Rowing Canada is set to announce today that it will leave its longtime home on Elk Lake, but will remain on the Island, relocating to Quamichan Lake in North Cowichan, the Times Colonist has learned.
The move will be made following the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and will affect more than 200 athletes, coaches and management.
Elk Lake-based Canadian rowers have won 26 Olympic medals since the Los Angeles Games in 1984. But with the multi-use Elk Lake becoming crowded, especially in the summer, Rowing Canada last spring invited communities wishing to host the national team to submit proposals.
Five were reportedly received, although Rowing Canada did not confirm that. A Greater Victoria proposal included using Elk Lake, Finlayson Arm and Shawnigan Lake.
North Cowichan proposed Quamichan Lake, which has been used by the national team for training on a part-time basis, and indicated it would provide space for a boathouse in Art Mann Park. The Quamichan Lake venue is close enough to Victoria to still allow Canadian team rowers to hook into the national-team services across several sports offered by Canadian Sport Institute-Victoria and the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence on the Camosun Interurban campus.
