The Nanaimo Rowing Club is excited about the community partnerships it has been able to build, and the ones it hopes to build moving forward.
The club issued a press release last week advising it is looking for community partners as the club has “room to grow” with its year-round programming.
The rowing club secured Community Sport for All Initiative funding from the federal government and Rowing Canada. Karen Knight, club president, said the funding is meant to remove barriers and boost sports participation for underrepresented groups including members of BIPOC and LGBTQ communities and other girls and women.
In 2022 the rowing club ran programs for teenage girls from the Chase River Girl Guides’ Pathfinders and Rangers groups, youths from the Canucks Autism Network, youths and adults from the Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society, and women from the Nanaimo Newcomers Club. Programs covered the basics of rowing, including training on dry land and rowing out on the lake. The club is pursuing partnerships with several other groups and other community groups that are interested in the sport are asked to contact nanaimo.rowing@gmail.com.
The club’s head coach, Craig Rutherford, remarked in the press release that the programs were very successful and “a lot of thanks goes to the current club members that volunteered their time in boats to make the experience for new rowers more comfortable.”
Unfortunately, one of the boats that was purchased to expand community programming was destroyed in the recent fire at Loudon Park and the club is fundraising for a replacement boat.
READ ALSO: City of Nanaimo finalizing designs on Long Lake boathouse
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