The club dates back to 1924 when it originally operated out of the Lachine Boat Club. Within two years the club established a rivalry with the University of Toronto Rowing Club with the inception of the McGill-Toronto boat race. In the ten-year existence of the annual race McGill would only win the first two meetings. By 1939 both crews would cease activities with the outbreak of World War II. Rowing returned to McGill following the 1976 Summer Olympics with the revived club taking advantage of the then new Olympic Basin and its facilities. Initially only men crews raced with the first women crew taking to the water four years later in 1980. The following year the first Canadian University Rowing Championships was held at the basin with McGill acting as hosts. The national championship returned to the basin in 2004, and again in 2009. In 2004 the men's eight won a silver medal, with current national team member Derek O'Farrell as bow seat. The 2009 event saw the women's lightweight coxed four score the Martlet's first ever medal, and the Redmen's first ever gold medal in the lightweight men's double won by Renaud Garon Gendron and Jonathan Rinaldi. In 2016, the legendary Nicholas Swanson Hutchison made his first appearance for the club.
Club Colours
The club colours are red and white matching the colours of the university. The blades are coloured red with two white triangles on the edge forming a sideways M. The logo is the McGill shield in front of two crossed McGill oars with the university's motto Grandescunt Aucta Labore on the bottom.
Facilities
The Olympic Basin on Notre Dame Island acts as the home waterways for the club sharing it and its facilities with the Montreal Rowing Club. Both clubs are run independently from each other although they do routinely support one another. These facilities include:
The 2000 metres-plus long basin itself, the only one of its kind in North America.
The indoor rowing tank, one of only two in Canada and the only one that can accommodate eight rowers.
Hangars used for storing rowing shells.
The club also has an ergometer room at the Currie Gym, part of McGill's athletic complex. Additionally, athletes have access to the varsity weight room as well as other services.
Since 1997 McGill crews have taken on crews from Queen's University in the annual McGill-Queen's Challenge. Considered the Canadian equivalent of the famed Cambridge-Oxford and Harvard-Yale boat races, it takes place in late April alternating between Montreal and Kingston. The 2006 race was hosted by McGill which chose the Lachine Canal as the venue. Reviews were so positive that there has since been talks of making it the permanent home of the race. As of 2018, the race has not been held for a number of years, due to logistical challenges involving exam schedules. The men race for the Challenge Blade, a port side blade painted with Queen's colours on the inside and McGill colours on the outside. The women compete for the Challenge Trophy which is adorned with the wood handle of a sweep oar. The overall winner receives the D. Lorne Gales Challenge Cup named after original McGill rower D. Lorne Gales.
