History of the Los Gatos Rowing Club

The Los Gatos Rowing Club (LGRC) was founded in 1979 to provide on-the-water facilities to high school students in the Santa Clara Valley for what was then predominantly an eastern sport. Since then, more than 2,500 boys and girls from 30 different high schools have passed through the program, winning National Championships on the way – most recently the Women’s Varsity Lightweight 8 in the summer of 2007. 2008, and 2009. Many athletes have gone on to colleges and universities to row competitively, and several have received rowing scholarships. Some have also rowed for U.S. National crews at every level, bringing back medals from CanAmMex, Junior Worlds, Under 23 Worlds, Senior Worlds, and the Olympics.

The present boathouse on Alma Bridge Road overlooking Lexington Reservoir was completed in 1996 following a fire that destroyed the old Boathouse that had been on the Dam for ten years. The club used a temporary boathouse of storage containers while a remarkable group of parents and coaches raised loans, grants and donations to finance acquisition of land, new boathouse and a full set of boats and equipment.

Many parents and other interested adults joined the club during the rebuilding period, expanding the adult membership from 17 to over 100 in 18 months. Today’s adults and Junior Parents continue to donate their time, effort and money to help keep the club running. Many are Master rowers, having either just taken up the sport or having returned to the sport they loved in their college days.

Today, the Los Gatos Rowing Club provides a range of sweep rowing and sculling programs to meet the needs of both Junior and Master rowers at all skill levels. The programs focus on building the skills and fitness necessary to compete in local, regional, national and international regattas.

We share the boathouse and facilities with Santa Clara University Boat Club, which also has an active and successful program at Lexington Reservoir.

The Los Gatos Rowing Club is a California non-profit {501(C)(3)} corporation. Currently, with the exception of the coaches, volunteers do all of the Club’s work.

Club History - Long version with photos.    By Shirley Reekie, Updated August, 2009