As we head into a long few months of land training, here is a look back at what 2025 has brought for Canadian junior rowing.
Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association (CSSRA)
In early June of this year, the Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association’s annual competition was held in St. Catharines, Ontario. There were 40 different events available to enter, and entries were welcomed from any high school in the world. In the men’s eights, Brentwood College pulled off an impressive silver in the senior category (notably losing to the US’ Canisius) and gold in the junior category. In the women’s eights, they doubled down and won gold in both categories. This capped off an overall impressive set of sweep results across the pairs and coxed fours as well. In sculling, it was the Crossley crews that showed the greatest depth, taking wins in the mixed quad and women’s junior coxed quad, and silver in the men’s senior quad and junior coxed quad. Ridley College also put out some strong sculling performances, taking gold in the men’s senior quad and senior single. Natalie McClure began her dominant run in the single this year, winning the women’s senior event representing her school as a Parkdale Panther.
Canadian Henley
August saw the 141st edition of Royal Canadian Henley. This event offered over 20 opportunities for U19 athletes to compete at the highest domestic level, with a strong contingent from the USA crossing the border to participate. Candidly, events with a glut of American crews often muscled out many Canadian crews from podium finishes or even A-finals. However, there were a few standout performances that brought cautious optimism for the future of Canadian rowing. Again, it was Natalie McClure winning in emphatic style in the U17 women’s single in a wholly Canadian top three. There was a gutsy second place finish from the St Catharine’s U19 women’s eight in a dramatic race where they went out at a very brave pace, and their sister crew in the U19 women’s quad got an agonising second place by 0.75s – their luck turned around in the women’s U19 pair and double with a solid pair of wins. Calgary Rowing Club had some consistent performances across the events, and won the men’s U19 pair and women’s U17 quad in convincing style.
Head of the Charles
Plenty of Canadian junior programs made the trip to Boston this October for the best long-distance competition they could find, offering a final benchmark before the block of winter land training begins. Overall, St Catharine’s got the most consistently strong set of results. They took home a solid silver medal in the men’s youth coxed quads, a top five finish in the women’s U17 coxed four and a top ten finish in the women’s youth coxed quad. Calgary Rowing Club should be overjoyed that their U17 double finished second in the overall women’s youth doubles category, losing only to a formidable British unit of 18-year-olds. Ridley will be concerned about the performance of their youth men’s coxed quad, a whole 26 seconds behind St Catharine’s entry after being comparable in speed at prior match-ups this autumn.
Lessons learned and looking ahead
There will be a few programs planning dominant or resurgent campaigns for 2026. Calgary appears to have some great pipeline talent, and I think they have the potential to go on a sculling run. Brentwood will want to recapture the men’s senior eight at CSSRAs and assert sweep sovereignty. Ridley College will want to make sure their men’s quad can perform at its top speed more consistently. There will be other clubs in Ontario that are plotting to topple St Catharine’s grip on youth club events. Here’s hoping we get to see some more fantastic and competitive racing from Canada’s kids in 2026.
