The Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, a cornerstone of North American rowing, is set to ignite Martindale Pond in St. Catharines, Ontario, from August 5th to 10th. This year’s regatta promises unparalleled excitement, especially as it marks the first time since 2015 that the RCA Senior National Team will be present, offering a unique opportunity for domestic athletes to measure their prowess against Canada’s elite. With no National Championships scheduled this year, the Henley Regatta became the singular stage for Canadian rowers to truly size themselves up against the national squad. Adding to the international flair, a significant contingent of athletes from Mexico, the USA, and Australia will join the competition across championship events. Beyond the thrilling races, attendees will have a special chance to connect with the national team athletes at a dedicated meet and greet on Friday, August 8th.
Women’s Championship Single
Entries: 23
2024 Champion: Karissa Riley (Calgary Rowing Club)
Rowing Canada Aviron has a strong contingent of eight athletes racing. Katie Clark has roared onto the international single scene this year, with two fourth-place finishes at the Varese and Lucerne World Rowing Cups. In 2024, she narrowly missed qualifying for the Paris Olympic Games in the quad, won The Princess Grace Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, and placed fifth in the championship single at Head of the Charles. Alizee Brien is the reigning National champion in the single, and triple medallist with Caroline (Shaye) de Paiva at the 2023 Pan American Games – two bronzes in the double and quad and gold in the eight. De Paiva also won The Town Challenge Cup at the 2024 Henley Royal Regatta.
Grace Vandenbroek won The Princess Grace Challenge Cup with Clark in 2024, and is a medallist in the double at both the U19 World Rowing Championships (2017) and U23 World Rowing Championships (2022). Elisa Bolinger was her teammate for the silver medal at the 2022 U23 World Rowing Championships. Avalon Wastenays won gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games and silver at the Paris Olympic Games in the eight, and is a five-time World Rowing Cup and World Championship medallist in the same crew (including U23 gold). Maya Meschkuleit was part of the silver medal eight crew in Paris, and won gold at the 2024 World Rowing Cup II – she has sculled internationally at the U19 and U23 World Rowing Championships in the past. Martine Nyhof won bronze in the pair at the 2024 National championships, and makes her debut for the national team at Henley.
Three Canadian national team alumni are racing along with the active team members. Morgan Rosts is a two-time U23 world champion and senior world bronze medallist in the eight. Gabby Yarema won bronze in the eight at the 2024 World University Rowing Championships and is the reigning Canadian University champion in the single. Elizabeth Najjar won the C-final at the 2024 U19 World Rowing Championships, after winning the U19 single and double at Canadian Henley in 2023. She is also the reigning U19 single national champion.
Team USA alumni are well represented in this event as well. Annelise Hahl is a reigning double world champion in coastal rowing, in the junior single and double. Paige Wheeler placed seventh in the double at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships, while Eva Frohnhofer won bronze in the coxed four. Elizabeth Martin placed fifth at World Rowing Cup II in 2023 in the lightweight single.
Cara Grzeskowiak won bronze at World Rowing Cup II in 2019, in the Australian quad, and Maria Sheccid Garcia Arias and Maite Arrigalla Garay won bronze for Mexico in the coxless four event at the 2023 Pan Am Games. The final national team athlete racing is Sarah Ghazaz from Morocco, a developing U23 athlete.
Prediction
With such impressive international results, Katie Clark is the standout in this field and should clinch the win.
Women’s Championship Pair
Entries: 7
2024 Champion: Holly Drapp/Kaitlyn Kynast (Green Racing Project)
Rowing Canada has three entries in the women’s championship pair. Cassidy Deane and Kristen Siermachesky are once again teaming up to race. Together, they were the spare pair for the Canadian eight that won a silver medal at the Paris Olympic Games. Siermachesky stepped into the eight at the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne after Avalon Wastenays fell ill and won her first international race. Caileigh Filmer is paired with Alexis Cronk. Filmer is a three-time Olympian, including a bronze medal in the pair in Tokyo and a silver medal in the eight. This pair also won the Canadian nationals in 2024. The “new kids on the block” are Brenna Randall and Sally Jones. Randall made her senior international debut this summer in the coxless four, racing in Varese and Lucerne, placing eighth on both occasions. Jones makes her senior debut after winning gold in the pair at FISU in 2024.
Nicole Cusack and Lyndsey Bryden are teaming up – both have raced for Canada before, with Cusack placing fourth at the 2023 Pan Am Qualification Regatta and Bryden winning a bronze medal in the eight at the 2023 U23 World Rowing Championships. Morgan Rosts has a wealth of international sweep experience, including two U23 world titles, a senior world bronze medal, and two World Rowing Cup silver medals (all in the eight). She also won The Town Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta in 2024. Rosts is rowing with Kira Mels-Williams, bronze medallist in the pair at the Canadian University championships.
Solveig Imsdahl won a silver medal for USA at the 2022 World Rowing Championships in the lightweight pair event, and is racing for Penn AC. Dori Bene has raced for Hungary nine times, mainly as a lightweight, with her best result eighth at the U23 World Rowing Championships in the lightweight double. She is racing for USC Alumni.
Prediction
With international success in the boat class as well as previous results, Caileigh Filmer and Alexis Cronk should secure Henley gold.
Women’s Championship Eight
Entries: 7
2024 Champion: Ridley College
Two entries from Rowing Canada are set to battle for Henley supremacy in the championship eight. RCA 1 is a formidable crew that blends Olympic experience and seasoned power. The boat is coxed by the decorated Kristen Kit, an Olympic gold medallist from the Tokyo 2020 Games and silver medallist from Paris 2024. She steers a powerful crew that includes Olympic silver and bronze medallist Caileigh Filmer, a veteran of multiple Olympic Games and 2018 World Champion in the pair. Alongside Kit and Filmer are Brenna Randall, Sally Jones, Shaye de Paiva, Kristen Siermachesky, Parker Illingworth (double Pan Am Games medallist), Alexis Cronk, and Cassidy Deane.
Pitted against them is RCA 2, a boat featuring a different kind of strength, a wealth of emerging talent and recent international success. This crew includes Izzie Howley, a dynamic coxswain with a strong collegiate background, Grace Vandenbroek and Elisa Bolinger, U23 silver medalists and U23 Athlete of the Year in 2022. The boat also boasts Alizee Brien, a triple medallist from the 2023 Pan American Games, who brings a unique blend of championship experience in both sweep and sculling events. Katie Clark joins this crew, having not raced an eight since graduating from UBC, but is a multiple-time collegiate national champion in the eight. Joining them are Avalon Wastenays, Tokyo gold medallist in the eight and Paris silver medallist, as well as her Paris teammate Maya Meschkuliet. Rounding out this crew are Martine Nyhof and Nicole Cusack, making their senior team debut.
The remaining contenders are primarily junior eights. West Side DC has the crew most likely to feature in the race, with Elena Collier-Hezel in the six seat. She has competed at the U23 World Rowing Championships twice in the coxed four, winning bronze in 2023, and rowed in the 1V8+ for both Michigan and the University of Washington. Mary Czaja rowed in the 1V8+ for Alabama, and Jane Doyle set the 2k record (6:58.7) at Holy Cross Rowing. Erin Jackson placed second in the Div II 1V4+ NCAA Championships in 2021 for Mercyhurst.
Prediction
RCA 1 will take home Henley gold, but do not expect RCA 2 to let them win easily with their wealth of experience.
