Saturday 14th April marked yet another very successful Regatta for Richmond Rowing Club. It was truly inspiring to see the club spirit in action. We had 28 plus rowers competing and numerous others on the bank enjoying the sunshine and cheering on the crews.
The competition as always was tough as each rower was pushed and responded by digging deep in true Tiger spirit. Congratulations to all the rowers each and every one of you put in 110% and all deserve to be winners with bling around your necks.
The day was filled with great results for the club Continue reading “2012 Albert Park Lake Masters Regatta”
RRC report from NSW Grade Championships
On the weekend, 16 Richmond rowers, coaches, supporters and a cox descended on Penrith for the 2012 NSW State Grade Championships. What an incredible weekend we had. Once again the NSW competitors proved to be tough and unrelenting opponents but Richmond’s presence (both on and off the water) did not go unnoticed!
With a record number of scullers competing, our two WD2x crews progressed through to the semi-finals with Karen and Cat taking on the final and placing 5th overall. Our two WC2x crews rowed strongly in their heats with Michelle and Rochelle progressing to the semi-finals. Meanwhile, Rachael singlehandedly took on the WD1x and cruised her way through heats and semis to place 6th overall in the final. Both Cat and Rachael represented Richmond in the WC1x with Rachael progressing through to the semi-final.
Richmond’s WD4x stroked by Michelle with Nat, Karen and Rochelle competed in an eventful heat and following a re-start progressed through to the final, just missing out on a medal in a very close race placing 4th overall.
Our sweep rowers also had some great results Continue reading “RRC report from NSW Grade Championships”
RRC crews to contest NSW Championships
We are again challenging NSW and other state crews at the NSW State Grade Champs at Penrith. This regatta has proved very popular with perfect autumn weather, friendly officials who make us very welcome and a great course to row (straight and buoyed!).
More information about the regatta is available from http://www.rowingnsw.asn.au/news/253/609/edward-trickett-regatta-revised-start-times.html
The beautifully appointed RRC trailer is loaded with all our equipment to get the crews on the water. It is a long trip up the Hume Hwy so we wish the driver and car crew a safe trip. NB Don’t ring the Captin today, he is otherwise engaged!
The crews have done all their training to be ready to do their best coming down the olympic course. We wish them a great 2 days of racing.
Each days’ competiton has been delayed (2 hours on Saturday and 1 hour on Sunday). But that is not a problem, as it is due to Rowing Australia holding their olympic trails for the London Olympics. This is a wonderful opportunity to see our top rowers in action, battling it out to represent Australia. Wish we were there!
Good luck Tigers and we look forward to report in the near future on the regatta and the results for our crews.
Fundraising Success – RRC Trivia and Auction Night 17 March
Hello all
It is with great pleasure that I report yet another successful fundraising trivia night for RRC held on 17 March – St. Patricks Day.
This year the event raised more than $7000, which is a fantastic effort by all those who attended the evening, as well as donated an array of goods and services. As always there were some real gems on offer such as a trophy oar signed by members of the 2008 Olympic Team, a holiday house in Cape Paterson; as well as those more intriguing items like the ‘mystery’ package won by Martin Foster and the two Yarra Yarra rowers on offer for a mixed quad! Or course while the auction was a major element of the evening – the clear attractor was to get a perfect score card by answering all of Justin Thomas’s trivia questions. Yet again Justin tested everyone’s trivia brains and even threw in a ‘Spicks and Specs’ segment – courtesy of Lindsey Brown and her impressive voice.
As I write this and reflect on the fun evening, and opportunity to catch up with those I haven’t seen for a while, I am also reminded of the new equipment the club has been able to purchase as a result of events such as the trivia night, and the donations of members and their friends and family. For example Karen Doggett probably never wants to see a sausage again after coordinating the sausage sizzle at Bunnings last year, and I know from firsthand experience that I almost ate my weight in Freddo frogs while raising money for the club.
Many new members may not be aware that up until about 6 years ago boat loading included finding a trailer …. as well as de-rigging boats! Given a trailer is a pretty much a pre-requite for any rowing club wishing to attend regattas, and the ability to borrow trailers was becoming harder and harder, the club focused on raising money to buy its own. Aside from being pretty nifty, I think our trailer is also much loved because many of us shook buckets and ergoed for 24 hours to secure it. It is a fantastic resource that we are all able to benefit from and is sure to last the club well into the future for all the members yet to come.
Other items we have bought include cox boxes, new boats, ergo’s, oars – the list goes on. Naturally the shopping list of potential items is endless, so the Committee makes the tough decision of prioritising the list based on the needs of the club at the time. This year the Committee decided to focus the trivia night funds on a bit of upkeep by committing to purchasing new shoes for the women’s 8+, buying four sets of new sculling oars and another ergo, to name just a few. However now we know we have $7000 plus confirmed – we will be able to move further down the list.
Although clearly the club needs cash to supplement and refresh the fleet and other rowing equipment, the other thing essential to RRC are the day to day donations that many members make. These donations come in a variety of forms, such as: coaching, organising regattas, social events, painting oars, donating items to be auctioned, purchasing them, cleaning the kitchen and so on. RRC runs on volunteers and the notion that members give what they can, at different times and in different ways. So in addition to the bigger donations I also want to highlight the everyday ones and the flow on that these make to the workings of the club.
Thanks again to all those that helped with the trivia night, in particular Vicki Brennan, Ben Soraghan, Mike O’Neill, Mike Numa, Simon Crunden, Martin and quiz master Justin. If you have any ideas of fundraising activities/concepts you think we should try or would like to get more involved in the non-rowing part of the club please drop me a line or another member of the Committee.
Cheers
Emma
Emma Catford
President – Richmond Rowing Club
Hamilton Update
The first country regatta of the season saw 26 RRC members head to Hamilton this weekend. The sun shone brightly on us all weekend and sculls, doubles, quads, pairs, fours and eights all took to the water to battle it out over the 1km course.
Day 1 and event 1 of the regatta was a Richmond win by the female masters double pairing of Susie Ballantyne and Geraldine Goss which kicked off a host of great performances for the weekend. Rachel Button claimed victory in the D grade women’s single scull to win her first individual sculling medal. The mixed eight combination of Susie Ballantyne, Karen Doggett, Charlie Burke, Barry Campbell, Dave Micallef, Matthias Ott, Rochelle Stokes and Anthea Amos thankfully held off the challenge from the Bendigo crew rowing in a borrowed Richmond boat to seal victory in their event. Three Richmond crews fought out the final of the D grade double scull with the glory going to Sophie Robinson and Geraldine Goss. Without a moment to spare Gerry was off again this time winning the female masters single scull to round off a great day.
Another highlight of the day was the male masters coxed four who managed to tip the beloved Butcher 180 degrees after crossing the finish line. All was well when they swam it back to shore with a slightly shocked by surprisingly buoyant school girl cox who against all odds volunteered to cox for us all over again on day 2.
Nestles Rowing Club hosted Sunday’s events which kicked off with a Richmond 1-2-3 in the women’s masters double scull with the glory once again going to the pairing of Susie and Gerry. The heat proved tiring on day 2, or maybe it was the Saturday night alcohol consumption, but further Richmond success came in the women’s D grade single scull which was taken out by Rachel Button. A great race saw Karen Bell, Beverly Thornton, Lindsey Brown and Judy Doherty coxed by Mike Numa win their first regatta medals in the women’s D grade four – may they be the first of many.
A week on from HOTY and still riding high on their success the women’s eight consisting of Sophie Robinson, Karen Doggett, Sally McArthur, Geraldine Goss, Susie Ballantyne, Rachel Button, Rochelle Stokes and Anthea Amos coxed by Mike Numa powered home to victory in the Female A grade final. Sunday’s races were concluded in fitting fashion with another win for Gerry in the female masters single scull and her efforts were rewarded with the coveted presentation of oarswomen of the day.With the sun beginning to fade RRC headed back to Melbourne (some faster than others – you know who you are!) after a very triumphant weekend.
A huge thanks to Barry for organising people, boats, accommodation, a great dinner on Saturday night and a super efficient trailer mechanic. Thanks also to Justin and Sally for BRO duties, Mike as our solo dedicated cox and everyone else who took part and pitched in to help the weekend run so smoothly. Judging by the smiles and laughter that were around all weekend I think everyone would agree that Hamilton/Nestles Regatta 2010 was a roaring success!
Karen Doggett