By Tyler Tran
Following a record-breaking season in 2022, the Ottawa Rowing Club (ORC) was eager to continue its momentum into 2023 with the expansion of programming and various community initiatives. Unfortunately, the club suffered some setbacks in early 2023 with the untimely cancellation of winter training due to issues with City permits at the beginning of the training season. But with spring training taking place in the gym, and the docks finally set in place in early May, rowers were thrilled to be able to get back on the water and with the ORC community once again.
The Ottawa River however, had other plans. With near record high waters rising well above the shoreline, flooding the parking lot and flowing into the boat bays, there was no way that rowers could safely get on the water or access the facility. Initially, members had to manoeuvre around the rising water to get to the gym so training could still take place. In early May, the entire parking lot was fully submerged in more than five feet of water, forcing the club to make the undesirable decision to close operations for three weeks.
With many rowing events starting in late May and continuing throughout the spring and summer, competitive rowers have had little time to prepare on the water in order to compete at their best for early competitions such as the Canadian Secondary School Rowing Association Championships, leaving our junior program with only two weeks to train. For all rowers, competitive and recreational alike, the flooding unfortunately has led to a shortened season, and those three weeks mean a lot.
For the club, it marks another year much like 2017 and 2019 where more than a third of the organization’s annual revenue will be lost, and the season started by assessing the damages endured by the relentless water.
The situation at the ORC has not only affected rowers, but also those who have booked weddings and other special events at the club’s heritage boathouse venue, the Andy Binda Boathouse (The building on the right in the photo). The club has already had to cancel events due to outside construction, and the flooding situation has no doubt become a new pain point for clients booking the venue in the early months of the season, further putting the viability of many people’s weddings and gatherings into question.
“It feels like the challenges just haven’t stopped as of late,” says ORC head coach, Zak Lewis. “But this place has been here for 150 years, we have an incredible community and as inconvenient as this is now, we will get through it and at some point in the near future. It’ll just be a speed bump in our rear-view.”
The club has been monitoring the situation closely, day in and day out. Currently, the club is thankful to be able to be back on the water, and especially grateful for the patience and understanding from ORC members and community partners for their continued support and willingness to help clean up the area. Rowers are a resilient bunch, and the members of the ORC are no exception. They will undoubtedly find a way to make the most out of the 2023 season despite its rocky launch!