Weekend Wrap: Ontario Rowers Compete in Three Regattas

The Ontario rowing community had a busy July 12-13 weekend with three regattas featuring rowers of all ages taking place.

The first provincial championship of 2025 took place in Welland on Sunday with rowers from the Ontario masters community competing in the RowOn Masters Championships. A day prior, the Central Ontario Regatta Association (CORA) Championships were held in St. Catharines, while the Eastern Regatta Association (ERA) Regatta was hosted in Montreal on Saturday and Sunday.

Taking place on the North Course of the Welland International Flatwater Centre, the RowOn Masters Championships had 187 boat entries from 22 clubs from Ontario and the United States. Threatening clouds were present throughout the day, but the rain never came as the rowers competed under hot and humid temperatures for provincial glory. There were 19 clubs from Ontario competing at the event, with 16 of them earning medals.

The Hanlan Boat Club was the top performing club at the regatta, earning a total of 17 medals, which included seven gold, four silver, and six bronze. The Argonaut Rowing Club were next on the medal tally with 14 (3 gold, 6 silver, 5 bronze), followed by the London Western Rowing Club, who earned a regatta-high eight gold medals, with 12 (8 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze). The St. Catharines Rowing Club were next with an impressive 11 medals (4 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze) out of their 13 total entries, and rounding out the top five on the medal standings was the Leander Boat Club with nine (2 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze).

Other Ontario clubs earning medals at the event included the South Niagara Rowing Club (8), Ridley Graduate Boat Club (8), Georgian Bay Rowing Club (7), Don Rowing Club (6), GBRC-North (5), Peterborough Rowing Club (5), Guelph Rowing Club (3), LaSalle Rowing Club (2), Tillsonburg Rowing Club (2), Orillia Rowing Club (1), and Thunder Bay Rowing Club (1).

At Martindale Pond in St. Catharines on Saturday, the CORA Championships had 367 entries from 21 clubs, including 19 from Ontario. The annual regatta featured U17, U19, Senior, and Masters age categories, meaning some masters rowers were pulling double duty by competing both Saturday and Sunday. Of the 19 Ontario clubs competing 14 brought home medals.

Meanwhile in Montreal, rowers competed on the Olympic Basin, the site of the 1976 Olympics, over two days at the ERA Regatta. A total of 28 clubs competed at the event with 447 entries. The clubs came from all over to compete at the annual regatta, with Quebec, Ontario, the United States, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, BC, Newfoundland, and Colombia all represented. Ontario was represented by seven clubs, with the Ottawa Rowing Club topping the list of entries with 92. The ORC also earned the most medals out of the Ontario clubs with 14 (3 gold, 5 silver, 6 bronze), followed by the St. Catharines Rowing Club and Niagara Falls Rowing Club with six apiece, Western University with five, Brockville Rowing Club with four and Brock University with one.

Ontario clubs sent a total of 726 boats to the start line over the three events, with another busy weekend ahead. The RowOn Championships will take centre stage in Ontario next weekend, with the two-day event running July 19-20 from the South Course in Welland.

For full results from the RowOn Masters Championships, visit RegattaCentral
For full results from the CORA Championships, visit RegattaCentral
For full results from ERA Regatta, visit RegattaCentral

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