On a recent trip to Toronto for a Rowing Canada Aviron Strategic planning meeting I had the opportunity to take an extra few days to see three of the fifty plus clubs in Ontario.

The Argonaut Rowing Club was the first of three. What an amazing location for a rowing club! The clubhouse itself boasts beautiful views of Lake Ontario. A fairly calm stretch of water, protected by a breakwater, offers members of this club 8km of undisrupted rowing.

Allison Sheard, National Adaptive Rowing Team coordinator was out with Lynda Staples, an adaptive athlete the day I was there. It is truly amazing that even with the dock situation not being perfect for someone in a wheelchair, the club, with help from Allison, has managed to adapt itself to meet the needs of Lynda and seven other adaptive athletes. Talking with Lynda, it was a good example for me to remember that by no means do things have to perfect at a club before getting out adaptive athletes. Lynda is a quadriplegic and a fantastic rower! The club also recently underwent some upgrades and now has bathrooms that are wheelchair accessible. Seeing the diversity at Argo’s that day was great: masters, juniors, adaptive athletes were all rowing on that beautiful Saturday morning.

Lynda rows at Argos!

The second club I visited was the Barrie Rowing Club. This club rests on a huge body of water, Kepenfelt Bay, on Lake Simcoe with vast views. The boathouse itself is nestled beneath a tourist information centre and is a common spot for wedding photos! Barrie Rowing Club has done an amazing amount of work with regards to have a wheelchair accessible facility. The dock that was recently put in allows easy wheelchair access and has drawn local media attention! Soon Barrie Rowing Club is hoping to put a lift on this dock to help adaptive athletes with entering and exiting the boat.

adaptive dock Drew Rigden, a wheelchair athlete himself and Danielle Strohm, one of Barrie Rowing Club’s coaches, showed me around the rowing site. Both Drew and Danielle pointed out the many adaptations the club has made to accommodate adaptive rowers…some of it ingenuous! The adaptive equipment that Barrie owns is incredible. It is very apparent that the entire club and board are committed to a great rowing experience for any shape size or ability at Barrie Rowing Club.

Shown here: The adaptive dock at Barrie Rowing Club.

The final club in Ontario I saw was the Ottawa New Edinburgh Club (ONEC). This club offers rowing sailing and tennis. The historic building that the rowing club operates out of presents tons of charm. The building itself rests on stilts, which are fastened onto a concreted foundation that is right in the Ottawa River. The shells are stored below the actual building right above the water!

Although water conditions can sometimes blow up there is a calm stretch behind Kettle Island on the Quebec side of the river for ONEC rowers. The long stretch of water ONEC has makes this an excellent spot for touring and ONEC is quite active with their rowing touring adventures on the river. In addition to touring, there is a 42 km marathon row that the club hosts which looks very exciting! When I visited the club I had the pleasure of meeting many clubs members. I was impressed that although getting to the shellhouse portion of the building can be difficult, ONEC has had blind rowers row at the club…no problem. Just goes to show you again it does not have to be perfect for adaptive athletes to participate at your rowing club! Roger Meager one of ONEC’s rowing coaches also showed me how easy it is to teach young kids to row as you can see in the picture. Thomas in this photo is ten years old and learned to row that day!

ONEC Thomas learning how to row and the ONEC building.

The three clubs in Ontario I visited were definitely distinct from each other however; all possessed a great energy and an obvious passion for the sport. I was impressed that each organization in some way or another had offered adaptive rowing to their community. The clubs I visited offered me a greater insight into the different aspects of rowing or challenges clubs face that hopefully RCA can help with in the near future.