Ballaz. B.Rat. The Rat (see https://www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_355034/the-rat-bitter-ale ). My old stomping ground but never before my “rowing ground”, thanks to Lake Wendouree’s evaporated state the entire five years that I lived two minutes down the road from it. To its credit, however, the lake did provide much entertainment for the locals in other ways during that period, whether it was revealing cold case criminal evidence in the form of dumped firearms, luring school kids into a false sense of security with an apparently firm and study surface but quicksand-like layer underneath, or, and most excitingly, encouraging the continuing and desperate search for the legendary lost 1956 Olympic Rowing gold medal (even though apparently it was found shortly after and was in fact silver).
The epicentre for excitement, Lake Wendouree, the heart and soul of Ballarat (right up there with Sovereign Hill) did not disappoint on this 2016 regatta event either – even when filled with water! Her glorious breadth and mirror-like reflection of the heavens allowed us all a pleasant day relaxing on the soft and grassy bank whilst enjoying the sight of swans and boats gliding across glass; a picture quite the contrary to the expectations and warnings continually tossed about by pessimistic/realistic club members (come on guys, give B.Rat a break).
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Get BRO accredited – be a good rowing citizen!
If you’ve been to a regatta, you would be aware of the people around who are wearing Hi-vis vests and carrying megaphones. They’re directing you where to put your boat in/out of the water, checking bow balls and shoes to ensure rower safety, keeping the transit lanes safe, getting you lined up at the start, following the race and calling boats into their lanes, and then determining who’s won. These people are BROs (Boat Race Officials)!
As a club, RRC has to provide BROs at each regatta. Recently the BROing has been done by coaches, the captain and JL but we need to share BROing duties around as these people already do so much work at the club. We don’t want to burn them out!
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Sculling session – Saturday
The sprint season is in full flight and it’s great to see many RRC rowers on the water. For anyone interested I will run a sculling session for small boats (1x, 2x) on Saturday at 10am. This will have technical focus and involve drills with some filming for analysis afterwards. If you would like to come along then email me directly [email protected] together with your boat preference. I will send an email on Friday evening with boat allocations. Hope to see you there!
Barwon 2016
It’s Sunday, pre 5:30am, and an alarm is rudely squawking in my ear. It must be sprint season!
Sure enough, on the final day of January the intrepid Tigers headed south-west around the bay to show their stuff at the Barwon regatta.
It certainly wasn’t a glorious start though. With a grim forecast spinning tales of afternoon lighting storms and epic black clouds already towering on the horizon there was a very real chance the afternoon races would be a wash out. My mind flashed back to the previous year, sitting cold and damp in a tent. At least Geelong was consistent!
No time for dreaming about warm beds though because we soon arrived at the river and it was straight down to the serious business of rigging and racing….just as soon as I’d located a coffee and a bacon and egg roll, obviously.
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Up up and Away!
Just wanted to give you a quick update on our fundraising achievements recently and also tell you about what’s next.
Thank you to all those kind tigers who donated something into the Christmas hamper. We raised $750 through the raffle which was won at the Christmas party by Geraldine Goss (congratulations).
Secondly was the New Year’s Eve party, we raised $2,400 from ticket sales and bar profits, which is an awesome effort.
Continue reading “Up up and Away!”
Australia Day
RRC is hosting a BBQ on Australia Day with an open bar and the opportunity to enjoy our lovely clubspace. For those interested there will be a special ‘skills and drills’ sculling session at 10am in small boats (1x and 2x). This will be technique focused session with some video footage for analysis over a beer and sausage. If you are interested to attend then please email me directly [email protected] with your boat preference as numbers will be limited by availability of boats.
Those who wish to take bigger boats out can book a boat through sportsnoticeboard.
See you then and don’t forget the bbq is self-catered so bring along some goodies.
Cheers, GG
Take care on the river
You may have noticed with the arrival of Summer the level of river traffic has increased and on top of that a few extra obstacles have been added as bridge works and geotechnical investigations occur.
Could I ask everyone to take extra care whilst out on the river at the moment and also when moving boats in and out of the shed. Please be aware of what is going on around you, talk to one another and ask a question if you are unsure.
Information for river users is displayed on the clubs noticeboard or can be regularly checked on the Rowing Victoria website. Boathouse drive events which result in restricted access or increased activity in the area are also displayed on the noticeboard and on the RRC events calendar, please take the time to check these things.
This week especially there are increased water taxis due to the Australian open tennis and Princes Bridge Arch closures so special care should be taken to ensure you are well clear of Princes Bridge and other traffic before turning. Currently the Northern arch is closed, but over the next month both the central and Southern arches will be closed at some point so be aware.
Please stay safe and enjoy your rowing.
Rutherglen
When I was thinking about writing this post all that came to mind was “there were lots of races and then there were some more races and some people won and some people didn’t”. I thought I should probably expand on that a bit…
On the weekend of 13-14th January we ascended en masse for the 150th annual Rutherglen regatta. It’s a thought to imagine what the regatta would have been like all those years ago, how many people would have attended, what clubs they came from and what the boats were like.
Continue reading “Rutherglen”
Australia Day BBQ
Why not spend Tuesday 26th January with friends relaxing and enjoying our beautiful riverside terrace?
The club bar will be open from midday and friends and family are welcome to come along and enjoy our prime venue. We’ll be throwing some ‘snags on the barbie’ but otherwise this is a self catered event so bring along whatever you would like.
The day is all about relaxing and having fun so we’ll try and keep it stress free for all with our RSAs helping out on the bar and everyone pitching in to sizzle a sausage.
All being well it will be a beautiful Summers day and we’ll head out for a row before hand to work up an appetite.
If you want to let me know you’ll be coming along and/or coming down for a row at 10am just email [email protected].
It’s shiny and new: Thanks to Nic and team
Most members will have noticed by now that the RRC bay has undergone a bit of a transformation with new shiny racking and that many things are located in different places.
The clubs sculling oar sets are now located near the front stairwell door on the RRC labelled yellow oar holders and the red oar holders located in between the roller door and the main switchboard cabinet is where private members oars are now stored.
The majority of the clubs sweep oars are located in angled racks at the front of the shed whilst some are located at the rear of the old MLC bay care should be taken getting these items in and out of the racks.
The new rolling boat rack should be operated with care to prevent boats being damaged and also members will need to be extra careful removing boats from the racks at the rear of the shed as there can be some overlap of bows and sterns. For some reason all our boats are different lengths and so there will be a bit of moving around until the optimum locations are sorted.
Finally riggers are now stored at the rear of the sheds and should be returned there when not in use. Please don’t dump things on the floor as we are trying to keep the shed tidy and easy to clean with less stuff on the floor.
Members also need to be careful of the boats located in the hanging racks when carrying equipment in and out of the sheds and also the tops of the roller doors to avoid banging riggers on the lintel.
Some of our less used fleet items and our only quick release riggered boat are located on the new sliding rack and will need to be rigged and –derigged for each session. Whilst this is a minor inconvenience it will require a little fore-planning for sessions. It also means that you don’t have to re-rig a quad as a four and vice versa but can choose the configuration for the session.
If you don’t like rigging boats and would prefer the club to have more quick release boats then why not help us in our efforts by participating in our fundraising initiatives like the Christmas raffle to win a hamper full of hundreds of dollars worth of goodies. Tickets are on sale now and the winner will be drawn on the 16th December at the RRC Christmas party. Tickets are $4 each or 3 for $10 please email Cat at fundraising@richmondrowing.
Another huge upcoming fundraiser is our NYE party, get in quick to secure your ticket for $80, which will include food and the best view of the city’s new year fireworks. Bring your friends and family and purchase tickets here http://www.trybooking.com/