For those of you who have competed at a regatta over the past decade, you are only too aware of the value that our well-loved tent brings us. Whether it is the heat, or rain, the tent is one of our most valued assets. A decade ago, it was also one of our best promotional items, with Richmond proudly displaying the best tent at any regatta we attended. Since then, most other clubs have followed Richmond’s lead and now have more impressive tents. And over the years, Richmond’s well-loved tent is starting to show the impact of all that love.
Richmond is a club on the go, with plans for fleet turnover and membership growth. And we need to demonstrate this to the rest of the rowing committee by attending regattas; by wining on water, and being the most impressive off-water. By having a tent which shows everyone at a regatta that we are a club to be reckoned with; a club not only with the resources to have the best, but also knows that looking after our members at a regatta is smart and provides us with the best opportunity to win on water.
But a tent like this isn’t cheap – and we don’t want to compromise of the awesomeness of a new tent. The committee has agreed that next year’s funding goal will be to replace our tent, but I don’t want to wait until the end of next season before seeing a new tent. I’m hoping that we can get a start on raising a few dollars so we can convince the club to purchase the tent sooner than later. If we can quickly raise half the cost of a new tent, then this should be enough to warrant purchasing the tent for the start of the season, with the promise that we can raise the remaining during the rest of the year.
And how can we do this? Given that we have had 75 different individuals represent Richmond over the past year, if they all made a small tax deductible donation to our Fleet Renewal Fund at the Australia Sports Foundation, then we will be well on our way. The ASF is a brilliant program which allows sporting clubs like Richmond to raise money via tax deductible donations. Richmond has been running our Fleet Renewal Appeal now for a number of years, and has been vital for the renewal of the club’s fleet in the past.
So, how about a target of 50 people donating $50 each (remember, that is Tax deductible) as a start. This will raise us $2,500 towards a new tent, which will be more than half way. We get half way, and then we can convince the club to order the new tent at the start of the season instead of the end.
So let’s do it! I’m launching the “50 x 50” Project – to goal to raise $2,500 by 30 June for Richmond to have the most impressive tent at a regatta next season! Help the club today by donating $50 at https://asf.org.au/projects/richmond-rowing-club/new-club-tent/.
Remember its tax deductible so you are welcome to donate a little more if you can!
Thank You!
Tim Evans
Head of Rowing
RRC AGM 10am Saturday 28th July – followed by Club Races and BBQ
Richmond Rowing Club’s Annual General Meeting will be held at the clubhouse on Saturday 28th July at 10 am, followed by club races and a BBQ for lunch when we will also be opening the bar. During the AGM, the committee members will briefly go through some of the highlights of the year, as well as a summary of the club’s financial situation and the main achievements compared to the goals we set out last year. This usually takes less than an hour and we warmly invite all members of the club to attend.
The AGM is also the opportunity to elect new members to the Committee and all positions are available for re-election. To present yourself, the are required to have been a member of the club for more than 2 years and are willing to help out with the club’s organisation. If you are interested, feel free to chat to any of the current Committee members to get some more background information. The Committee positions are:
- President
- Vice-President
- Treasurer
- Secretary
- Head of Rowing
- Captain of Boats
- Fundraising Coordinator
- Facilities Coordinator
- Ordinary Member (two ordinary member positions are available which assist with a number of areas including New Member Coordination and Learn To Row Coordination)
If you wish to present yourself for election, please complete a nomination form (found on the documents page of our website) and submit it to the secretary at least 14 days prior to the meeting (BEFORE 13th July).
It should be a fun day combining some formal business with splashing around for club races, and a nice BBQ to top it off. The bar will also be open for refreshments at usual club prices.
Please show your support for the Committee and your Club by attending the AGM.
Nomination for Office Bearer July 2018
Strategic Planning Session – 7 July 2018
As a club, through the quieter Winter months, it is important we reflect upon the season gone and look towards the 2018/19 season. To do this we plan to hold 2 feedback/planning sessions:
- Rowing season review – Tim will be running a post rowing season feedback session on Thursday 14th June from 6.30pm to 7.30pm to bring all our rowers together to consider our rowing successes and areas to target for improvement next season.
- Strategic planning session – I will be facilitating a short strategic planning session. This will be more focused on the non rowing aspects of the club given we are a community managed volunteer organisation .
I would like to invite all our members to attend this strategic planning session to be held on Saturday 7th July at the boathouse from 10am-12pm. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a member, what experiences you have or what you think you can contribute everyone is welcome (even if you don’t say a word) and its an ideal time to just find out a little more about what makes Richmond the club it is and how you can contribute to it.
We’re aiming to keep it very focused and to encourage lots of people to attend it won’t take up your whole weekend – just a few hours on Saturday morning after Winter sculling. In advance of the session here is some background for our discussion, both the mission statement and the 5 year club objectives which were agree during last years planning session.
Firstly RRC’s mission statement:
“Richmond Rowing Club has a long proud history as an active and competitive, volunteer managed rowing club. We will continue to provide opportunities to participate, develop and compete in an inclusive, friendly environment, balancing lifestyle and rowing.”
5 year objectives for the club set in 2017:
- Membership Growth – Grow to over 200 members in five years
- Demonstrate Club Success on the Water – Place in the top 5 of the RV Club Champion premiership
- Member Engagement – Engage members through vibrant off water events and a culture of volunteering
- Governance and Finance – To be able to independently finance fleet renewal and building improvement
The focus of the session will on Membership Growth and Member Engagement, considering what we have achieved over the past year, what we want to achieve in coming years along with how we will do it. Hopefully coming out of the session we will be able to formulate goals, objectives and action plans to help us achieve them.
Any questions, comments, suggestions let me know, [email protected]
Australian Masters Championship 2018
The Australian Masters Championships which end the season were this year held in the beautiful albeit somewhat cold and windy state of Tasmania. A small contingent of Richmond rowers made the trip across Bass Strait to take on the best masters rowers from around the country at Lake Barrington from the 10th-13th May.
The first morning brought with it plenty of rain but going forward the sun would shine and we would be treated to a stunning location and a memorable few days to experience the great spirit and competitive nature of a national masters championship. Thanks to Barry, our Tasmanian captain, pulling in a few favours we were able to borrow boats from some local clubs and RRC was represented in more than 20 different events.
There was coxing success for Dennis Henry on Day 1 picking up a gold with the Mixed Masters E4+ and Ray Dennis started his medal haul with a win in the Mens Masters I4-. Over the four day event Ray Dennis would go on to collect a total of 7 gold medals in a variety of eights, fours, pairs and one little double. With his highlight being a grudge match in the J-L pair (average age of crew >80) in which he and Derrick Wilson from Banks came out of victorious.
The Women’s Masters A four and quad were desperately disappointed to have lost their resident Tasmanian Zoe Maxwell from the crew a few weeks out from the championships to pneumonia but were delighted to welcome Sarah Houghton into the crew and with the experience of masters states and a couple of weeks of training behind them there was no stopping them! Victory in the heat helped grow confidence and an awesome race leading from start to finish in the final rewarded Michelle Joy, Karen Doggett, Kate Dyball and Sarah Houghton with a gold medal and the extra bonus of the fastest club crew with the majority of our competitors being made up of composite crews formed from members across multiple clubs. Despite headwinds that threatened to prevent anyone rowing down the course on Saturday they backed up the quad win with a victory in the coxed four as well again picking up the club crew medal joined by cox Christine Sullivan.
Christine continued the Richmond medal success combining with Leigh Sullivan, Lindsey Brown and Michael Heaton-Harris (Corio Bay) to pick up a bronze medal in the Mixed Masters C Quad. Further doubles, fours and eights would compete across the weekend in some great races many of which making finals but unfortunately missing out on more medals.
With just 9 RRC rowers taking part we punched well above our weight scoring 68 points in the club championship placing us 24th out of 88 clubs for the whole competition, but even putting the rowing aside the food and the wine on offer in Tasmania made the trip a huge success. Thanks to everyone who helped out by organising entries and boats, coxing and coaching through training sessions and generally being an awesome support crew through the power of social media. The RRC Masters Tigers had a great end to the season.
Karen Doggett
RRC adopts Rowing Victoria’s Child Safe Policy
On 1st January 2017, The Child Safe Standards were made law. The Standards now apply to all sporting organizations that operate and provide sporting services to children within Victoria.
It is important we understand our obligations to be a child safe club, specifically given our ongoing relationship with MLC, our tenant. RRC will not tolerate abuse of any sort whether that is within the club itself or in the boathouse or at rowing events. As a result the Committee has adopted Rowing Victoria’s Child Safe Policy and Child Safe Code of Conduct and would like to take this opportunity to communicate it to the members.
Rowing Victoria Child Safe Policy
Rowing Victoria Child Safe Code of Conduct
The aim of Rowing Victoria Child Safe Policy and the Code of Conduct is to protect children and reduce any opportunities for abuse or harm to occur, and if allegations are raised in relation to child abuse, to ensure that the allegations are properly addressed.
All Richmond Rowing Club Members are responsible for promoting the safety and wellbeing of children and young people by adhering to the RRC Code of Conduct, the RV Child Safe Policy and the RV Child Safe Code of Conduct.
Given the Rowing Victoria requirement for all Boat Race Officials (BRO’s) to have current Working with Children Check certificates we also encourage all our members to obtain Working with Children Checks. We are required to provide a BRO for every regatta we attend as a club, so we cannot ignore this requirement. They are available free at the following website, once complete please provide the details to our Secretary ([email protected]) for including on our membership database.
http://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/
We have also considered and implemented Rowing Victoria’s Child Safe Policy (Standards) as follows:
Standard 1: Strategies to embed an organizational culture of child safety, especially through, but not limited to, effective leadership arrangements – The RRC Committee has adopted Rowing Victoria’s Child Safe Policy and Child Safe Code of Conduct. We encourage our coaches to obtain Working with Children Checks. In the situation where we have active under 18 members we require there to be a family member or coach with a Working with Children Check present at all times.
Standard 2: A child safe policy or statement of commitment to child safety – RRC has adopted the RV Child Safe Policy
Standard 3: A code of conduct that establishes clear expectations for appropriate behaviour with children – RRC’s Code of Conduct and the RV Child Safe Code of Conduct establishes this expectation.
Standard 4: Screening, supervision, training and other human resources practices that reduce the risk of child abuse by new and existing personnel – We encourage our coaches to obtain Working with Children Checks. In the situation where we have active under 18 members we require there to be a family member or coach with a Working with Children Check present at all times
Standard 5: Processes for responding to and reporting suspected child abuse – RRC has adopted the RV Child Safe Policy which addressed this requirement
Standard 6: Strategies to identify and reduce or remove risks of child abuse – RRC encourages our coaches to obtain Working with Children Checks. In the situation where we have active under 18 members we require there to be a family member or coach with a Working with Children Check present at all times.
Standard 7: Strategies to promote the participation and empowerment of children – We have adopted the RV Child Safety Policy. We have also partnered with MLC as our tenant, who promote participation in rowing to children.
Victorian Masters State Championships 2018
written by Stefanie Dudczig
SATURDAY
It was a sunny 12.3 degree celsius Saturday morning (it felt more like 6.2) when we arrived at Lake Nagambie for this years Rowing Victoria State Masters Championships. The weather was actually very kind to us with lots of sunshine and warmer temperatures later on in the day.
The racing started off with the Mixed Masters A-B coxed Four consisting of Morgan, Lindsey, Allan and John C., coxed by Derek. They crossed the finish line ahead of Powerhouse by 4 seconds, winning the first (and unfortunately only) Gold Medal for Richmond.
A mentionable race, but no medal involved, was the Male Masters C Eight against Cardinals. A club I’ve never heard of before but according to Kim they had crew members that rowed at the 1980, 1989 and 1991 National Championships in the Men’s Youth Four and Youth Eight.
The boys of our Eight (Dennis, Jon R., Allan, John C., Kim, Alex, Ray, Rob, coxed by me) did well and gave everything, but were unfortunately no match for them. Later we found out that the Cardinal Crew were only training for 14 months!!!!! prior to this event. We had 14 minutes to the start line and a borrowed boat with more spiders than people in it.
Another medal for Richmond came from the crew of Denis, Phil, Guy and Leigh, coxed by Christine in the Male Masters E coxed Four. They secured themselves a Bronze medal beating Bairnsdale and Melbourne Argonauts Composite crews.
More strong performances of Richmond crews included:
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Christine, Morgan, Guy, Leigh coxed by Denis in the Mixed C Four
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the Female Masters Club Eight with Yash, Jodie, Dana, Sarah, Christine, Morgan, Lindsey, Cat (Note: she just came to Nagambie for this race! Thumbs up!) and Derek (cox) trying to make up a 19 second handicap.
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Male Masters Club Fours: Richmond-1 with Allan, Jon, Dennis, John, me (cox) and Richmond-2 with Kim, Alex, Ray, Rob and coxed by Shern (who also just came up for this race…. and the Tahbilk winery).
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Karen and Michelle making it to the Final in the Female Masters A-B double scull
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Female Masters A-B coxed Four with Sarah, Dana, Jodie, Yash and Derek (cox)
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Female Masters Club Quad Scull: Richmond-1 with Michelle, Karen, Kate, Lindsey and Richmond-2 with Sarah, Dana, Jodie, Yash, coxed by Christine.
After a successful race day, Rowing Victoria invited everyone for free drinks to the finish line. They definitely didn’t spare on beers, wine and bubblies. Whilst most drove back to Melbourne for the night, some stayed at the Big4 caravan park in Seymour taking advantage of the walking distance to the Pub and the inflated jumping pillow after 6pm.
SUNDAY
More racing followed on Sunday. It wasn’t cold, it was freezing!!! I finally gave up on squeezing my zootie over 10 layers and decided, that a black jumper with Richmond on the back was more appropriate than a bright orange jacked one of the other coxes were wearing. The sun was shining again, but this time with a bad cross wind. This made attaching the stern to the boatholders at the startline and staying in a straight line for the start quite difficult. Thanks to all the bow and 2 seat people for their endless tapping and backing.
The day started well with the girls of the Female Masters A-B Quad Scull (Michelle, Karen, Kate and Sarah winning) picking up silver, missing out on gold to the Victorian Nationals team.
The Male Masters A-B coxed Four (Allan, Jon R., Dennis, John C., coxed by me) got Bronze by beating the second boat of the Argonauts, leaving Gold to Power House and Silver to the Argonauts first boat.
Bronze also for the Female Masters Club Four (Michelle, Karen, Kate, Sarah, coxed by Denis H). Their race had one boat on GO (Latrobe University G crew) and 7 crews with a 25 – 30s handicap. Our girls came solid third with only 1 second behind Melbourne University in second and 5 seconds behind Power House in first leaving two Melbourne crews, 2 Latrobe crews and Yarra Yarra behind.
The probably most exciting and nerve-wracking race was the Mixed Masters A-B Eight. Michelle in stoke seat lead Karen, Kate, Sarah, Allan, Jon R., Dennis, John C and myself (cox) to a silver medal. Whilst sitting just slightly behind Melbourne for the first 600m of the race Michelle found the turbo button that made us zoom past them in the last 300m finishing in second place 4 seconds ahead of them. You should have seen their faces… shocked to see the Richmond crew overtaking them. Well done everyone!
A last bling for the day came from the composite crew with Latrobe University. The Mixed Masters F Eight with Leigh, Guy, Phil and Denis won silver beating a Argonauts composite crew by 5 second.
More great performances came from the following crews:
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Male Masters E quad scull with Leigh, Guy, Denis and Phil
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Male Masters A-B Eight (Dennis, Jon R., Allan, John C., Tim, Kim, Ray, Rob, coxed by me)
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Male Masters Club Quad Scull (Kim, Alex, Ray, Rob coxed by Christine)
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Female Masters A-B pair (Lindsey and Morgan)
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Male Masters C coxed Four (Allan, Jon R., Tim and Dennis coxed by myself). This boy’s did a fabulous job staying next to Power House of the start. It looked promising until the steam started to run out after 250m…..
Check out all results, crews, handicaps and times here: https://vic.rowingmanager.com/
GENERAL COMMENTS and THANK YOUs
Kim our Richmond cameraman on site, was full in action taking footage of the mens Eight and Men’s four whilst racing. I’m pretty sure that we will see some of the actions shots at our soon upcoming presentation night.
Denis Henry is the man with the most medals won at this Regatta (silver and bronze for coxing, silver and bronze for rowing).
Allan and John C. managed to collect the complete set (one of each: gold, silver and bronze).
Big “Thank you” goes to:
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Phil, Kim and Christine for volunteering as Boat holders at the start line. Kim unfortunately missed out on this unique job as there were more than enough people in his session.
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Leigh for pulling the trailer to Nagambie and back
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Tim and Barry for organizing boats, crews, people and for being there for us.
Ahhh… and I nearly forgot one of the highlights of the whole Regatta: the BBQ food van. OMG! This brisket and pulled pork burgers were AMAZING! Ask John C. for the full tasting experience as he managed to sample everything. And I think we all agreed that the pulled pork loaded potato was the winner of the whole menu. We are looking forward to see them again at future regattas.
2017-2018 Presentation Night – Tickets now available
2017-2018 Presentation Night – Saturday 26th May – from 7:00pm
Well folks, it’s that time of the year again. The 2017-2018 Richmond Rowing Club presentation night! As the season draws to an end, we can look back fondly on all that has happened, the races we have rowed in, the ergos we have growled at and the circuit training sessions we have grimaced in. What better place to do that, than at the presentation night.
The night will be themed, Gold’n Yellow & BLING! So in order to get in, you must dress to impress with that in mind. Partners, friends and relatives all welcome.
Held again at the club house, it is your opportunity to join with your fellow rowers and celebrate a cracking season. There will be a sumptuous three course meal and the bar will be open for drinks. There will be a short video shown that will feature many of us, and the question will be answered….what noise does a rower make! We will have people to honour, awards to present, rowers and coxes and time trial winners to recognise and, of course, our hard working and diligent coaches to thank.
So mark the date in your calendar, and click on this link to get to the Try-booking page to secure your tickets now. Tickets will be $45 each, same price as last year – what a bargain!
Take note – ticket bookings will close on Monday 21st May so that we can provide numbers to the caterers.
Hope to see you all there.
Kim Begelhole
Geelong Masters Regatta 2018
April 7th marked the start of the 2018 Masters season. The rowing Gods put on an amazing show of glorious weather.
The racing for Richmond started off with Rob in the single scull. Next up was the Men’s Coxed four competition with two Richmond teams head to head. In the end it was Jon, Dennis, Tim and Allan Coxed by Stef who managed to beat Phil, Denis, Guy and Leigh Coxed by Christine by less than 1 second.
The first medal for the club came when Zoe, Karen, Michelle and Kate Coxed by Derek beat their competition during the Coxed four. Follow up medals for all continued during the doubles races of Zoe and Karen, and Michelle with Kate. The superstar team also claimed gold for their performance in their quad race, overcoming a handicap of 9 seconds to still win by a margin of 14 seconds.
Another valiant effort from Yash, Jodie, Sarah and Dana Coxed by Derek in their quad scull event. However, the quad event on everyone’s agenda to watch was Dana, Shern, myself and Yash Coxed by Stef. After a textbook smooth entry into the boat we were off, managing to secure 2nd position out of a 2 boat race.
Rounding out the competition was our mixed eight boat achieving 3rd containing Rob, Phil, Christine, Sarah, Jodie, Anthea, Guy and Leigh, Coxed by Denis.
Well done to all that competed and thanks to our wonderful coxes, boat towers and riggers.
The next regatta for the season was to be Ballarat the following Saturday the 14th. However, it was all over before we’d loaded 2 boats, the club choosing to withdraw due to the wild weather on Friday night. A fantastic decision seeing as the event was officially cancelled early Saturday morning.
Now on to States at Nagambie!
Amy Catlin (first regatta at Geelong!!!)
College rowers around the club in April
Training for the University of Melbourne intercollegiate regatta has commenced culminating with the regatta day on the 28th of April.
It’s worth noting that whilst some crews are ex-school rowers with plenty of experience many have never rowed before and will be getting a crash course in sweep rowing before competing in that first regatta in two weeks.
This year RRC has leased all of our 8’s out to the college crews. The crews are expected to be training regularly on weekday mornings and occasionally over the weekend or other times. However the 8’s will be available to us as part of our regular training sessions in the evenings (Tuesday and Thursday) and on Sunday morning.
With RRC and MLC leasing fleet to the intercollegiate rowing this year there will be a number of new faces around the club over the next 2 weeks when you add rowers, coxswains, coaches, reserves and friends. That’s a lot of potential new members so make them feel welcome.
They have been reminded to use the log book but even RRC’s experienced members forget sometimes, so check the boats are all on the racks before you lock the RRC shed up.
More information on the intercollegiate various sports including rowing can be found here:
http://www.sport.unimelb.edu.
Don't forget your trivia night tickets – it's this Saturday!!!
Our annual RRC trivia night is this Saturday, starting at 7pm. The theme for this year’s quiz is Arabian Nights – so don’t forget your costume!
Click on this link for tickets through Trybooking. Prices are $25 per person or $225 for a table of 10.
The one and only Justin Thomas has prepared the quiz questions from the UK with help of Aline Dejaegher and Simon Crunden confirmed to MC the evening with Derek Begg as our auctioneer for the night.
It’s always a great night and you can bring along your friends, colleagues and family to enjoy each other’s company at the club. The event is BYO food, with drinks at bar prices. Prizes for winning team and best dressed, and don’t forget to decorate your table!