Welland Open Water Swim

The Welland Open Water Swim and SwimRun Challenge is an open water swimming race held in the sheltered waters of the Welland Canal in Welland, Ontario. Organized by Canaqua Sports and now in its eighth season, the competition takes place in June at the Welland Canal Boathouse. The venue offers an exceptionally flat swimming line, free from maritime disruptions and designed for uninterrupted rhythm. Athletes can take part in three distinct swimming distances over 1,000, 3,000, or 5,000 metres. These straight-line courses cater equally to sprint specialists, endurance athletes, and swimrunners navigating the freshwater route. The waterway itself was widened in 2013 to satisfy rigorous international standards for competition. In 2023, a 200-metre course on the canal was even featured for a rowing challenge in a television production, showcasing the precision and clarity of the basin.

When not hosting organized sporting events, the basin functions as a public use canal for local recreation. During the winter months, severe weather conditions force the entire canal to shut down. By the time early summer arrives, the water settles into a placid, enclosed expanse that allows competitors to focus entirely on their stroke without the chop typical of open lakes.

Welland Recreational Waterway: silence on a retired shipping lane

In 1967, authorities launched the Welland Canal Relocation Project to build a straighter bypass channel that eliminated hazardous bridge crossings. Completed in 1973, the Welland By-Pass project permanently shifted commercial shipping out of downtown Welland to the outskirts of the city. The final commercial vessel to ever pass through the urban center was the freighter Georgian Bay, which completed its transit on December 15, 1972. This historic relocation turned the old urban channel into the Welland Recreational Waterway, a disused section of the canal. Today, the waterway still forms a striking visual feature running through the heart of the community. Along the recreational waterway, an earth plug completely bisects the channel at Ontario Highway 58A to accommodate the Townline Tunnel. To preserve the peace of the retired channel, the municipality enforces the "Go Quietly" bylaw, which strictly prohibits motorboats across the recreational waterway. Without engine noise, fuel exhaust, or churning wakes, swimmers find an uncommonly glassy surface.

The Flatwater Centre: a canal built for racing

The Welland International Flatwater Centre, a canoeing, kayaking and rowing facility in Welland, Ontario, was used for the 2013 ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Championships and the 2015 Pan American Games. The City of Welland lists open water swimming among the sports held at the centre, with the 2012 World Junior Open Water Swim World Championships as its notable event. Rowing regattas at the Welland International Flatwater Centre vary from 500 to 2,000 metres and accommodate up to six designated lanes. Kayak sprints at the Welland International Flatwater Centre cover 200, 500 and 1000 metres and are primarily held on the North Course. In the Mudskipper SwimRun at Welland, competitors swim in the waters of the Welland Recreational Canal and run on trails along its shores. The Mudskipper SwimRun in Welland offers a 7.5 K distance for first-time swimrunners and a longer 10K event for more experienced ones.

The four canals: two centuries of locks and lift bridges

Over the last 12,000 years, Niagara Falls migrated 11 kilometres upstream from the Niagara Escarpment, creating an impassable river gorge. Downstream from the falls, the river rushes through the turbulent Niagara Whirlpool and dangerous rapids. The falls themselves are divided into Horseshoe Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and American Falls by Goat Island and Luna Island. Before canals existed, portaging around the escarpment was an immense feat, prompting the construction of America's first recorded railway in 1764, an inclined wooden tramway called "The Cradles." The surrounding river borders were heavily fortified by Fort George, Fort Niagara, and Fort Erie during the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. Prior to the American Civil War, the Niagara River also served as a crossing for freedom seekers escaping to Canada, commemorated by the Freedom Crossing Monument in Lewiston.

The First Welland Canal was excavated between 1824 and 1829. The very first vessel transit took place on November 30, 1829, carried out by the schooner Anne & Jane. The Second Welland Canal followed between 1840 and 1845, and the Third Welland Canal was constructed from 1871 to 1881. The waterway even survived conflict, including an 1841 sabotage attempt when an explosive charge destroyed a lock gate at Allanburg. Construction of the Fourth Welland Canal began in 1913 and was completed in 1932, establishing the modern system that today operates with eight massive locks. The human cost of these monumental works is marked by the Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial, which commemorates the 137 workers who died during the canal's construction.

The waterway was originally crossed by five vertical lift bridges and a railroad swing bridge, shaping its unmistakable industrial skyline. Among these crossings, Bridge 15 was erected around 1910 to replace an earlier wooden structure. After the opening of the fourth canal left water on both sides, the bridge drew its electrical power from a submerged cable resting on the bottom. The structure was fitted with a warning bell that rang whenever a passing ship struck its metal frame.

Merritt Island and the Parkway Trail: nature beside the cut

Directly bordering the recreational waterway lies Merritt Island, a strip of land that was formed during the initial digging of the canal. Created during the construction of the First Welland Canal, this man-made island stretches for approximately five kilometres parallel to the course of the Welland River. It offers a verdant natural buffer running right beside the swimming channel, separating the artificial cut from the natural watershed. In the early years of the canal, a wooden aqueduct carried the shipping channel directly over the Welland River, leading the surrounding settlement to be called Aqueduct. Today, deliberate holes drilled into the aqueduct structure continue to feed a regulated flow of canal water into the river to manage minor leakage.

Nearby in the watershed, Coyle Creek flows into the river system, its lower section preserved as a wild habitat set within the developed regional landscape. The surrounding area in Welland is rich in history: on 19 October 1814, the Battle of Cook's Mills took place near the eastern edge of the community, marking one of the final battles of the War of 1812 fought on Canadian soil. The Welland Canal Parkway Trail links Lake Ontario in St. Catharines all the way to Lake Erie in Port Colborne, giving visitors a route along the banks of this historic aquatic thoroughfare.