and some things you probably didn't know
Rowing’s origins reach back into early civilization. There is evidence to suggest that the Phoenicians and Egyptians raced barges on the Nile as early as 2500 BC. Further east, China and Southeast Asia had the same idea. At around 450 BC, the Greeks and Romans began using rowing as a means to adventure, prosperity and warfare. Boats with the best oarsmen had a distinct advantage. During this period, the Greeks made an important technical innovation by fixing the oar to a fulcrum while the engineering-minded Romans exploited the power and efficiency provided by dozens of captive slaves pulling together to the beat of a drum. Those ancient principles are still evident in rowing sculls and coxed boats.
18th century sculling boat.
Modern rowing equipment and regattas originated in England. The earliest sculling race took place on the Thames River in 1715, organized by a popular Irish actor named Thomas Doggett in appreciation of the oarsmen who used to ferry him back and forth across the river. By the 1770s, rowing regattas were common all over England as the public became enamoured with the lure of racing and the wagering it sparked – an association established in the sport’s beginnings that would only grow stronger. As the British began emigrating to the New World, they brought rowing with them, introducing it to the colonies in the early part of the 19th century. In fact, the oldest continuous sporting event in North America is the Quidi Vidi Lake regatta near St. John’s, Newfoundland, which began in 1818. Shortly thereafter, regattas began springing up throughout the Maritimes, and by the 1840s, had spread to Upper Canada where the sport, because of the money made from betting, took on professional and international status. Canadians began to assert their prominence in rowing, competing in regattas in Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and other large centres.
The Paris Four
In 1867 four New Brunswickers beat Europe's best. They came to be known as "The Paris Four".
Canada made a huge leap in international rowing stature when a crew of four New Brunswickers, traveled to Paris in 1867 for their International Exposition. The "Paris Four," as they came to be known, defeated the best European crews at the time, including one from London and one from Oxford University. The victory over the English crews was especially sweet because it was also a symbolic win for the upstart "colonials" and their unfashionable boats and appearance. The Paris Four remained undefeated for the next couple of years but more than that, they helped establish Canada’s reputation as a credible rowing nation.
The Boy in Blue
By then, rowing had become the most popular sport in the world, attracting big prize money and heavy newspaper coverage. It also produced Canada’s first superstar: Ned Hanlan, one of the most famous athletes in the world in the 19th century. Hanlan was the son of poor Irish immigrants who settled on the Toronto Islands where his father, John Hanlan, built a hotel. (Hanlan’s Point is actually named after the hotel, not for Ned’s rowing. The city did, however, name a ferryboat after him.) Hanlan, known as the "Boy in Blue," because of the colours he wore, dominated rowing races throughout northeastern Canada and the U.S., amassing an astonishing career record of 344 wins and six losses from the early 1870s to the mid-1880s. He was world champion in the single sculls six times.
Canada's first international superstar, Ned Hanlon.
The biggest race in Hanlan’s career took place in England on the River Thames in 1880 against the reigning world champion from Australia, Edward Trickett. The race generated an enormous amount of betting action – more than $100,000; the equivalent of between $10-20 million today. Most bettors didn’t give Hanlan, at 5’-8" and 155 pounds, much of a chance against the 6’-4", 200-lb. Trickett. Hanlan, however, had an ace up his sleeve: During the 1870s, he was privately working out on a sliding seat – an innovation that would change the course of the sport, dramatically improving efficiency by harnessing the power supplied by the legs. Hanlan wasn’t the first to use a sliding seat, but he was the first to master it.
Hanlan officially beat Trickett by seven seconds but it was actually much worse than that. He toyed with him by engaging in a little showboating along the course. As was his style, Hanlan rowed out to a healthy lead, paused to wave to the crowd and then inexplicably slumped in his seat and drifted. When he decided Trickett was close enough, Hanlan, smiling, began pulling away again, this time zigzagging down the course, using just one oar at a time. Trickett was not amused by Hanlan’s antics and refused to see anyone after the race.
Rise of Amateurism
Hanlan’s heroics as an oarsman inspired the next generation of Canada’s rowers and cemented Canada’s rowing status. However, by the 1890s, a growing rift between professional and amateur rowers developed. The amateurs viewed professional races not as true tests of an athlete’s abilities, but as spectacles for bettors. Besides, the amateurs were becoming frustrated at losing to the professionals and those, like fisherman, who rowed for a living. It led to a growth of amateur rowing clubs in North America, Europe and Canada. In 1880, several clubs formed the Canadian Association of Amateur Oarsmen that co-ordinated and regulated the sport of amateur rowing. One of the main rules was that members couldn’t row or do manual labour for a living because it wasn’t in keeping with the true amateur spirit – a development that would, fairly or unfairly, associate rowing with elitism. At any rate, amateur clubs began hosting annual regattas, such as the Henley Regatta in St. Catharines, Ontario that was established in 1903. Gradually, the public switched its loyalty from professional to amateur racing. It wasn’t long before the calibre of the amateurs improved as the retiring ranks of professionals moved into coaching and training amateurs. At the turn of the century, the rowing world had seemingly performed a complete about face by embracing amateurism – just about the same time the modern Olympics began.
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