FernFolio

Growing up on the Toronto Islands in the 1860s, Ned Hanlan dreamed of rowing.  The son of a poor Irish immigrant, he had neither the well-to-do background nor the big, bulky physique of most rowers of his day, but Ned possessed natural athletic ability and the will to win.
Ned Hanlan won his first big race, the Championship of Toronto Bay, at the age of eighteen, and rapidly came to the notice of the city’s rowers and their fans.  Soon afterward, he won the Lord Dufferin Medal, Ontario’s top prize for single-scull racing, and attracted the attention, and support, of a group of local businessmen who worked together to foster his rowing career.  With the proper training and money to buy the right equipment, Ned Hanlan was soon racing for the right to call himself Champion of Canada.  Races in the United States, England and even Australia followed; the man from the Toronto Islands became Canada’s first sports super hero.
With his athleticism, his focus on training, and his humorous antics during races, Ned Hanlan thrilled and charmed rowing fans throughout his career, and for many Canadians came to represent a nascent national pride.  Fire on the Water celebrates a great Canadian’s accomplishments and allows a new generation to learn about this intriguing man.
FernFolio Editor