at the Guelph Invitational.

Hosted by the University of Guelph at Guelph Lake Conservation Area, the Guelph Invitational saw the 134 entries compete in a wide variety of boat categories in open, lightweight and adaptive divisions. Participating schools included host Guelph Gryphons, Brock Badgers, TMU Bold, McMaster Marauders, Toronto Varsity Blues, Waterloo Warriors, Western Mustangs, Windsor Lancers and the Sudbury Rowing Club. While each boat class opened the regatta with a time trial, only the eights, fours and quads were able to complete a Final as the weather forced the cancellation of the finals for the smaller boats. Medals were awarded for the smaller boats based on the time trial.

The top-performing program at the regatta was the Brock Badgers, who earned an event high 18 medals (9 gold, 8 silver, 1 bronze), followed closely by the Western Mustangs who brought home 15 (6 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze). Other programs reaching the podium included the Varsity Blues with nine (2 gold, 2 silver, 5 bronze), Guelph with seven (1 gold, 1 silver, 5 bronze) and McMaster with five (1 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze).

Elsewhere in the rowing world, the 2025 World Rowing Championship began Sunday at the Shanghai Water Sports Centre in Shanghai, China. Action will continue all week with the final day of racing scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 28.

For full results from the Guelph Invite, visit RegattaCentral.
To follow along with the World Rowing Championships, visit World Rowing.

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

Photo is property of Waterloo Warriors Rowing.