The Camden County Boathouse at Cooper River is the quintessential setting for recreational and competitive rowing. Cooper River is an ideal water venue praised by athletes and international rowing experts for its sheltered, narrow, six-lane, 2,000-meter race course. Cooper River Park has hosted numerous state and national rowing events, such as the IRA, NCAA, and the SRAAs regattas, in addition to many local high school, college and masters regattas.
The Boathouse features six boat bays for storage of close to one-hundred racing shells. It houses seven local rowing clubs that train daily on the Cooper River, ranging from middle-school-aged to adults in their senior years. Daily rowing on the Cooper started in 2001 with one-hundred area rowers, and that number has now grown to more than 400 rowers practicing every day.
Rowing Club Members
Anyone interested in storing rowing shells at the boathouse must be an active member in a club on the Cooper River. There is an annual Public Lottery to store single or double seat boats at the boathouse. The lottery is held in December each year and good for the following calendar year.
Boat Storage
8+ $600.00
4+ $300.00
2x $150.00
1x $150.00
Membership Fees
Fall $25.00
Spring $50.00
Summer $10.00
Masters $40.00
Rowing Clubs will be permitted four free uses of a meeting room per year for club/board/parent meetings (2 hours per meeting), and unlimited use of the training room when available for coaching purposes only. There is an annual Public Lottery to store single or double seat boats at the boathouse. The lottery is held in December each year and good for the following calendar year.
Non-Rowing Club Members
Anyone interested in storing non-rowing shells (canoes or kayaks) at the boathouse.
Boathouse Membership Fee
Annual $100.00
2019 Regatta Calendar
March 24: Bucknell
March 30: Doc Hosea
April 6: Steve Neczypor Memorial Regatta
April 7: Bucknell
April 13 & 14: TBA
April 20: Bucknell
April 27: Garden States Scholastic
April 28: Cooper Cup
May 18: Atlantic 10 Championships
May 19: Ivy League Championships
June 1 &2: US Rowing U17 & U 15 Nationals
July 27: Dragon Boat Festival
November 9: Frostbite Regatta
November 10: Braxton Regatta
November 15: Dark Night Sprints – boathouse teams food drive 4 – 7 pm
Check back for calendar updates
Clubs:
Camden County welcomes all these clubs to Cooper River.
High Schools
Bishop Eustace
Haddon Township Crew
Haddonfield Crew Club
Moorestown Crew
South Jersey Rowing Club
Masters (Adult Rowing)
Cooper River Rowing Club
River Sirens Dragon boat Club
Links:
Check out these links and resources for more information
World’s Best Single Scullers Come to the Cooper River to Compete for the Storied Title of Gold Cup Champion and Largest Purse in International Rowing
Conshohocken, PA (September 19, 2019) – Some of the fastest rowers in international singles sculling will be coming to the Cooper River on Saturday, October 26th for one of the last opportunities to compete against each other before lining up against each other at the Tokyo Olympics. The athletes will compete for the title of best single sculler in the world and a prize of $15,000.
Hannah Osborne (NZL) will be returning to Camden County as the defending Gold Cup Champion. Challenging Hannah will be back-to-back World Champion Sanita Puspure (IRL), 2019 Silver Medalist Emma Twigg (NZL), and 2019 Bronze Medalist Kara Kohler (USA).
The male competitors will include Gold Cup defending champion and current world record holder, Robert Manson (NZL), 2019 Silver Medalist Sverri Nielsen (DEN), 2019 Bronze Medalist Kjetil Borch (NOR), and Olympic Silver Medalist Mindaugas Griskonis (LTU)
“The Gold Challenge Cup Foundation is looking forward to all of our races this year,” said Bill McNabb, Chairman of the Gold Challenge Cup Foundation, which organizes the race. “We have returning superstars and new additions for both the Gold Cup and Lotman Challenge. We are very excited this year to introduce the Blackwall Duling Challenge for adaptive PR singles, as well as a High School singles challenge.”
The Philadelphia Gold Cup is a “sprint” race, approximately 700 meters in length. The race’s shorter length is designed to foster close competition and down-to-the-wire finishes. The race will occur in the middle four lanes of the Cooper River, positioned perfectly to view from the banks along the Camden County Boathouse.
In addition to a previously announced new format to the 2019 Lotman Challenge, as well as the introduction of the adaptive PR1x singles, and a high school singles challenge, the Foundation made the decision to increase the purse for the Gold Cup Challenge Race. Prize money of $15,000 will be awarded to each men’s and women’s Champion, $7,500 for second place; $3,500 for third place and $1,500 for fourth place.
HUDSON (Ontario, Canada) and Concept2 (Vermont, USA) will continue as the official outfitters of the Gold Cup, providing custom boats and oars to the rowers.
The athletes will spend the week training on historic Boathouse Row in Philadelphia and engaging with the community through both youth and adult outreach and education.
Gold Challenge Cup History
The Philadelphia Gold Challenge Cup – Philadelphia Gold Cup was commissioned by the Schuylkill Navy in 1920 to honor the undisputed world champion in the sport of single scull rowing. It pitted the world’s best amateur male single scullers against each other in a sprint race on the Schuylkill River. John B. Kelly Sr., of Philadelphia’s Vesper Boat Club, was the first recipient. In the mid-1960s, the trophy and competition disappeared. In 1996 after a long absence, the trophy was rediscovered and thanks to The Gold Challenge Cup Foundation the event returned to its glory in 2011. Since its revival the competition has grown to include the world’s top female scullers.
