Looking ahead to 2025, Niagara will be hosting a number of national and provincial championships. Pictured: Mohammed Ahmed. Photo Credit: moh_speed23/Instagram.
As the calendar flips to 2025, The Niagara Independent looks back at the year that was and the year ahead in sports – locally, provincially, nationally and internationally.
We’ll start in Niagara where St. Catharines once again hosted the World Rowing Championships. Almost 1,200 athletes from 60 countries took part in the week-long event.
Also on the world stage, three Niagara natives competed in the 2024 Olympic Games from Paris, France.
Canada’s most decorated distance runner Mohammed Ahmed once again competed in the 10,000- and 5,000-kilometer events. The man they call Moh Speed finished fourth in the 10k, in what many so-called track experts and pundits called a perfect race from the St. Catharines native.
Ahmed was then involved in a multi-runner spill on the track in the 5k ending his Olympics.
Meanwhile, even before their competition began in Paris, Canada’s Women’s National Soccer team was embroiled in one of the biggest sport stories of 2024.
“Drone Gate.”
The story continues to have ripple effects as both then head coach Bev Priestman, and John Herdman before that, either lost their soccer jobs or stepped down.
Welland’s Sabrina D’Angelo is a goalkeeper for the Women’s National team.
The one medal won in France from a Niagara native was in rowing where coxswain Kristen Kit of St. Catharines guided Canada’s Women’s Eight crew to a silver.
Speaking of Paris, it was the ‘summer’ of Paris, as Canadian Summer McIntosh won three gold medals enroute to being named Canada’s Athlete of the Year.
In fact, in a lot of ways 2024 was the year of the woman when it came to sports, as Caitlyn Clark quickly became ‘must watch’ on the basketball court. Clark was named the American Athlete of the Year.
Of course, thousands of fans attended regular sporting events across the region including the Niagara IceDogs, Niagara River Lions, Welland Jackfish and St. Catharines Athletics.
Looking ahead to 2025, Niagara will be hosting a number of national and provincial championships.
In late May, Brock University, Canada Games Park and the Vale Health and Wellness Centre in Port Colborne will play host to the 2025 Ontario ParaSport Games.
“You’re going to see athletes competing at a very high level,” said three-time Paralympic medalist and the chair of the event Jeff Tiessen recently on the Niagara Sports Report on Newstalk 610 CKTB.
“For some this is a stepping stone to national teams, for others this is the pinnacle competing at a provincial level. There’s going to be great competition and comradery, just a great vibe and a really cool event.”
In August, the St. Catharines Jr. A Athletics, established in 1877, one the oldest sporting franchises in all of Canada, will host the Canadian Jr. A Minto Cup Championship.
“This is the highest level of minor lacrosse in the country,” Team President Paul Coates said recently on the Niagara Sports Report.
“Teams competing will be from the province of British Columbia, province of Alberta and Saskatchewan (combined), the winner of Ontario and also the St. Catharines Athletics who hope to go in as the winner of Ontario, but will also have an automatic entry as the host team.”
And after hosting a number of provincial FireFit Championships the previous years, the St. Catharines Fire Department will host the National Championships from September 10-14 at the parking lot of the Seymour-Hannah Sports and Entertainment Centre.
The Garden City will also be home to a new baseball franchise in the New Year as former Toronto Blue Jays communications guru Mal Romanin is bringing a Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball team to the city and region.
A name the team contest continues until this Thursday, Jan. 2 at deadred.ca
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
