History

The Grand Rapids High School Invitational Regatta (GRI) was conceived in 1995 by Don LeBlanc and premiered in 1996 at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan a.k.a. Furniture City, USA. LeBlanc was Forest Hills Central’s first crew coach, was instrumental in introducing the sport of rowing to West Michigan, and played a key role in the formation of West Michigan’s high school rowing programs.  GRI offered West Michigan crews a local race while also providing a destination for well-established programs from the east side of Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to compete.

 

GRI was noted in Arshay Cooper’s book, A Most Beautiful Thing: The Story of America’s First All-Black High School Rowing Team as the 1999 venue for his burgeoning crew’s goal to prove themselves on the water. 

 

In 2004, the Don LeBlanc Men’s Trophy and the Claudia LeBlanc Women’s Trophy were dedicated to memorialize GRI’s respective men’s and women’s team points champions.  In 2023, the GRI Race Committee dedicated the Director’s Trophy, which memorializes GRI’s overall combined team points champion.

 

Since its inception, 39 crews have competed at GRI and as many as 17 crews have competed in each year’s event.