I can’t really think of a new and original way to write “the alarm went off at the crack of dawn and I questioned my sanity in choosing the sport of rowing” but it did. And I did.
Once again the water at Lake Wendouree was calm, as seems to have been a pleasant trend this season, contrary to the whitecaps and seven seas esq swells and waves I was told to prepare for.
Generally speaking it was a day of strong seconds and tough thirds. A few highlights:
The first races were the entire fleet of quads, in mixed races. Our Black and Yellow dominated colour wise and there was a close second, alas perhaps we scared the opposition into winning. Good form and spirit shown by all. We had Chris, Jen, Leigh and Guy (2nd); and Theresa, Morgan, Barry and Andrew (4th); and Karin, Rob, Hannah and Evert. Laurent and Derek have some competition with up and coming coxes Shern and Erin.
Michelle and Sarah faced off in their singles with Michelle gracefully taking the lead with exceptional technique and a one second headstart. She won by around 200m.
The “novice” boys had a win- Laurent, Guy, Ray, and Allan, Coxed by Shern showed all the other novice crews how it’s done. No prior rowing experience of course just naturally gifted athletes!
The Mens pair of Matt and Jon were off 26 seconds. They gracefully finished the race. To be fair they had it rough, competing against a bronze medal Olympian.
The side wind pick up and despite best efforts it’s not surprising when waiting for 14 seconds, or even 3 seconds the boats drift across and even less surprising/ expected is the grumpy official carry on. Tap it forward once. Now back it. Get in your lane. Check it there. Back it up. Line up. All the coxwains did a brilliant job navigating the start line up and manoeuvring us in relatively straight lines down the course
Special thanks to Leigh for towing the trailer up and Christine for organising us all with bow numbers and Barry for organising the boats
We missed our mighty president and head of rowing
Sarah Houghton
