'Lots of girls' at Lab West regatta: Men call it 'sissy sport', says coach

Participation in the annual Labrador West regatta is down, and this year's races are dominated by women.

With the 44th running of regatta set for Friday, only a handful of the 30 or so teams are male.

They just look at it and call it a sissy sport... But there's nothing sissy about it.- Harold Clarke

"We went into the schools this year and targeted the junior boys and it just doesn't work," said Harold Clarke, president of the Labrador West Coxwain's Association.

"I don't know what it is, they just look at it and call it a sissy sport... But there's nothing sissy about it," 

The 2016 demographic is a switch from previous years, said Clarke.

"[In the past] you may have had maybe enough ladies for one race and the other 10-15 races would have been all male of all categories too," Clarke told the CBC.

Less competition, less fun

Rower Alyssa Whelan said it would be nice for there to be more men competing.

"When there [are fewer] teams there's less competition so then it makes it a little easier on everyone that's out, but maybe a little less fun when there's less competition" Whelan said. "Why aren't you guys out here?"

Coxwain Sonja Pritchett can't really figure it out either.

"It's definitely a female dominated sport right now," Pritchett said

"Maybe the boys are lazy and they don't want to get up in the morning but I don't know, the girls are dominating right now," Pritchett told the CBC during a morning practice

She put a call out to the boys to get out and row and if they need any incentive, well…"There are lots of girls at the boathouse."

Mining downturn a damper

Clarke said the regatta is still a very important event in the region, and the only civic holiday.

"It's the longest continuous running cultural sporting event in Labrador West," Clarke said,

"Through all the ups and downs in the mining industry, we've always managed to survive and we've built up a good following and support from our community."

But like just about every organization in town, it's feeling the crunch.

"The number of rowers has decreased by at least 30 per cent over the past number of years since the downturn in the iron ore industry," Clarke said.

"The number of sponsors is down, the amount of money that they can afford to put into sports has dropped a little bit."