Instead, the organising committee opted for coastal rowing, with the discipline set to make its Commonwealth Games debut at a seafront location.
This comes as a major blow to Strathbogie Shire and Nagambie Rowing Club, who pushed hard for the world-class facility to be utilised as part of the 2026 Games.
Lake Nagambie showed it is capable an event of this magnitude in March, when it was thrust into hosting the Australian Rowing Championships at the last minute and put on an incredibly successful regatta.
But that wasn’t enough to sway organisers to include it in the program, as Deputy Premier and Commonwealth Games Delivery Minister Jacinta Allan explained why traditional rowing was left out.
“Coastal rowing has been announced as an event for the 2026 Games and in its definition needs to be held at a coastal location,” Allan said.
“When it comes to the more traditional rowing activity, the advice through the expression of interest process was that World Rowing did not nominate traditional rowing as a sport for consideration.
“So whether it’s the Victorian local organising committee, Commonwealth Games Australia or Commonwealth Games Federation, we could only consider the sports that were nominated and traditional rowing was not one of those.”
Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips then went on to explain why coastal rowing was seen as the better fit for the 2026 Games.
“World Rowing saw coastal rowing as the opportunity for these Games and a way of expanding its footprint in the expanding world, especially the Commonwealth nations,” Phillips said.
“So for them, hats off that they see an innovative way of bringing new nations to rowing, so that meant the coastal rowing format was proposed to us.
“We understand some communities were disappointed with that, but we look at it through the lense of a whole generation of athletes being able to be exposed to the sport of rowing.”
For those involved in Nagambie Rowing Club and the Strathbogie Shire, this decision was met with disappointment, with the area now resigned to the fact it wouldn’t play host to any Commonwealth Games events.
Long-time Nagambie Rowing Club member Dave Andrews said it was disappointing to see the organising committee favour coastal rowing over the traditional flat-water discipline.
“This decision means that Strathbogie Shire won’t get a Commonwealth Games, which is a bit of a blow to the community in Nagambie and surrounds, especially given the great work the shire did advocating for an event,” Andrews said.
“I wish them all the best with coastal rowing, I’m not sure how it appeals to the greater majority of people and I think it is a bit of an opportunity lost to not have Lake Nagambie in the Games.
“We certainly have a world-class rowing facility that would have been ideal for the Games, as was proven with the recent national championships, but it wasn’t to be and we’ll cop it on the chin.”
Despite the disappointment of missing out on hosting an event, Andrews said the spirits of those at the club weren’t dampened as they would continue to stage national events at the precinct.
“I am not over the moon about it, but you just need to get on with it I suppose,” he said.
“We will definitely soldier on, we’ve got a great club here at Nagambie with a great bunch of rowers and people supporting rowing, so we’ll just enjoy being out on the water whatever goes on.”
