The Season isn’t over yet:
2026 has been a remarkable season for the ARA with historic performances across all athlete and age classes this past year. While we typically think of October as the time to wind things down, there is plenty of season ahead. In the next four weeks our athletes will compete at the 2026 Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Mass, Here at home we have the Telford Bulrush Stake Race in Leduc and the season concludes with the 2026 Canadian University Rowing Championshipos. Good luck to all athletes in what appears to be an extremely exciting fall racing season.
September (and early October) Recap:
- Congratulations to the University of Calgary, for hosting two successful regatta’s on the same weekend. The Dino Sprints (The first of these two events) has become one of the largest regatta’s on the prairies with clubs from across Alberta and Saskatchewan in attendance.
- In September of 2026 a group of Master athletes from the Calgary Rowing Club travelled to to compete at the World Masters Rowing Regatta on Lake Bled in Slovenia. Congratulations to all.
- Sophia Ledingham represented Alberta at the 2026 RBC Training Ground National Finals in early October. The top 35 athletes in attendance at this event will receive funding as well as NSO Development Support.
- Tracy Stuart nee Cameron a medallist at the 2008 Olympics and proud Albertan has been named as part of the support staff accompanying team Canada at the 2026 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in China.
- Great to see a number of athletes who are new to the sport of rowing, participating within one of Alberta’s three university programs – University of Calgary, University of Alberta and Lakeland College.
The end of one Journey….But Hopefully Another
In September of 2026 Tim Fleming announced he was stepping back from his role as Senior Head Coach at the Edmonton Rowing Club. Tim had been instrumental in building the ERC Senior program since his return over two years ago with the program developing some of Alberta’s best young athletes but this should have been a surprise to no one.
The writer was first introduced to Tim Fleming sitting on a dock in Saskatoon Saskatchewan enjoying +25C and clear blue skies while 8+’s from Calgary and Edmonton battled it out for Prairie supremacy. Over the proceeding twenty years Tim has proven himself to be amongst Canada’s best coaches as evidenced by the following
- Tim continues to be the only coach in Alberta whose athletes have gone on to win gold at the Canadian University Rowing Championships having done it twice (Alison Madlung and Christine Bennett both won gold in the Open Women’s and Lightweight Women’s 1x respectively).
- Tim was an instrumental in leading Team Alberta at both the 2013 and 2021 Canada Summer Games to historic performances (Team Alberta finished third in the overall points championship at both games).
- Tim has prescided over Team Alberta at four multi sport games (2011 and 2015 Western Canada Summer Games in addition to the 2013 and 2021 Canada Summer Games).
- Tim has led Master / Recreational and Competitive programs at both the Calgary and University of Alberta and Edmonton Rowing Clubs and is admired and respected by athletes of all ages across the province.
- Tim is a fixture at camps across the province with athletes and clubs requesting his return year after year
Beyond the coach boat, few if any coaches are better prepared than Tim, On one occasion, as Team Alberta was making its way to the 2013 Canada Summer Games, Tim pulled out a $100 bill and proudly announced “we are ready”. Surprised by the comment, the staff questioned as to why anyone would spend $100 on food and beverages over a four hour regatta. Tim, announed that the bill was the cost to file an appeal which we put to good use just a few hours later.
In addition to his coaching duties Tim has volunteered on the ARA board on two separate occasions and has managed to maintain a calm and steady presence while managing one Provincial Technical Director. Tim, on behalf of the ARA we hope this departure is short lived and you do return back to a leading role in our sport. Our clubs need you, our athletes need you. Thank-you Tim!
Upcoming Events
Telford Bulrush Stake Race – Leduc, Alberta. – October 17, 2026