The Bob Ellard Legacy Award

Bob Ellard began rowing in 1966 as a member of the Fort William Rowing Club (now the Thunder Bay Rowing Club).  He joined the Winnipeg Rowing Club in 1973 and then in 1977, he moved to Regina with Barb, and his two young children, to further his architectural career as a partner/ owner of IKOY architects. Upon settling in Regina, Bob became heavily involved in competing and coaching with the Regina Rowing Club. He also coached teams at four Western Canada Summer Games, three Jeux du Canada Games teams and at the 1984 World Lightweight Rowing Championships.  Over many years, Bob coached athletes who represented the Regina Rowing Club, the Saskatchewan Rowing Association and Rowing Canada at local, provincial, national and international regattas. Bob says that his greatest accomplishment as a coach was to have coached both of his children at the Regina Rowing Club to national and international competition.

As a rower, Bob has won National Championships and Royal Canadian Henley medals as well as several World Masters medals. He is an incredibly devoted and talented professional, athlete, coach and builder.  Bob is a selfless man with a tireless willingness to step up whenever there is a job to be done. In his many roles, the common thread has been his intense, sincere and passionate advocacy for sport and his strong desire to grow the rowing community in Regina. He is constantly bringing new people to the sport – many rowers, coaches, volunteers and officials across Canada were ‘recruited’ by Bob.

As a builder, he served as President of the Winnipeg Rowing Club, Regina Rowing Club, Saskatchewan Rowing Association, and was a board member of Rowing Canada for 11 years (including being President of RCA from 1986-1988). He was VP High Performance for the 1984 Olympic Games and served four years as the Director of the Canadian Olympic Association. He was also chair of the 2005 Jeux Canada Summer Games. In 1981, Bob was the Canadian Domestic Coach of the Year and in 1995 was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in the Builder Category.

Each year, $1000 will be presented to the recipient who best demonstrates Bob’s passion for rowing and his commitment to being an ambassador for the sport locally, provincially and nationally. Candidates should be seeking funding to support their further rowing, coaching or officiating endeavors and to achieve their goals of representing Saskatchewan and Canada at major competitions. At the discretion of the committee, the bursary could be split between deserving applicants.

Applicants for the Bob Ellard Legacy Award must be full or associate registered members of the Saskatchewan Rowing Association who have demonstrated a commitment to representing their local club and the provincial association at major regattas (Jeux du Canada Games, Canadian Henley, Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association Championship Regatta, etc.). The bursary is awarded annually at the discretion of the selection committee, is a one-time award for any successful applicant, and may not be awarded if there are no suitable candidates in any given year.