PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania—The 2024 BAYADA Regatta boat races will take place Saturday, Sept. 14, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET, at the Temple University Boathouse, 2400 Kelly Drive in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park.
The BAYADA Regatta is the nation’s oldest and largest all-para rowing competition. Officiated in accordance with USRowing and World Rowing para rules and requirements, classifications include athletes with a specific physical impairment, a visual impairment, or an intellectual impairment. A veterans’ category, the Freedom Cup, honors athletes who have served in the US Armed Forces, some with service-related injuries. BAYADA is proud to be the leading event sponsor since 1983.
“We look forward to and feel so strongly about the importance of this event for athletes of all abilities,” said David Baiada, CEO of BAYADA Home Health Care. “Cheering on the competitors to achieve their personal best connects all of us with a sense of purpose and determination and affirms our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.”
In the 1980s, BAYADA Founder and Chairman Mark Baiada discovered the power of the Philadelphia Adaptive Rowing (PAR) program and experienced how it benefits many of the same individuals his company serves. In addition to BAYADA’s financial sponsorship, BAYADA employees volunteer behind the scenes and on site to make the BAYADA Regatta a success every year.
Every Rower Has a Story to Tell
Don’t miss the “Blind Magic” of Ibrahim “Dammie” Onafeko, he’ll be rowing in the PR3 in his tenth BAYADA Regatta.
A Howard University doctoral student, journalist, audio producer and poet, Onafeko came to the States from Nigeria 15 years ago to get surgery for an aggressive form of glaucoma. Despite their best medical efforts, he lost his vision completely in 2011.
Encouraged to try para-rowing in 2014, Onafeko has been rowing with the Capital Adaptive Rowing Program (CARP) ever since, practicing with a sighted bow partner three times a week.
“While the sun shines, my goal is to live fully at whatever I do,” Onafeko said. “Don’t be blinded by the disability of the people around you. Never write them off. To other disabled rowers and athletes, I say don’t limit yourself. There’s always something you can do to fill your life and have fun doing it. Come to the BAYADA Regatta, carry that memory with you and revel in it.”
Also rowing this year from CARP, in the PR1, will be Regan Linton, who became paralyzed from the chest down 22 years ago in a car accident, while she was a junior at the University of Southern California.
Linton played soccer and softball before her injury. Today, she continues her love of theater, music and sports, practicing machine rowing five days a week and twice a week on the water.
This will be Linton's second BAYADA Regatta, and she loves the recreation of just participating and being together.
“It’s fun and life-affirming to have a community of peers who get what you’re facing on a regular basis and sharing that comradery in an event that’s so uplifting, healthy, engaged and active,” Linton said. “Just come out, get into nature, and spend the beautiful day with us.”
Join for Free
Join hundreds of BAYADA employees and rowing enthusiasts from Philadelphia and beyond for this fun-filled day of “Freedom on the Water.” Admission and parking are free along Kelly Drive. For more information and to support these rowers with a donation, visit bayada.com/regatta.
