Heather Cartwright, former Mustang rower, receives Western Alumni’s highest honour
Cartwright, BA’93, a coach, volunteer and donor for more than three decades, is the 2026 recipient of the Dr. Ivan Smith Award.
Heather Cartwright, BA’93, has won the 2026 Dr. Ivan Smith Award, Western Alumni’s highest honour. She rowed for the Mustangs from 1988 to 1990 until a cardiac arrest during a race in 1990 led to a diagnosis of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, an inherited heart disease, and ended her competitive career.
She began coaching that year while still a student, leading the Western lightweight women’s team to wins at the Dad Vail Championships and the Ontario Athletic Championships. After ten years in technology sales and marketing she turned to full-time coaching in 2003, with posts at Princeton, Boston and Harvard universities.
Cartwright is president of the Old Oars Club, wrote the book Purple Reign: 60 Years of Western Crew, and helped set up the Great 8 Men’s Coaching Matching Fund in 2021. She and her family helped establish the Cartwright Inheritable Cardiomyopathy and Arrhythmia Project at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre in Toronto, and she hosts the Canadian SADS Foundation podcast Let’s Talk SADS Live.
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