The Ottawa Rowing Club is excited to announce the lead coaches for its competitive programs for the 2020 season.
Sr. & U23 Men
The ORC senior men will be led by Ed Fournier. Coach Ed has been part the Ottawa Rowing Club since 1988 and has been an active rower, volunteer and coach ever since. Ed has spent several summers working with the senior and U23 men at ORC and has been the head coach of the Carleton Ravens rowing team for 6 years now. Ed will be steering the ship for ORC’s Senior Men’s competitive program this summer and can be reached at seniormen@ottawarowingclub.com.
Sr. & U23 Women
This summer’s ORC senior women’s program will be coached by Matt Fournier. Many of you may know Matt from his role at Head Women’s coach at Carleton the past few seasons. Matt is also an accomplished rower who has long been part of the ORC family and has demonstrated time and time again his ability to contribute to fast crews on both the rowing and coaching sides of the dock. Matt can be reached at seniorwomen@ottawarowingclub.com
Junior Men
This year’s junior men’s squad will have John Watkins at the helm. John has been an immense part of the success the ORC junior men have seen the last few seasons and we are keen to have him back. Beloved by his athletes and looked up to as a calm, cool, and collected coach, John will be leading the junior men as they prepare for a big summer and fall season ahead. John’s club contact is juniormen@ottawarowingclub.com
Junior Women
Cliff Brimmell will be staying on as the lead coach for the ORC’s junior women’s program. Cliff is one of the longest standing coaches at the Ottawa Rowing Club and has been a integral component of multiple Henley and HOCR wins. Cliff is always brimming with new ideas for workouts and recruitment, he is the definition of a coach that goes above and beyond expectation. Cliff can be reached at juniorwomen@ottawarowingclub.com
The Ottawa Rowing Club is excited to have this fantastic cast of coaches leading our summer programs but we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge a few of our outgoing lead coaches. Glenn Hay led the junior men’s squad for the past several years and her organization, direction, and positive outlook will be dearly missed. The club would also like to thank Stu McKenzie for his contributions as senior women’s lead coach the past several seasons. Stu’s leadership, experience, and no-nonsense approach to rowing has resulted in some of the most successful years the Ottawa senior women’s have ever seen.
While the springs season might not have played out as expected, we are certainly looking forward to a great summer and fall on the water. For any questions about the programs mentioned, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the coaches above. If you’re a rower who plans to train with any of the listed teams please reach out to your respective coaches so they can add you to their mailing list.
All the best everyone. Stay healthy and stay safe. We look forward to being back on the water soon!