Weekend Wrap: Hammer the Harbour and Dominion Day Regatta
Two Ontario-based regattas ran over the last weekend of June and the first day of July with the Hammer the Harbour closing out the June regatta schedule and the Dominion Day Regatta opening the regatta schedule for July.
Co-hosted by Row Ontario and the Leander Boat Club, the Hammer the Harbour Regatta took place on Saturday, June 27 from the Leander Boat Club in Hamilton. The half-day regatta was run as a series of promotion-relegation races, over short sprint distances (either 250m or 500m) with athletes competing in small boats (1x, 2x, or 2-). This is the third event that has been run under this new competition model, following the Row Ontario Cup in Ottawa in Sept. 2024, and the RowOn Novice Festival last year at the 2025 RowOn Championships. The format of the promotion-relegation events allows for more racing for athletes throughout the day against similarly skilled competition.
Athletes competing at the Hammer the Harbour ranged in ages from U17 to Masters with entries coming from the Leander Boat Club, LaSalle Rowing Club, Guelph Rowing Club, Queen’s University Rowing, Ridley Graduate Boat Club and St. Catharines Rowing Club.
Meanwhile in Welland, the Dominion Day Regatta ran on Canada’s 159th birthday in a new location on the North Course of the Welland International Flatwater Centre.
The World Cup festivities in Toronto necessitated the move to Welland this year for Dominion Day, which is typically hosted on the Allan A. Lamport Regatta Course in Toronto. The regatta saw 236 entries from 12 Ontario clubs, with athletes competing in U17, U19, U23, Senior and Masters categories across a wide range of boat classes.
The St. Catharines Rowing Club led the way with 15 gold medals, followed closely by the Argonaut Rowing Club who finished second with 14. Next on the gold medal tally was the Hanlan Boat with five, followed by the Don Rowing Club (4), Ridley Graduate Boat Club (3), Notre Dame Rowing Club (3), South Niagara Rowing Club (2), Upper Canada (1), Brock Rowing (1), and Brockville Rowing Club (1)
For full results from the Hammer the Harbour, visit RegattaCentral
For full results from the Dominion Day Regatta, visit Regatta Central
For the full race calendar in Ontario visit the Row Ontario website.
