KRC NEWS

Farewell to our club president

We were excited to honour our outgoing president Michael Vandenburg by naming one of our Kinder boats after him. Michael has been our leader as KRC president since 2013 and we are very excited for his next adventure!

thank you cao!

The Kingston Rowing Club would like to thank the Coaches Association of Ontario for their support of our Head Coach and Performance Coach position. In partnership with Queen’s University, the club successfully applied for their Head Coach grant. This grant has allowed the university and club to secure a full-time coach for the university who also works as a performance coach within the club. This position supports a variety of programs, mainly our senior competitive athletes as they pursue their performance goals. A huge thank you to the CAO for their support!

easter Seals recap

The club had a very strong showing from our athletes at the Easter Seals Regatta! Athletes from the junior, senior, and adult rec programs were split into 4 relay teams. Racing consisted of running down the beach, wet launching into a 250-metre slalom course then rowing back for 500 metres total of rough water rowing with a sprint through the finish. We had two rounds of racing, with Team 2 being the winner of our “A Final”. A big thank you to all our participants and volunteers for their time and donations. This year’s regatta raised over $12000 for Easter Seals families. We can’t wait to do this again next summer! More action shots of the day can be found on our website under Archives.

2022 Hall of fame nominations

We will be celebrating the induction of the second round of nominees at our 45th-anniversary event on November 26th, 2022.The deadline for nominations is September 15th. The guidelines and nomination form can be found HERE.

Passing of Bruce Alexander

The Kingston Rowing Club was saddened to hear of the passing of Bruce Alexander on June 1st.

Alexander initiated a report on the feasibility of a rowing program at Queen's University in 1975, which recommended the establishment of an independent Queen's Rowing club. Through his advocacy and leadership, Alexander became a co-founder of both the Queen's Rowing Club and the Kingston Rowing Club, and helped lay the foundation for rowing in Kingston. A graduate of Queen's Commerce in 1960, Alexander received the John Orr Award and an honourary degree from Queen's in 2011 for his contributions to the University and the broader community.

"I was shocked and saddened to hear of Bruce's untimely and sudden passing," said John Armitage, co-founder of the Kingston Rowing Club. "I credit Bruce as the father of Queen's rowing. In 1976 after his son Chris (future Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister) chose McGill over Queen's since it had a rowing team, Bruce decided in typical Bruce fashion to do something about it. He convinced fellow Trustees to fund a feasibility study and subsequently convinced Principal Ronald Watts (a former rower) that Queen's can have a rowing team capable of beating Harvard – Ron's brother's alma mater. Forty-five years later young men and women at Queen's and in Kingston befit from Bruce's foresight. Bruce was a doer. He will be missed by all who knew him."

Alexander was inducted into the Kingston Rowing Hall of Fame in 2017.

Alexander was a strong supporter of Queen's, serving as Alma Mater Society President in 1960 and on the Board of Trustees for over a decade (1970-82). He was involved in several initiatives that supported advancement, diversity and outreach, as well as Queen's Gaels Football.

For more information, click here.

Row Ontario Club Profile April 2022

Row Ontario’s April 2022 Club Profile highlights the roots, history, and growth of the Kingston Rowing Club over the last 45 years. With supporting information from John Armitage (KRC Head Coach) and Michael Vandenburg (Club President), the profile provides members of the KRC and Ontario rowing community an in-depth history on how the Kingston Rowing Club came to be, and who we are today.

Ontario Trillium Foundation Recognition Event

On Saturday, November 27th, in a dual recognition event, members of the KRC gathered to celebrate the christening of the Jenny Casson and to recognize the valuable contributions from the Ontario Trillium Fund’s (OTF) Resilient Communities Fund’s grant. Executive members of the KRC including John Armitage, Head Coach; Michael Vandenburg, President; and Leslie Milbury, Secretary, were joined by special guests Ian Arthur, MPP for Kingston and the Islands and Titilope Adebola, OTF Representative.

In December of 2020, the KRC was the fortunate and grateful recipient of an OTF Resilient Communities Fund grant for the amount of $144, 100 which enabled the club to hire a Club Administrator, purchase a para or adaptive rowing shell, and purchase additional coastal rowing shells. These purchases have provided the KRC the opportunity to expand its programming opportunities and increase its accessibility and program participation.

Thanks to the generosity of the OTF through its Resilient Communities Fund grant, the KRC can, with new docks in place, additional coastal rowing shells, and a para shell, continue its mission to promote and develop rowing at all levels in Kingston and the surrounding area.

Christening of the Jenny Casson

On Saturday, November 27th, KRC members were joined by the abovementioned special guests present at the OTF recognition event, and John Armitage, KRC Head Coach; Brad Brennan, KRC coach & Jenny Casson’s first coach; and Jenny Casson, 2020 Olympic Rower, KRC member, and member of Rowing Canada’s National Team, to christen the Jenny Casson. The Jenny Casson was christened by Jenny herself, with champagne and the KRC’s official Christening Cup.

Brad Brennan identified Jenny, an 11th-grade student at KCVI in 2012, as an athlete with exceptional potential in the sport of rowing. Years of hard work and dedication led Jenny to join the National Rowing Team in 2016. Most recently, Jenny represented Canada on the world stage at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Her LW2x placed 12th overall. Jenny owes incredible thanks to Brad for coaching, mentoring, and supporting her all the way through her rowing journey. She also gave thanks to her parents and brother, for encouraging her “to do anything and everything at least once, and allowing her to go wherever that took her”. Jenny offered those in attendance encouraging remarks about rowing and the KRC:

“I can’t think of any better place to learn to row and learn to love rowing. I think it is quite special to be situated in an environment that has so much history, as the KRC does. There have been some great athletes come out of KRC, but more importantly, great people.” Jenny thanked Head Coach John Armitage for “developing great athletes via a unique coaching style that very few other coaches embody.” She highlighted the talent of Brad Brennan and John Armitage and their relationship to her extended successes, noting that “you have a one in a million chance to find coaches as talented as Brad Brennan and John Armitage, and KRC is lucky enough to have them both under their roof”. Jenny credits rowing to giving her her second family - and hopes for those that finish, start, or continue their rowing career at KRC are given the same opportunity.

krc athletes head to the olympics

A proud day for the Kingston Rowing Club as we celebrate the announcement of Kingston athletes who, alongside their Canadian teammates, will represent Canada at the Tokyo Olympics. A huge congratulations to:

 Kristina Walker (Women’s Four)
Will Crothers (Men’s Four)
Gavin Stone (Men’s Four)
Jennifer Casson (Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls) 

We will be watching and cheering you on! For more details on the exciting announcement, check out the Rowing Canada article here.

New Docks and Coastal Boats

The Kingston Rowing Club gratefully acknowledges the Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Government of Ontario, for their 2020 and the 2021 Resilient Communities grant which enabled the Club to replace their aging docks, to expand their programming through the purchase of coastal rowing and para-rowing equipment, to purchase wakeless coach boats, and to hire a club administrator.  The goal of the Ontario Trillium Foundation is to build healthy and vibrant communities throughout Ontario by strengthening the capacity of the not-for-profit sector, through investments in community-based initiatives in the areas of arts and culture, environment, sports and recreation and human and social services.

Ilse Loomer-Scott (1999-2020)

We are so incredibly saddened to hear of the sudden passing of Ilse Loomer-Scott on July 15th at the young age of 21 years old. Ilse was a dedicated rower and coach at the Kingston Rowing Club as well as with Queen’s Rowing, and she was a familiar and comforting face amongst our community. Her glowing smile, consistently positive attitude and passion for the sport will be greatly missed by all who had the privilege of knowing her and having her in their lives.

Ilse passed away while surfing in Tofino, which was one of her favourite activities. She was able to give seven others the chance at a better life through her organ donation. 

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Loomer-Scott family during this difficult time and we ask that you also keep them in your immediate thoughts and wishes.

Please visit https://www.forevermissed.com/ilse-may-loomer-scott/about to view Ilse’s obituary and pay your respects. You may also share any thoughts, condolences, memories, or photos at this link. The Loomer-Scott family has set up a special honour in Ilse’s name at her high-school, and funds raised will reflect values that Ilse embodied and embraced. This can be found at the link above.

Kingston Introduces New Sport Discipline: Coastal Rowing

Kingston Rowing Club (KRC) announces the arrival of two new boats and invites the community to try coastal rowing – a discipline of rowing new to Kingston.

A partnership between five rowing clubs in the Kingston area has led to the development of the sport and the acquisition of two coastal rowing shells. Kingstonians are invited to test the single and double shells over two Try-It Days this month. 

The first Try-It Day will take place on Sunday, June 9th and the second on Saturday, June 15th at KRC. Both events will be open to the public from 9am to 12pm. Residents can learn how to coastal row with Samuel Lavoie, Canadian Coastal Rowing Champion and Kingston resident (below).

KRC President, Michael Vandenburg, is enthusiastic about the new equipment and opportunities for the club. “Kingston Rowing Club is excited to introduce coastal rowing to our community,” states Vandenburg. “Coastal rowing’s wider and more stable boats are also ideal for introducing new rowers to sport. We hope you’ll come and give this new sport a try and experience all the beauty and adventure our waterways have to offer!” 

The new shells are designed for high waves and rough chop. Coastal rowing will allow people to get out on the water in a wide variety of conditions on Lake Ontario. 

Megan Knott, Executive Director of Tourism Kingston, is looking forward to future hosting opportunities for the city. “We are pleased to work alongside KRC as they develop this new sport product for Kingston” Knott says. “With these new boats, rowers will be able to train for coastal regattas and represent Kingston while providing future sport hosting opportunities such as the World Rowing Coastal Championships”. 

Coastal rowing is supported by Rowing Canada Aviron (RCA) and International Rowing Federation (FISA). 
For information about coastal rowing please visit http://www.worldrowing.com/coastal/.

About Tourism Kingston 
Kingston’s Destination Marketing Organization exists to increase the economic impact of tourism through destination marketing and development. We support our stakeholders in developing programs that attract visitors to the city and encourage business growth and employment. 

About Kingston Rowing Club
The mission of the Kingston Rowing Club is to promote and develop rowing at all levels in Kingston and area, focusing on excellence in recreation, competition and coaching, and fostering community involvement in the sport.

Brooke Lenser
Sport Tourism Development Manager
Tourism Kingston
brooke@tourismkingston.com
613.548.4415 x 7240