The world is coming to St. Catharines for the third time.
On Thursday at the Neil Campbell Rowing Centre on Henley Island, a flag ceremony was held to begin the official countdown to the 2024 World Rowing Championships taking place Aug.18-25 in St. Catharines.
The city hosted the senior worlds in 1970 and 1999 but the 2024 edition will include the under-23, junior (under-19) and senior championships for non-Olympic boat classes.
St. Catharines was awarded the championships in September 2019 following a vote by delegates at the FISA Congress in Linz, Austria.
“The bid from St. Catharines was of the highest quality,” FISA executive director Matt Smith said at the time. “We were impressed by the care and commitment we witnessed in the attribution process and we are pleased to be looking forward to another successful World Rowing event in Canada.”
World events delayed many preparations for the championships.
“What made it tough is the two years of COVID,” world championships chair Bill Schenck said. “With everything shut down, everything on hold and businesses closed, it has been a tough go. We have been holding back on trying to do any fundraising or promotions in the community just because of that. We wanted to let them somewhat recover from COVID. This fall is when we will kick things into gear and ramp it up.”
St. Catharines is blessed with plenty of experience hosting major regattas and that will help offset the slow start.
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