Spring Fundraising: Starting With A Splash

Athletes smile at the end of ACRA 2025, proud of their successful season and excited for the next year’s.

As many of you know, Illini Rowing is gearing up for the 2026 ACRA Championships, but we need your help to get there! With this final fundraising push, we are trying to guarantee that every athlete can compete, represent our team, and finish off the season strong! 

Visited mid-piece by a friend, Novice Woman, Nicole Hanak, takes on the bucket like a champ!

Starting our endeavors strong, our team hosted our annual Soak-A-Rower fundraiser on the main quad! Aimed with water balloons, water guns, and buckets, students and faculty had the opportunity to splash our erging rowers and help us race this May. Occurring on the quad from 1:00-5:00 today, we had a great time and kickstarted our path to success.

Preparing to leave it all on the water, the VM4+ approaches the launch dock at MACRA 2026.

Over these next two weeks, April 27th – May 11th , each athlete has been given the goal of raising $100 for the team. Donations will go directly to each athlete’s individual profile! Lots of small donations make a huge impact for our team; even $5 will help our athletes get to the start line in Oak Ridge!

This trip is what we have been working towards all year. It is our chance to race against the best of the best and show everyone who Illini Rowing is! Help us represent UIUC and all the Illini Rowing alumni before us here!