Weekend Wrap: Series Champions Crowned in St. Catharines; Inclusion Mixed Double Makes Debut

The final RowOn Beach Sprint Cup Series regatta of 2026 took place Saturday, Sept. 19 at Lakeside Beach in St. Catharines and saw the Series first ever Champions crowned after four exciting and record-breaking events.

More history was made this weekend with the debut of the inclusion mixed doubles category, the first time a full inclusion category has ever been contested a beach sprint regatta in Canada. Para rowers teamed with experienced beach sprint competitors for the races, which followed the same format as all the categories contested, time trials followed by knockout rounds until the gold medal final. The Argonaut Rowing Club’s Maya Jonas teamed with Aviron Knowlton’s Raphael Kaiser to take the win in the final, besting Alex Martel (Sudbury Rowing Club) and Caitlin Pauls (Ridley Graduate Boat Club) by eight seconds.

“Excited doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt at the beach,” said Jonas following her gold medal performance. “Coastal racing is very exciting. All those motion and movements really add to the excitement and the adrenaline factor. As a blind athlete, I’m not usually paired with a world class athlete and my partner Raphael is such an amazing athlete! Such a kind and terrific, giving human being. I was very grateful that he would make time for a para-athlete and be totally supportive of adaptive coastal racing. Thank you to everyone who helped and especially to all the boat holders, everyone’s kindness and enthusiasm overwhelmed me.”

This was the second time competing in a beach sprints event for Jonas, after she raced in Row Ontario’s first ever beach sprint event at Woodbine Beach in Toronto in 2023.

“The difference between my first time and this event was absolutely night and day,” said Jonas. “The first time I couldn’t even roll with the oar in the water. I still had a fabulous time then but yesterday was a whole different story. Thanks to my coach Rebecca, who coached me with her excellent verbal skills over the last years, I could roll while the waves were coming in.”

Martel, an experienced para rower, was making his debut in beach sprints and watched the morning singles races before competing in the double with Pauls in the afternoon. Watching the action as a spectator first helped him get a feel for the event flow before competing.

“When it came to racing it was challenging but very fun,” said Martel. “The distance of the race combined with the obstacles; getting in the boat smoothly and rapidly, high waves, and a hand brake turn around the booey, can change the outcome of the race which makes for much closer races. The environment, the participants and the music made it a joyful atmosphere and the camaraderie of the beach sprint community should be noted. Throughout the day there were always people from a wide variety of clubs willing to help. I would absolutely recommend other para rowers to give it a try! It’s an opportunity to compete, meet new rowers and try something entirely new from the standard rowing experience. It’s a lot closer races as anything can happen and it’s exhilarating.”

The team of Andrew McLellan (West Side Rowing Club) and Iris Fiddick (Orillia Rowing Club) claimed the bronze medal, while the Argonaut Rowing Club duo of Bill McGuire and Rebecca Thomas came in fourth.

The regatta took place on the last official day of Summer and was contested under an overcast sky for most of the day as fall temperatures began to creep in. Waves and a crosswind provided some obstacles for the competitors to navigate in a full day of racing that featured 74 entries from 16 clubs racing in a total of 12 solo and doubles categories.

The biggest winner on Saturday was the Orillia Rowing Club’s Autumn Prior, who claimed a series record four gold medals at the event. She won both the open and U19 women’s solo gold medals and teamed with Kaiser to win the open mixed doubles title. She also teamed with clubmate Willow Shepherd to win the U19 women’s double, which came down to a race across the beach to the buzzer. Prior and Ridley College’s Adelle Fulton were in a full a sprint from the time their boats hit the beach and both dove to touch the buzzer at the finish line in the most exciting race of the day. Prior and Shepherd’s time of 2:48.93 narrowly topped Fulton and partner Naomi Cousins, who finished in 2:49.08.

Other category winners included the Leander Boat Club’s Aubrey Oldham (2:28.70), who won open men’s solo, his third series victory this year; Ridley College’s Luke Winterbottom (2:38.45), who won the U19 men’s category; the Hanlan Boat Club’s Benjamin Wiebe and Andy Wang (2:50.20) in the open men’s double; the St. Catharines Rowing Club’s Merik Sommer and Elliott Smith (2:34.35), who won the U19 men’s double; and Sommer and Cousins (2:36.87), who teamed together to win the U19 mixed double.

Masters categories were also contested on Saturday for the second consecutive beach series event. Rowers from the Collingwood Rowing Club, who were making their beach sprints debut, brought home gold medals in both masters categories. Christine Lashely claimed first place in the masters women’s solo and later teamed with Barbara Reid to win gold in the masters women’s double.

With the final RowOn Beach Sprint Cup Series regatta now in the books, the Series’ point standings are now final and the 2026 Series Champions have been crowned.

2026 RowOn Beach Sprint Cup Series Champions
Open Women’s: Autumn Prior – Orillia Rowing Club (415pts)
Open Men’s: Aubrey Oldham – Leander Boat Club (380)
U19 Women’s: Rose LaFrance – Brockville Rowing Club / Naomi Cousins – Ridley College (Tie-340)
U19 Men’s: Merik Sommer – St. Catharines Rowing Club (365)
Club: Brockville Rowing Club (2315)

Each of the athlete winners competed in at least three of the four series events and consistently gave outstanding performances all season long. They were also all frequent boat handlers and willing to lend a hand throughout the regatta days assisting with moving boats in the boat pool and course clean up at the end of the day. Club Champion Brockville Rowing Club was a huge supporter of the beach events this season, sending the most athletes to the start line across all four regattas and lending their boats for the use of all Series competitors at every regatta this season.

See the final point standings for athletes and clubs on our website at RowOn Beach Sprint Cup Series.

RowOn Beach Sprint Cup Series #4 Category Winners
Open Women’s Solo  – Autumn Prior – Orillia Rowing Club
Open Men’s Solo – Aubrey Oldham – Leander Boat Club
Masters Women’s Solo – Christine Lashely – Collingwood Rowing Club
U19 Men’s Solo – Luke Winterbottom – Ridley College
U19 Women’s Solo – Autumn Prior – Orillia Rowing Club
Open Mixed Double – Raphael Kaiser (Aviron Knowlton) / Autumn Prior (Orillia Rowing Club)
Open Mixed Inclusion Double – Maya Jonas (Argonaut Rowing Club) / Raphael Kaiser (Aviron Knowlton)
Open Men’s Double – Benjamin Wiebe / Andy Wang – Hanlan Boat Club
Masters Women’s Double – Christine Lashely / Barbara Reid – Collingwood Rowing Club
U19 Men’s Double – Merik Sommer / Elliott Smith – St. Catharines Rowing Club
U19 Women’s Double – Autumn Prior / Willow Shepherd – Orillia Rowing Club
U19 Mixed Double – Naomi Cousins (Ridley College) / Merik Sommer (St. Catharines Rowing Club)

For full results from the RowOn Beach Sprint Cup Series #4, visit RegattaCentral.

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