St. John’s, Newfoundland, the capital of the east-coast province, is enjoying beautiful weather for the milestone anniversary of the city’s annual regatta.

“We’ve been just 100 per cent committed now for three years to this very intense program”

The Royal St.John’s Regatta is the oldest continuing sporting event in North America.

The Royal St. John’s Regatta brought out the spectators strolling by Quidi Vidi Lake early this morning on the 200th anniversary of the event. (St. John’s Regatta/Twitter)

And the only civic holiday in North America that depends on good weather. It is declared by a committee of persons not associated with a government body.

Mark Critch, of the CBC’s satiric ‘This Hour Has 22 Minutes’ describes the Tuesday night before, as regatta roulette, when people hope and trust in the good weather the following day, to provide a break in the routine, and the opportunity to spend the day lakeside at Quidi Vidi lake to watch the rowing events.

A perfect day of blue skies and calm winds had the rowing got off to a great start early this morning when the M5 women’s crew broke the Royal St. John’s Regatta record with an official time of 4:56.10.

The previous record was set in 2003 by team OZFM was 4:56.70,

Royal St. John’s Regatta where the M5 women’s team officially broke the Regatta record this morning. (Jeremy Eaton/CBC)

“We’ve been just 100 per cent committed now for three years to this very intense program, and to make it all come together today is pretty special,” Katie Wadden told CBC News today.

When asked about their strategy for this evening’s championship race, teammate Nancy Beaton said, she and the team are going to try to beat their own record.

The Royal St. John’s Regatta is said to have originated in sometime in 18th century when ships docked in the harbour would have their crews compete for sport.

(With files from CBC)