The University of Toronto Rowing Club (UTRC) was founded on February 10, 1897 and represents the Varsity Blues

Varsity Blues

The Varsity Blues is the name for the intercollegiate sports program at the University of Toronto. Its 26 athletic teams regularly participate in competitions held by Ontario University Athletics and Canadian Interuniversity Sport. The Varsity Blues traces its founding to 1877, with the formation...

 at local and international regattas. It is the oldest university rowing club in Canada.

The UTRC consists of both a women's team and a men's team, and each team offers a lightweight

Lightweight rowing

Lightweight rowing is a special category of rowing where limits are placed on the maximum weight of competitors. The rationale is that larger, taller people have a small but significant physical advantage and tend to dominate the sport...

 and an open (heavyweight) category. Membership is exclusively available to registered full-time students at the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

, and it is open to athletes of various of experience from novice to Olympic level rowers. The club is in operation throughout the University's academic year, excluding the summer.

Not having its own boathouse

Boathouse

A boathouse is a building especially designed for the storage of boats, normally smaller craft for sports or leisure use. These are typically located on open water, such as on a river. Often the boats stored are rowing boats...

, the club launches out of the Hanlan Boat Club in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and trains on Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...

.

The club colours are blue and white, as are the colours of all other Varsity sports teams at the University.

Competitions

The club participates in the Ontario University Athletics

Ontario University Athletics

Ontario University Athletics is a regional membership association for Canadian universities which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providing contact information, schedules, results, and releases about those programs and events to the public...

 (OUA) conference in the Novice, Junior Varsity

Junior varsity

Primarily in North America, junior varsity or JV players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition , usually at the high school and college levels in the United States and Canada. The main players comprise the varsity team...

 and Varsity

Varsity team

In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...

 levels of competition. Although UTRC competes at regattas and competitions from September until May, the OUA fall season is the primary focus. Regattas and competitions that UTRC attend annually include:

• Western Invitational Regatta
• Head of the Trent
• Brock Invitational Regatta
• Head of the Charles Regatta
  Head of the Charles Regatta
  The Head of the Charles Regatta, also known as HOCR or HOTC, is a rowing race held on the penultimate complete weekend of October each year on the Charles River, which separates Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts. The race is named the "Head" of the Charles because it is a head race...
  
  
• Ontario University Development Regatta
• OUA Championship Regatta
• Canadian University Rowing Championships
• Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships

Notable Blues

• Ned Hanlan
  Ned Hanlan
  Edward "Ned" Hanlan was a World Champion professional sculler, hotelier, and alderman from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-Early life:...
  
  - Nicknamed the "boy in blue" during his racing career, he won more than 300 races (including exhibitions) with fewer than a dozen defeats. He had become one of Canada's “first national sporting hero”, winning the American and English Championships as well as becoming the world champion for five consecutive years from 1880-1884 in single-scull rowing. http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=40886 Ned Hanlan was the UTRC's first Head coach, from 1897 until 1900.

• Emma Robinson - Emma Robinson began her rowing career in 1990 as a member of the University of Toronto Women's Novice Crew. Within three years, she won Gold at the Dad Vail Regatta (1991), Gold at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta (1992), Gold (eights) and Silver (fours) at the World University Games (1993), and a Bronze medal at the World Championships (1993). She was then recruited onto the Canadian National Rowing Team, where she was a member of the Silver-winning eights at the 1996 Olympics. She went on to win Gold medals at the Head of the Charles, the World Cup, Pan American Games, and the World Championships. She was named the Ontario Female Athlete of the Year in 1999. http://www.ac-fpeh.com/alumni/halloffame_bio.php?id=168

• Richard Symsyk - Also starting his career at UTRC, he was a key member of the 1963 intercollegiate championship crew and the 1964 junior Varsity champions. Richard won 19 Canadian National Championships, 5 U.S. National Championships and was a member of Olympic crews for the both the 1968 Mexico City Games and the 1972 Games in Munich. In 1972, Richard also claimed a Henley Royal Regatta (UK) championship in the men's fours. As a master's rower, he won two Master's Games Championships in 1985, five International Master's Championship in 1984 and 1985, and a Henley Championship in 1990. http://www.ac-fpeh.com/alumni/halloffame_bio.php?id=145

External links

• University of Toronto Rowing Club official website
• University of Toronto at Mississauga Rowing Club official website
• Varsity Blues official website
• Ontario University Athletics official website