Head Up the Creek
- Mar 6, 2016
- head
- False Creek
- Vancouver, BC (CAN)
- Hosted By: False Creek Rowing Club
The False Creek Rowing Club was incorporated in 2008 in response to activity by the City of Vancouver's plans to create a home to "human powered non motorized boating" (i.e. paddling and rowing) at the East end of False Creek as part of the Olympic Village.
In early 2014, the False Creek Rowing Club entered into a lease at the Burrard Civic Marina for a 20' x 60' compound to store boats. Early 2015 saw the doubling of that space when an adjacent compound became available for lease. We have about a dozen boats availalbe to our membership at the moment.
The regatta itself was first held by the FCRC in 2011 (previously the Head Of The Creek was organized by Vancouver College until the spring of 2001) and the prizes of cakes have become a hallmark of the event. As the oldest rowing regatta in the City of Vancouver accessible to recognized clubs, we have welcomed crews from around the province and the Westcoast of the United States and look forward to being an event that builds on the long winter of aerobic training.
In November of 2014, Mayor Gregor Robertson of the City of Vancouver designated March 15, 2015 as City of Vancouver Rowing Champions Day, and permitted the False Creek Rowing Club to annoint the overall winner of the Head Up The Creek regatta in this and future years as the City of Vancouver Rowing Champion. Research todate shows that in 2015, the Head Up The Creek was the largest head race for para-rowers in the world.
A new dock was installed by the Vancouver Park Board and was available for the regatta's use for the 2016 race: this allowed us to launch boats more efficiently than strictly wet launching. By having 4x and larger boats launch from the dock, and 1x and 2x's launch from the beach, the regatta has been been able to be more efficient in terms of launching.