Skiffie Worlds 2025

County rowers head to Scotland for world championships

Ateam of rowers from the Ayle of Quinte Skiff Club will be heading to Stranraer, Scotland to represent Canada in the 2025 St. Ayles Skiff World Championships. The competition is held every three years, and this year 82 teams from seven countries on four continents will be competing. This will be the fourth time a County team has entered the competition. County teams have competed in 2016 in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, in 2019 in Stranraer, and in 2022 in Kortgene, The Netherlands. The race is for a specific type of boat, the St. Ayles skiff, with four rowers, four oars and a coxswain. There are 20 different race categories, and the County team will be competing in nine of them: the men’s, women’s and mixed races in three categories: 50-plus, 60-plus and the “280”. The last category may need some clarification. The ages of the four rowers have to add up to at least 280. Fourteen County rowers will be taking part in the competition, the largest contingent the club has ever sent. As this is the only St. Ayles skiff club in Canada, the team will be proudly carrying the flag and representing the country.

The Ayle of Quinte Skiff Club was formed in 2013 after a group of County men decided to build one of these boats over the 2012 winter. The boat came in the form of a kit that was developed by the Scottish Fisheries Museum in 2009 as a means of renewing interest in boatbuilding and boat racing. The club started rowing in the summer of 2013 and then built a second boat during the winter of 2014 after their spouses and partners began rowing too. In 2016, the club was given a third boat built by students at a college in Connecticut. The club currently has about 40 active members and row almost every day of the week from late May to early October.

Margaret Martin joined the club three years ago and is one of the competitors heading to Scotland. “I joined the club for the opportunity for fitness, fresh air and exercise. It’s beautiful to be on the water first thing in the morning, spring, summer and fall. Of course, sometimes the rows take quite a bit of effort with the winds and the waves,” she said. She has been training intensively over the past month to prepare for the competition. “The training’s been brutal. To try and get into shape in five or six weeks to compete against people who can row all year round is a challenge. But we’ve had excellent coaching through the leadership in our club. George Molyneux, Jane Dean, Reg Bronskill and Helen Findlay have all been very generous with their time and talent. It’s hard work when we’re doing it, but every morning you go out and do a couple of hours and you come back thinking, yes, that’s good,” she said.

She is looking forward to the experience in Scotland. “I’m very proud to wear the Canada team jacket, and this is a great group to be part of.”

On Monday, the club invited MP Chris Malette, MPP Tyler Allsopp, Mayor Steve Ferguson and Councillor Dave Harrison to the Waupoos marina to learn about the sport of skiff rowing and to meet the team that will be travelling to Scotland. George Molyneux, who is coordinating this trip to Scotland and who coordinated the trip to the last world championships in Kortgene, described the history of the sport and provided some details about the boats. He noted there will be over 2,000 rowers from around the world taking part in the competition, with thousands of spectators watching from grandstands on the beach at Stranraer. Mr. Molyneux has arranged for the loan of a boat from a local club to the Ayle of Quinte Skiff Club for the competition. The races will be done in heats of 15 boats on a two-kilometre course. The crews will row for one kilometre, make a 180-degree turn at a buoy and then row back to the start line. He is very proud that team members have been training diligently, even during the off-season on rowing ergs to prepare for the competition. On the water training has only been possible over the past four weeks, but Mr. Molyneux is pleased with the efforts being made. “Canada always makes a very acceptable showing at these events, and we intend to maintain and improve our standings,” he said. “We are proud to represent Prince Edward County, the Province of Ontario, and Canada.” Mayor Ferguson offered his best wishes to the team, as did Councillor Harrison. “It makes me very proud to think that the County is representing all of Canada,” said Councillor Harrison. MPP Allsopp offered his best wishes on behalf of the provincial government. MP Malette said he had mentioned to Secretary of State for Sport Adam van Koeverden— a former Olympic rower—that a County team would be competing in a world rowing event, and there was a great deal of interest. MP Malette offered his best wishes on behalf of the federal government and said he would look into the possibility of having someone from the Canadian consulate greet the team in Scotland. The competition takes place from July 6 to July 12. For more information about the competition, please visit stranraerwatersports.com and click on the Skiffieworlds2025 tab. To learn more about the Ayle of Quinte Skiff Club, please visit countycoastalrowing.org.

Members of the club competing in Scotland are (L-R): Ann Cooper, Tony Dean, Helen Findlay, Susan Brown, Jane Dean, Reg Bronskill, Suzanne Wright, Karen Giraudy, Des Bohn, Olivia Butler, Margaret Martin, James Wright, George Molyneaux and Ramesh Pooran.