Women’s Ivy League Championship Regatta Will Move to Lake Quinsigamond

BY CHIP DAVIS
PHOTO BY LISA WORTHY

The women’s Ivy League championship regatta will move to Lake Quinsigamond, in Worcester, Mass. and run concurrently with the men’s Eastern Sprints on Sunday, May 14. Camden, N.J., where the Ivy championship has been held, will reportedly host the Dad Vail in 2023 while the Schuylkill River is dredged, forcing the Ivy League to move.

“We’re excited to add the Ivy League Women’s Rowing Championship to our schedule of championship events this spring,” Quinsigamond Rowing Association President Patrick Diggins said. “It is a tribute to our dedicated corps of volunteers that high caliber events like the Ivy League Championship value the rowing experience and history of Lake Quinsigamond.”

The long weekend will also feature, on Friday, May 12, the Patriot League championship and National Invitational Rowing Championship (NIRC) regattas, which attracts about half of all Division III collegiate programs. 

“We are incredibly appreciative to the EARC, and in particular Gary Caldwell and Patrick Diggins, for welcoming our championship to the EARC Sprints this year,” Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris said. 

Between the NCAA automatic-qualifier status of the Patriot and Ivy championships, the IRA-qualifying men’s Sprints, and the influential role the NIRC plays in at-large selections for both national championships’ Division III events, the Mothers’ Day mega-weekend at Worcester’s Regatta Point state park could become the most important collegiate regatta besides the national championships. Lake Quinsigamond, a long, narrow lake generally well-protected from the wind, successfully hosts a slew of regattas every weekend in May. Some of the best-attended masters national championship regattas have been hosted in Worcester, and the park would have been a natural choice for Boston’s abandoned Olympic bid.