A large national rowing competition will come to Ford Lake in Ypsilanti Township for the first time next July, bringing infrastructure improvements to the lake and surrounding parks.

Earlier this summer, USRowing announced Ypsilanti Township as the destination for USRowing’s 2025 RowFest National Championships. The event will run July 12-20, 2025, in partnership with the Ann Arbor Sports Commission, Eastern Michigan University (EMU), and Ypsilanti Township.

USRowing is the national governing body for the sport of rowing in the U.S, with a membership of more than 1,400 rowing clubs. Until recently, the organization hosted two regattas each year, one for youth and one for adult "masters"-level rowers, says Sarah McAuliffe, USRowing's director of competition. Last year, USRowing combined the two events in the inaugural RowFest in Oklahoma City. McAuliffe says that event drew athletes ranging from 15-year-olds to a cohort of seven rowers who were over 90 years old.

McAuliffe says she met representatives from the Ann Arbor Sports Commission and Ypsi Real at a conference last year. They campaigned for her to check out Ford Lake, saying they had some funding and a mission to get a rowing course built on Ford Lake.

The site visit impressed McAuliffe. She says the new Ypsilanti Township location offers three important assets: a lake with lots of room to maneuver, nearby shore-based amenities like a pavilion and space for vendors or a beer garden, and lots of nearby attractions and recreational opportunities for the thousands of athletes, coaches, and spectators expected to attend.

"You all have hotels, airports, and things to do that are really close, plus an exceptional body of water," McAuliffe says.

EMU's row team has practiced on the lake for many years, and EMU just unveiled an eight-lane rowing course there in April. In addition to EMU's semi-permanent buoyed 2,000-meter course, RowFest will install a floating launch and recovery platforms — everything needed to host a national or even international championship, McAuliffe says.

McAuliffe hopes the competition will benefit the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area by bringing tourists to hotels and restaurants but also by providing opportunities for local vendors and food trucks to sell to athletes, coaches, and spectators.

Organizers will be seeking local volunteers. McAuliffe says anyone interested in helping out can follow USRowing's social media.

"Volunteers will get to see what a rowing competition is like from the finish line for the first time on Ford Lake," she says.

Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and editor in Ypsilanti Township and the project manager of On the Ground Ypsilanti. She joined Concentrate as a news writer in early 2017 and is an occasional contributor to other Issue Media Group publications. You may reach her at sarahrigg1@gmail.com.

Photo courtesy of USRowing.