July Newsletter

Posted byAdministratorPosted inCompetitive Corner, Learn to Rowers, Masters Moment, Rec RemindersTags:

Here are some updates on what happening around the club this month…

CORA Welland Recap

On July 6th, a total of 24 crews represented GRC at CORA Welland, the first regatta of the summer for U19, U23, and senior competitive athletes at the club.

The ‘McGregor,’ our new fluid 4x named in honour of Isobelle Gray, was tested on the racecourse for its first time and came home golden. The U23 women’s quad of Lia Snucins, Kate Fletcher, Meghan Harris and Kaitlyn O’Donnell were 16 seconds ahead of the rest of the field, giving the newest shell in GRC’s fleet a memorable first race. 

First place finishers also included James Rourke (U23 Lwt M1x), James Rourke and Connor Wideman (U23 Lwt M2x), and Natalie Miners (U23 Lwt W1x) – all three of these returning athletes have been with Gryphon Rowing since fall 2021. In all, GRC had a successful day of racing bringing home 4 Gold, 9 Silver, and 7 Bronze placements.

GRC’s competitive athletes look forward to putting what they’ve learned to the test again and will return to the racecourse at CORA Championships on July 13 in St. Catharine’s. Wish them luck!

Learn to Row

We had a successful Learn to Row season for the month of June (June 1-27) and had our fun regatta on Saturday, July 6th. We had 5 crews compete against each other and it was great to see all the team spirit each crew had 🙂 The crews names were: Monday/Wednesday morning (coached by Pat Weir, Mike Atkinson and Sir Borden): “Outliners”Monday/Wednesday evening at 6pm (coached by Thomas Lacheur): “The OARiginals”Monday/Wednesday evening at 7:30pm (coached by Thomas Lacheur): “Lightning McQueens”Tuesday/Thursday evening at 6pm (coached by Abby Smith and Sasha Maksym): “Blades of Glory”Tuesday/Thursday evening at 7:30pm (coached by Abby Smith and Nancy Kielar): “Blades of Glory”Saturday/Sunday morning (coached by Joel Wilson and Ethan Steele): “Ready OAR Not”Another BIG THANK YOU to everyone who helped volunteer yesterday at the Learn to Row Regatta. The event was very successful and we had a lot of great feedback from the rowers about how great the event was. We had great weather for the regatta and the rain held off until the end of the event. Many of the learn to row participants signed up for the novice program as well. 

Thank you to all the coaches (Pat, Thomas, Abby, Siri, Sasha, Nancy, Joel and Ethan) for all your great coaching this past month with the learn to row crews and helping develop a love for the sport of rowing in each of the athletes.

Junior Learn to Row Camp

GRC’s first ever junior learn to row summer camp is underway with registration is at full capacity! This camp is made possible with funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. We would also like to extend a huge thank you to all the volunteers and coaches.

GRC Bucket Hats

100% Cotton – $37 tax included. Limited number of hats still available. To purchase, send a message to guelphrowingclubltr@gmail.com with the subject: Hats



MORE GRC MERCH COMING SOON – keep an eye out in you inbox for an email!

Volunteer Update

Thank you to all who participated in the July work party. Please be sure to record your hours in the volunteer log book. We hope everyone is well on their way to contributing their 10 hours for the season.

Because of everyone’s hard work we were able to work on the following tasks:Three coach boat dollies were cleaned, sanded and painted bright yellow.Bays were swept cleanTowels were taken home & washedGardens were trimmed & weeded.Work was started on sorting old files and recordsOur next work party is scheduled for Saturday, August 3rd. But prior to that, we are looking for volunteers to participate in mini-work parties to continue the work on painting the coach boat dollies and also to sort the files and records. If you have some time to help, please contact
Peggy via e-mail: peggybuchanan@rogers.com

Barbara Collins, Henry Kielar and Nancy Kielar rowed in Lite Boats from the Hanlan Boat Club to Toronto Island on July 7th. It was Barbara’s first OAR tour!  We were blessed with a beautiful day, amazing food, and so much fun on the water! 

OAR Update and Participation

The July OAR (Ontario Adventure Rowing) newsletter is out (click here if you missed it), check it out for numerous fun events.

There are more tours to come with a few seats available. Check out the schedule here: 
https://www.adventurerow.ca/

Crews and Brews Social

GRC had a crews and brews social row in June, keep an eye out for another one coming up soon!