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Island Lake Rowing Club launches eight new boats

September 3, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Island Lake Rowing Club added eight new boats to their fleet thanks to a $150,000 Resilient Communities Fund grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

The grants are designed to help non-profit groups rebuild and recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Club purchased the new boats and had help with staffing to build a strategic plan.

Of course, you can’t launch a boat without giving it a proper name. The Club held a christening ceremony on Wednesday, August 18, to reveal the names and officially bring the new boats into the Club’s fleet.

Added to the club’s fleet are four single sculls, two double sculls, and two recreational sculls.

Several local dignitaries took part in the ceremony and poured a little champagne over the bows for the christening.

“This investment by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, through its resilient grant, will benefit current and future members of the Island Lake Rowing Club,” said Dufferin-Caledon MPP Sylvia Jones. “The resiliency grant will help the rowing club rebuild from the impacts of COVID-19 by helping it build a strategic plan for future growth and reviving the programming available with new equipment and protocols.”

In addition to the new boats, upgrades at the Club have included the addition of a marketing and event coordinator as well as training coaches for the Club’s team.

“The new boats and other equipment we have purchased will be sued by rowers of all different levels of ability,” said Julie Wood, Club board member. “With this addition to our fleet we have even more capacity for those club members to get out on the water as often as they want. It’s so gratifying to see how much they’re enjoying the sport and to have them join the community of volunteers at the club.”

When deciding new names for the boats, the Club put out a call for submissions. They received many good ideas then a committee decided on the final names.

The boats were named, Tiny Dancer, Now Oar Never, Destiny, Resilience, Born to Run, Double Trouble, Serenity, and Escape.

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