Mega Worlds to feature plenty of locals
Stephen Harris, is one of 18 Brock and local rowers competing inn the upcoming MegaWorlds.
The 2024 World Rowing Senior, Under 23, and Under 19 Championships (Mega Worlds) being held Aug. 18-25 in St. Catharines will include an impressive amount of local and Brock University athletes.
Brock’s Stephen Harris, competing in the lightweight men’s single, will be the only rower with Niagara connections competing in the senior division but the under-23 championships will feature five Brock athletes and seven local rowers, and the junior championships will include five local athletes.
A June 28 Rowing Canada press release stated additional junior and open weight under-23 boats might still be nominated to compete at the Mega Worlds but no further crews have yet to be announced.
Harris, a 23-year-old Guelph native, won three gold medals when Niagara hosted the Canada Games and previously won a bronze medal in the lightweight single at the 2022 under-23 world rowing championships and was ninth in the same event in 2023. He also competed at the world junior championships in 2019. In 2023, he was a part of a mixed eight that placed fourth at the Pan Am Games in Chile.
Named to Canada’s squad for the under-23 worlds are: Brock’s Isabella and Zoe Durcak, Leander Boat Club members who will compete in the women’s lightweight quad: Brock rowers, Connor Dodds (Regina Boat Club), Charles-Etienne Tabet (Club d’Aviron Boucherville) and Riley Watson (Peterborough Rowing Club), and Niko Schramm, a St. Catharines Rowing Club member who rows for the University of British Columbia, who will compete in the men’s lightweight quad; South Niagara Rowing Club’s Stella Bittman (UCLA ), Ridley Grad Boat Club member Autumn Crowe (University of Michigan) and St. Catharines Rowing Club’s Teagan Orth (University of Virginia) who will compete in the women’s four; St. Catharines Rowing Club member Cait Whittard, who rows for the University of Washington, will be in the women’s eight; and St. Catharines Rowing Club member Owen Bartel (University of British Columbia) and Niagara Falls Rowing Club member Payton Gauthier (Syracuse University) who will be in either the men’s eight or pair.
Representing Canada at the junior worlds will be: Notre Dame Rowing Club’s Lucas Maroney, who trains out of the Ontario NextGen Performance Centre, in the men’s single; and, a Notre Dame Rowing Club/E.L. Crossley men’s coxed four made up of Liam Shapland, Lucas Riddle, James Cuff, Andrew Nawrocki and Dario Cirello.
Team Canada’s coaching staff includes Brock coaches Scott Anderson, Mary Rao and Katie Bruggeling.
“2024 is going to be a summer to remember,” said Chuck McDiarmid, RCA NextGen lead. “It isn’t often that Canada has the honour of hosting a World Championships, allowing athletes the opportunity to race on home soil in front of their family and friends. I’m impressed by the number of athletes who have put their hand up and taken on the challenge of achieving the target speeds needed to be competitive at such an event.”
