In addition to training, the Carleton Ravens rowing team has another task this summer—raise as much money as possible to go to the Canadian University Rowing Championship in Victoria, B.C. in November 2014.
“Looking back on the success of Carleton, we kind of took a step back and looked at how we could manage going out west to Victoria,” captain Megan Haley said.
They created a fundraising initiative using FutureFunder, an online crowd-funding platform, where people can donate money to their team’s expenses.
Haley said the goal of the FutureFunder campaign is to raise $10,000 for their trip by Oct. 1. The team raised $1,440 as of June 26.
She said the team began fundraising in November 2013 with bake sales and ergathons, which are marathons on a rowing machine, with the hopes of sending as many athletes as possible to nationals.
Although the Ravens rowing team is considered a varsity team, the sport itself does not have a Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national championship, according to coach Ed Fournier.
As a result, he said the team does not receive much funding to go to nationals.
“Either the athletes pay their way or they don’t go,” Fournier said.
Individual members of the team generally receive some funding if they wish to go to nationals, according to Carleton’s athletic director Jennifer Brenning.
She said although rowing nationals are not a recognized CIS championship, so the team does not receive full funding from the school to cover their expenses, individual athletes who want to attend nationals will each receive a $500-donation from the university to help with some of the finances.
She said the school funds Ontario University Athletics (OUA) competitions in addition to a grant, which the rowing team can use for other competitions.
Last year’s rowing nationals in Montréal saw Matthew Fournier, Coach Fournier’s son, win gold in the lightweight men’s singles event.
Before sending several athletes to nationals in Montréal, Haley said the rowing team would only send one athlete—if any—as the high costs for nationals meant there were times when the rowing team could not send any athletes.
She said because of the proximity of Ottawa to Montréal and the resulting lower costs, the team was able to send more than one athlete to last year’s event.
Haley has been with the rowing team since she first came to Carleton three years ago, but she said Montréal was her first appearance at nationals.
She said the team has been planning since last fall to bring a similar number of athletes to Victoria, but said the team knows how much more it would cost to travel across the country.
She said if the team wants to send 20 athletes and two coaches to Victoria, the trip could cost around $27,000—which is why the team is so determined to raise as much money as possible.
Haley said going to nationals every year has become important to the team in order to generate more interest in the sport at the school.
“It’s important because I want to see the team succeed and be more recognized,” she said.
The younger Fournier said this increased recognition would help build a better rowing team and hopefully would lead to getting more recruits.
He said the University of Western Ontario’s annual success at nationals over the years has helped establish a strong rowing program that has brought the school more recognition in Canadian rowing circles.
He said if the team achieved similar results in the coming years, the sport would grow.
Haley said the team’s main objective right now is to raise money in order to send as many Ravens rowers to nationals this year, which she said will help the school become better in years to come.
“I think every year now we’re going to try and send at least more than one athlete,” she said, adding they are already planning for the 2015 national championship in Nova Scotia.
