Kingston, September 25, 2025 – Sail Canada announced today that Lilly Rainham from Halifax, N.S., has been named recipient of the Nathan R. Cowan Memorial Award for 2024.
Created in 2002, the Nathan R. Cowan Memorial Award aims to support developing sailors through financial support, a way to honour the memory of Nathan Cowan who, after years of determination and persistence, achieved his goal of becoming a Canadian Sailing Team member. However, a few months later, Nathan Cowan passed away tragically in a car accident.
Nominations were evaluated based on a time period ranging from January 1 to December 31, 2024.
In 2024, Lilly Rainham took the 39th position out of 80 sailors at the ILCA U21 World Championships held in Portugal, in addition to taking the 9th spot overall and being the top woman at the North American Championships held in Massachusetts, USA. At the ILCA Canadian Championships, she recorded a third-place finish out of 62 sailors and was once again the top woman. She was also crowned provincial champion at the 2024 Nova Scotia Championships.
In 2023, the representative from the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron took part in the ILCA 6 U21 World Championships, where she took the 44th position. That same year, she finished 39th overall at the ILCA 6 Youth World Championships held in Poland, in addition to taking the second spot and being the top female at Sail Canada Sail East 2023.
She became a member of the Canadian Sailing Team in 2025.
“I am incredibly humbled to accept the Nathan R. Cowan Memorial Award,” said Lilly Rainham. “I am grateful for the support I’ve received and hope to honour Nathan’s lasting legacy in Canadian sailing.”
More information on the Nathan R. Cowan Memorial Award is available at https://www.sailing.ca/nathan-r-cowan-memorial-award-for-developing-sailors-past-winners/.
About the Nathan R. Cowan Memorial Award
The Nathan R. Cowan Memorial Award is given out annually to a Canadian sailor who is 19 years of age or older as of December 31 in the year of the nomination and who is not a member of the Canadian Sailing Team or a carded athlete during the year of the award. The winner will have shown a record of outstanding achievement in national and international competitions, have followed a committed training program during the year of the award, brought recognition to Canadian competitive sailing, have demonstrated leadership and sportsmanship, and have made efforts in fundraising through sponsorship and private contributions.
Since 2002, the Nathan R. Cowan Memorial Award has annually supported one athlete or one team, including Olympians David Wright, Stéphane Locas and Oliver Bone, Lee Parkhill, Tom Ramshaw, Jacob and Graeme Saunders, Will Jones and Evan DePaul, as well as current Canadian Sailing Team members James Juhasz, Clara Gravely, Madeline Gillis and Galen Richardson.
About Sail Canada
Established in 1931, Sail Canada is the national governing body for the sport of sailing in the country. Sail Canada is a leading international sailing nation, proud of its world class athletes, lifelong participants and inclusive culture. The organization and its members are committed to excellence by developing and training its leaders, athletes, sailors, instructors, coaches and officials. With the valued support from our partners, the Provincial Sailing Associations and our member clubs, schools, organizations and stakeholders, sailing is promoted in all its forms. By setting standards and delivering programs from home pond to podium for Canadians of all ages and abilities, from dinghies to keelboats, cruising to navigation, windsurfing to powerboating and accessible sailing, Sail Canada sets sail for all, sail to win and sail for life.
A sport in the Olympic program since the first Games in 1896, except in 1904, the pursuit of success in these Games is what fuels the focus of Sail Canada as Canadian athletes have so far achieved nine Olympic and five Paralympic medals.
