Maria Marunder’s first athletic passion was swimming, a sport that she pursued for a decade, but it would be rowing in which she would represent Canada on the international scene. Her first major international tournament was the 1994 Commonwealth Regatta, where she won a gold medal in the eights with Theresa Luke, Emma Robinson, Anna Van der Kamp, Lesley Thompson-Willie, and the non-Olympians Jennifer Browett, Julie Jespersen-Platt, Kelly Mahon, and Rachel Starr. The same crew, with Kathleen Heddle replacing Browett, came in seventh at that year’s World Championships, while Maunder placed eighth in the coxless fours alongside Mahon, Robinson, and the non-Olympian Jennifer Browett. In 1995 Heddle and Starr were exchanged for Jessica Monroe and Tosha Tsang in the eights, which brought the Canadians up to sixth place, while Maunder finished fifth in the coxless pairs with Mahon. Gaining Heather McDermid and Alison Korn, but losing Jespersen-Platt and Mahon, the Canadians found a podium-worthy crew for the 1996 Summer Olympics, winning silver behind the Romanians. Following the Games Maunder left the eights and joined a quadruple sculls crew that included Browett, Luke, and Diane O’Grady and placed sixth at the 1997 World Championships. This was also the year that she won the women’s singles event at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as well as the singles and doubles tournaments (the latter with Starr) at Canada’s Henley Royal Regatta. Her final major international appearance was the 1998 World Championships, where she finished eleventh in the double sculls with Luke. She retired the following season.
Canada