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The Nelson Rowing Club is hosting the annual Rowing Regatta at Lakeside Park on Saturday.
This year’s regatta is in honour of Lorne Loomer, a former Nelson native who rowed in the UBC four that secured the very first Olympic gold medal in the sport of rowing for Canada at the 1956 Melbourne Games.
Loomer is also in the Nelson sports hall of fame. One of his crew members Don Arnold will be on hand at Lakeside Park with that gold medal as well as a silver Olympic medal from Rome 1960 and a gold and a silver in the Cardiff Commonwealth Games in 1958.
Races start at 8 a.m. and are expected to be completed by 1 p.m.
Clubs from Washington State, Coeur d’Alene, Ida., Edmonton, Kelowna and Vernon, will compete along with Nelson’s rowing community.
Please come to Lakeside park for this special regatta and cheer our local rowers and to see Canada’s first-ever gold medal for rowing.
Related: The quiet engine: remembering Olympian and artist Lorne Loomer