History of Rowing in the ACT

Celebrating 60 years

15. Marist College

The Marist College Canberra Rowing Club began with humble beginnings on a cold Sunday afternoon in 2010, when the first “come and try” session was held at the Canberra Rowing Club.

By the end of the inaugural 2011 season, Marist students were already competing in local regattas under the Canberra Rowing Club banner, whose support Marist owes a great gratitude especially in these formative years.

The following year, in 2012, the Marist rowing team officially took to the water in the school’s blue and blue colours, making their debut at both local events and regattas at the NSW Rowing Championships and the NSW Schoolboy Head of the River.

By the time the last of the founding cohort graduated school in 2015, four of them had competed at the National Championships and three had been selected for the ACT Men’s Youth VIII.

Over the next 4 years the club steadily grew, driven by the vision of its pioneers and the strong support of parents, volunteers, and the wider Marist community. During this period, another valuable partnership was formed with the Lake Tuggeranong Rowing Club, where younger rowers begin their journey on Lake Tuggeranong.

A major milestone came in spring 2019 when Marist secured its own home base, leasing shed space from Canberra Girls Grammar School – a valued partnership that continues to this day allowing Marist to slowly acquire and grow its fleet. The 2020 season, however, was cut short by the global COVID-19 pandemic, which brought with it lockdowns and cancelled regattas.

Despite these challenges, the club rebounded strongly. From 2021 to 2024, Marist rowers achieved success at higher levels. During these years as the junior Marist crews became more competitive on the lake, senior Marist rowers won their first medals and then Championships at NSW and National Championship level. The first Championships being the 2022 NSW U19 Men’s Double Scull, and the 2024 Australian U17 Men’s Single Scull. In 2024, the first former Marist student won an Open National Title in the Open Men’s quad.

The 2025 season has been our best to date, with increased number s and numerous successes across all age groups, both locally and at NSW level and with gradual improvement of the fleet. The highlight of the season was the First Schoolboy Quad Scull, as they recorded the fastest ever Australian Schoolboy Quad time in their heat at the national regatta, before going on to claim gold to become the Australian Champions.

2025 was capped off with the same Marist crew earning a place at the Henley Royal Regatta in the UK. Competing in the Fawley Challenge Cup (U19 quad scull) advancing to the top 16 out of 72 crews

Marist College Quad - Henley Royal Regatta 2025

< Back to Chapter 14 - Lake Tuggeranong Rowing Club

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Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided, errors may exist. Please send advice of any errors or inaccuracies by email to:

Also your comments, suggestions and photos are sought to enhance this site.

The idea for this history originated from the Olympic Rowing and World Senior Rowing Championship histories written by Andrew Guerin and Margot Foster in 1991, 1992 & 1993 for the Australian team handbooks. Andrew Guerin developed and extended these histories to the current format in 2004 for publication in 2004 and then expanded the site.

Steve Roll has been an invaluable contributor to the website in locating errors and finding Christian names of rowers. His superb work is acknowledged.

© Andrew Guerin – 2004
These contents of this history are copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted by the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. However given that the purpose of the history is to assist rowers and rowing clubs, written permission is not required for non-commercial usage by rowers and rowing clubs provided acknowledgement is made.

Disclaimer: Whilst extensive efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied, the editors take no responsibility for any loss or damage whatsoever arising from inaccuracies contained in this work.