Schuylkill Navy receives a $30,000 donation ahead of the Philadelphia Youth Regatta

Ahead of hosting the largest one-day sprint regatta in the country this weekend, the Schuylkill Navy received a large donation from one of its longtime partners and sponsors on Thursday at Temple’s East Park Canoe House.

Paul Muller, a representative of Toyota, presented the Schuylkill Navy with a $30,000 check courtesy of the Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association to support this weekend’s Philadelphia Youth Regatta and the other three regattas in the Schuylkill Navy Racing Series.

“It’s Tri-State Toyota Dealers’ honor to be able to support the Schuylkill Navy and the work they do, not only with these athletes, but with the river,” Muller said in a statement. “The focus that they put behind the preservation and conservation of the Schuylkill is unmatched.”

“For us to be able to continue the incredible legacy of competition on the Schuylkill, work with our partners in the city of Philadelphia to maintain the infrastructure around the river — we can’t do it alone,” Bonnie Mueller, commodore of the Schuylkill Navy, told The Inquirer after the presentation.

“The support of our external partners, Toyota being just one of them, really means everything, and it’s such a great metaphor for the way that we do our sport,” Mueller said. “Many different bodies coming together, working toward the same goal in perfect alignment and unison.”

Saturday’s Philadelphia Youth Regatta is expected draw more than 3,000 athletes between ages 14 and 19 from 100 schools. More than 700 races are scheduled.

The Schuylkill Navy also recognized the athletes who will be rowing in this year’s World Rowing Championships from Aug. 18 to 24 in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Among the rowers with local ties are Audrey Boersen of the Whitemarsh Boat Club, Jimmy McCullough, a Philly native who went on to row for Delaware, and Casey Howshall and Jasper Liu, former rowers at Penn. Boersen will be rowing in the women’s single lightweight sculls, while McCullough, Howshall, and Liu will compete in the lightweight men’s quad.

Tri-State Toyota Dealers have been partners with the Schuylkill Navy, Philadelphia’s rowing governing body, for the last 10 years.