A big congratulations to everyone involved in another great day at the club on Sunday 10th November. It gave me great pleasure to officially name the two newest boats added to our fleet. We welcomed Dennis Beck, Emma Catford, Martin Foster and Nicole Stupka to officially name the new mid weight coxed four and quad which we purchased earlier on this year from Latrobe University Boatclub. This boat gives us great flexibility in the fleet enabling us to take one boat on the trailer for both sweep and sculling races at regattas and fills the gap left by the retiring of the James Butcher. The boat was named Dennis, Emma, Martin & Nicole, or to be known in the shed as “THE DEM’N” after the very successful masters mixed quad crew that represented Richmond both state and nationally. Along with their successes on the water each one of them served for many years on the club’s committee and were instrumental in the running of the club from 2008 until the present day. A well deserved honour for them all.
We also officially named the new double/pair, another flexible addition to the fleet. The sesquicentennial (150 years) was a very generous anonymous donation to the club given to us to mark the milestone of 150 years of continuous operation and we are very grateful to the mystery supporter of the club who bestowed this great surprise on us at the Gala Dinner in September.
There was action on the water too as Justin Thomas and helpers again organised a very successful club time trial event that gave everyone a chance to warm up their legs for the upcoming head racing season on the Yarra. Line honours on the day went to the men’s quad of Michael Gehling, Charlie Burke, Michael Calvert and David Micallef coxed by Michelle Joy.
Just to let you all know the next event at the club will be on Saturday 23rd November when multiple Richmond crews will be taking to the Yarra to compete in the Melbourne Head course. The bar at the clubhouse will be open for the afternoon following the conclusion of racing so friends and family are welcome to come along and support RRC.
The fun keeps coming too as Christmas is just around the corner so look out for information soon about this years RRC Christmas ‘Hoe-down’ to be held on Thursday 19th December.
See you all soon.
Karen Doggett
RRC President