Glorious Gate Rowing Association, Inc.
Then, now and where we’re going together.
In the beginning it was the strategic value of the three rivers: Saint Joseph and Saint Marys forming the Maumee. This wonder of nature provided a commerce route for fur trappers to transit from Montreal to New Orleans and Native American tribal chiefs a strategic place to gather. The great Miami Chief Little Turtle called this place The Glorious Gate. Hence our name.
Starting in 2009, with the vision of founder John Hoham, Concordia High School students formed the first Fort Wayne crew. That team practiced on 3 rowing machines. The first boat was added in the fall of 2010. Living off the back of a boat trailer crew practiced out of Johnny Appleseed Park just across the river from Concordia High School. Their rowing practice took them throughout downtown Ft. Wayne.
September 2011 saw the first test regatta with teams from Indianapolis and Cleveland competing on the downtown rivers as well as the upper St. Joseph at Shoaff Park. That put Ft. Wayne on the map for regattas. It would take 9 years of growth before the first full scale regatta was held in the fall of 2020.
During these beginning years, due to being mostly associated with Concordia Lutheran High School, often ‘Glorious Gate’ was thought to be a church organization. G2 Rowing is now the ‘doing business as’ (dba) name.
The vision from the early days of G2 Rowing was to make rowing accessible to everyone in the greater Ft. Wayne area.
The Mission of G2 Rowing is to provide rowing programs for youth and people with varying levels of ability to participate for sport and/or physical fitness.
Following guidance from mentoring rowing organizations like:
Indianapolis Rowing Center
Community Rowing, Inc. Boston
Louisville Adaptive Rowing
Recovery on Water, Chicago
Indoor Adaptive Rowing was started in 2012 at Turnstone. The vision of physical fitness for everyone through rowing continued to grow. G2 Rowing put on demonstration rowing exhibitions in 2014 at the IPFW RiverFest and won first place in the return of the Three Rivers Festival Raft Race in a converted model of the Wells St. Bridge into a rowing shell! The healing physical activity of paddling in a dragon boat, as learned through Recovery on Water, motivated G2 Rowing as the driving organization that brought the Dragon Boat Festival to Ft. Wayne in its first year, 2015. The following year a Cancer Survivor rowing program began.
To sustain the growth necessary G2 Rowing obtained Federal 501-(c) 3 status in 2014.
The Junior rowing program (high school students) continued to grow. Attracting rowers from Canterbury, South Side, North Side, Snider and more. Participating in regattas throughout the region has prepared interested rowers for the rigors of college level crew. G2 crew have gone on to row at: Purdue, Michigan University, Notre Dame, IUPUI and Indiana University.
With this growth, still living off of multiple trailers, G2 Rowing finally found a home in 2017 on the downtown rivers in a building on the St. Marys River. It was here that the Middle School summer rowing camps grew. This also provided an opportunity to fulfill the adaptive rowing goal of putting rowers on the water. However, this was short lived as the building was part of Ft. Wayne Outfitters. Once phase 1 of Riverfront was completed Outfitters need the space and G2 was again rowing off of trailers by 2019.
Undeterred G2 Rowing continued to grow holding its first full regatta, Row the Mauma Jo head race, in the fall of 2020. Five teams participated with 125 athletes competing for medals. The second regatta was held in April 2021. The Summit City Sprints saw 7 teams bringing over 400 athletes proving Ft. Wayne’s rivers can be utilized for competitive competition. College rowing was added in the fall of 2021 with University of Saint Francis crew.
Preparing for the next level of growth G2 Rowing will have a home this spring at Shoaff Park close to the boat ramp. With the support of Ft. Wayne Parks and Recreation G2 Rowing is building a facility that will finally allow us to … provide rowing programs for youth and people with varying levels of ability to participate for sport and/or physical fitness.
Please join us. We are your community rowing center.
Thanks,
Dan Wire
President – G2 Rowing Board of Directors