Regatta draws hundreds to Dayton

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - With just a little direction teams from the Midwest were ready to hit the water for the Charlie Doyle Memorial Regatta.  High schoolers from Toledo told 2 NEWS the competition is really good in Dayton.

The Greater Dayton Rowing Association partners with Five Rivers Metroparks to host the 2000-meter head race on the Great Miami River.

Mike Thein explained it this way, "For someone who never's been to a regatta that is hard to believe the activity that happens from about 6 a.m.. to about five at night.  It goes from nothing to chaos and then to nothing and it's all cleaned up."

 Thein said the event at Island Metro Park has doubled in size in just one year.  He thought up to 3000 people were seeing this area of Dayton for the first time due to the regatta.

The teams set up tents and tried to keep food warm for those participating, most from rowing clubs.
John Stanley brought 45 kids from Indianapolis.  He said he loves coming to Dayton. "The river is a great river. It's a great river to race on. It's clean. It's got a nice wide sweep to it. The kids like to row on this river by golly," he said.

This is the 13th year for the regatta named after one of the founding members of the Greater Dayton Rowing Association.