The inaugural Mixed Eight (of the E variety) comprised five Yarra newbies in Richard, Rowena, Jodie, Marcela and Doug plus Steve, Skye and Andrew who had a few priors to their name. Having lately confirmed their cox (Power House’s Nigel), the crew completed their tourist row on Friday then suited up on Saturday and set off in search of Hawthorn RC. After a very solid opening 3km, the first real passing opportunity was near Big Bend and the forward crew was not budging. We lost some time and had to settle again before eventually passing them with 2km to go. The boat clipped along well into the final straight where we wound it up a little and crossed in a raw time of 36m25s, relatively pleasing considering the tide. Boat racked, bodies aching, beers were had. Plans are already afoot for Yarra 2020 ! And we thank the driving crew for their time on the road. (AP)
*** Reports from W8 and M8 pending..... |
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Iron Clove Classic #3 - 18 NovemberThe final ICC for 2019 saw many more entries, a bit more chop in the water and higher expectations than the previous two ICCs. While the men's 8 recorded their second best time, the women's 8 and mixed 8 were slightly slower around the 8 km course. Our coxes did a great job, especially when faced with numerous boats weaving in and out in the quest to take the best position around Cockatoo Island. Thank you Briana, Carolyn and Cecile.
The teamwork from all has been stellar in getting boats and crews to and from Iron Cove... And Gus completed the racing morning by supplying the good coffee and brilliant egg dishes to a large crowd of Abbotsford rowers. |
North shore Head - 10 NovemberA strong fleet of six doubles and six singles spent Saturday wondering what they’d signed up for. Very strong westerlies were forecast for Sunday. As it turned out, it was a brisk tail wind from the bridge to the finish but the water remained quite manageable.
The MM2x combos of Andrew & Doug, Richard & Steve, Charlie & Terry filled 2nd, 3rd and 4th, while all avoiding any time penalties. The WM2x combos of Rowena & Rosemary, Jodie & Sally, Cecile & Enza filled 2nd, 4th and 6th, while ALL INCURRING time penalties. Now I don’t want to say anything Barry-esque buuut . . . well, just co-incidence surely. Mike G was the only MM1x. Kim, Janine, Colleen, Suzie and Judith suited up for the WM1x but only four met the starter. The Lane Cove is a tough course with many turns and obstacles, so everyone does well to finish intact. Some other boats didn’t. The boats safely stored, it was a bee-line to the coffee shop to decompress and be thankful the weather held up. (AP) |
NSW Spring Regatta - 19 October |
Judy's holiday happiness |
The smaller numbers attending the NSW Spring Regatta didn't make racing any easier. As usual SIRC continues to be a challenging venue for medal success. Serious white caps caused the regatta to be cancelled before all our crews had finished their day, but before the strong southwesterly our rowers experienced some good racing. Jodie came 3rd in Division 1 of the WD1x in a cracking time of 4:35. Marcela, Jodie, Kim and Rowena busted 4 minutes to come in second in their heat and, in the race after, Rosemary, Janine, Cecile and Suzie also took out points for second. Surrounded by school aged athletes and water chopped up by wind, Terry rowed easily into 3rd place in his heat of the MD1x. A beer at Roccos washed away all images of rough conditions and brought forth plans and contemplations of taking on the Manning this time next year instead of the Spring.
Judy, holidaying in Brisbane, competed in the Head of the Brisbane River and brought home gold in a WM event...details uncertain.
Congratulations Judy! |
The Nepean new-look time trial saw a larger than normal field of rowers take to the water in a variety of craft. The traditional singles attracted a healthy number of return rowers for the 5km distance. The women’s single had eleven starters; Petra just pipped Janine for 6th place. Andrew came 5th out of 17 starters. Suzie and Mike G showed steady form finishing 10th and 13th respectively. In the other boat categories, Steve and Richard (G2x) kept pace with the younger Drummoyne crew, beating them handsomely with the age handicap. Both our D4x (Jodie, Sally, Colleen and Skye) and E2- (Marcela and Rowena) had the Bohemia points in the bag when the draw came out, being the only starters in their events.
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Surrounded by the lush cane fields of the Tweed region and under the spectacular backdrop of Mount Warning, Doug and Rowena joined Toni (St George RC) and John (Mosman RC) in a mixed quad to race the 21km course from Chinderah Bay to Murwillumbah. A large contingent of rowers gathered on the shore for awards and entertainment. The composite crew collected second place in the mixed division.
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