This years RRC Presentation Night is now only a few weeks away on Friday 31st May at 7pm. So pack away the zootie and dress to impress as we celebrate all the achievements of our club members for the last year.
We’ll be honouring all of these along with our Annual awards including rowers and coxswain of the year. Club races and time trial winners will also be announced so make sure you’re there to receive your awards!
This evening is also the perfect opportunity to thank everyone who has made the year possible including coaches, coxes and volunteers. It’s the ideal time to come together and celebrate all that is great about our special club and the friends we have there.
Early bird tickets including a three course meal for $50. Tickets purchased after Friday 10th May will increase to $70 per person. Drinks will be available to purchase at the bar.
Tickets are on sale now at Trybooking. Bring along your partner or friends for what will be a special night at the clubhouse.
Club races and our latest boat naming
Club Races
Fast and furious – with lots of splash – is how four eights competed in Sunday’s Club Races. Around 20% of the competitors were in their first club races and it was great to see our DS members joining in and experiencing some racing. After the heats, crews competed in an A Final and B Final.
The winning team of the A Final was Andrew Yuile, John Carey. Alan Randall, Leigh Sullivan, Kim Begelhole, Cristian Udovicich, Imogen Aitken and Kate Riley, coxed by Stef Dudczig.
Our selectors of crews did a pretty good job, but then tried to outfox us with the use of French on the starter’s line! Derek managed to video the finals so if you want to see your form check out the Facebook posts.
BBQ
It was great to see lots of our current Learn to Row group enjoying the BBQ and deck with the rest of the club. It won’t be too long before they’re rowing in the next Club Races!
The Development Squad under the leadership of Sarah Hardy organized a fabulous BBQ. And Sarah even co-opted Matt (hubby) and Bridgette (daughter) to help out on the BBQ while we were all racing. Thanks to the salad providers… Pavel, Alysia, Emma & Matt, Amy and Sarah Hardy. Sarah even provided homemade vege/vegan burgers – yummy! The DS (including Oliver & Mikey G) also did a great job setting up the tables and cleaning up afterwards and photographing the day.
Bar server thanks go to Ally, Kathy, Dennis, Gypsy, John C, Amy and Kim B. And thanks to Gypsy for coordinating the bar.
Boat Naming
We were pleased to name the latest acquisition to our fleet – a secondhand midweight single. (It’s a Wintech 2016 Club Trainer 75-85kg ACW honeycomb kevlar/fiberglass – for those interested in the technical details).
The committee has discussed over the past year the possibility of acknowledging and honoring the traditional owners of land on which our boathouse stands and the waterways on which we row.
What better way than naming a boat which is regularly in view of our members and other river users as well as to visitors to Melbourne.
The Boonwurrung elders have given us permission to use the word “Gurrong” – which means canoe in Boonwurrung language – on this, our newest fleet acquisition.
Kathy Macrow
RRC Quiz Night Auction Items Announced
The quiz night is less than 2 weeks away – Friday 15th March – hope you have your tickets!! Just to get you excited here is a list of current auction and silent auction items (still happy to receive more Items contact [email protected])
Can’t be there on the night and see something you like – get someone else to bid on your behalf – remember all proceeds go towards some shiny new boats!
Don’t forget your tickets!!! Tickets are available through Trybooking at https://www.trybooking.com/466963
RRC Quiz Night – Friday 15 March 2019 – Tickets available now!!!
The annual RRC Trivia Night is on Friday 15th March. This year we have a swinging 60’s theme. So its time to revamp your flares, dust off your go-go boots and re-arrange your flower necklace, cause the swinging Sixties are coming back to Richmond.
Our quizmaster from afar, Justin Thomas, will again be writing the questions to see who can take home the trophy this year.
Tickets are available through Trybooking at https://www.trybooking.com/466963
We are also looking for items to auction….these could be just about anything…wine, tools, accommodation (especially if you have a holiday house), tickets to concerts, shows or galleries, hampers, sporting goods, jewellery, paintings, ….. the list is endless.
The other thing that is always a winner is the donation of your time which could include things such as Coxing (everyone needs a coxwain), coaching, handyman, babysitting, gardening, painting or if you are a professional then perhaps you could offer you service of expertise for a period of time.
Please have a think and see what you can come up with. All donations will help raise money for the club and will be put towards upgrading our fleet and equipment.
If you have any items to donate or can help out with organising the night please contact Christine with questions or donations at fundraising@richmondrowing.
Shiny new boats with deserving names
Thank you to everyone who made it down to the club on Saturday for our Melbourne Head BBQ. It was great to see so many people on water in the glorious weather and all those who came to support.
The great weather allowed us to show off and enjoy our great deck – thank you to everyone who helped organise the BBQ, prepared and cooked the food, served being the bar and generally helped out.
Once all the racing was over we celebrated with the naming of our three brand new boats. As announced at the recent AGM the Committee has purchased a coxless quad/four and a men’s and women’s double/pair. This continues our focus on expanding our fleet with new top of the range boats for our most competitive crews.
To name the boats the Committee sought the input of our members, from all the fantastic ideas it was clear there were three standout names to be recognised. All three have been involved with the club for many years as committee members, volunteers, coaches and rowers.
Our first boat to be named was the men’s double/pair. This boat is named after Anthea Amos. Anthea has been a member for 17 years, joining the club through our learn to row program. She has been an active rower for a number of year and always helps out at our ongoing learn to row sessions to pass on her wisdom. Anthea has also been a Committee member for 7 years, serving as Secretary for 6 years.
The next boat to names was the women’s double/pair named after Geraldine Goss. Geraldine has been a member for over 10 years. She is well-known as an accomplished rower, there is unlikely to be a regatta she hasn’t won and her name is well represented on the clubs honour boards. Whenever possible she also provides coaching to our single scullers to improve their skills. In addition she has been a committee member for 4 years, serving as Fundraising Coordinator and Vice President.
Finally, our new coxless quad/four was name for Barry Campbell. What can I say about Barry, as Captain he tirelessly works to maintain our fleet, source new equipment and improve the rowing shed. Whenever there is a problem with equipment he is there to provide advice. He is now in his 9th year as captain so far and continues to excel in the role. Also a competitive rower in his day, he has been seen on the water more frequently of late, possibly due to newer boats requiring less maintenance…..
Congratulations to Anthea, Geraldine and Barry. It is a well deserved honour for all of you, thank you for all your hard work on behalf of Richmond Rowing Club.
Spring training camp 2018
After checking the percentage chance of rain every hour (possibly every five minutes) during the week before, the panic was over when we arrived in glorious sunshine. I got into a single and started to hesitantly row out from the safety near the shed onto the lake. I firstly thought I’d just head to the middle before getting a call from Tim on the bank to not go so far away (I assume due to the high likeliness of my falling in!), so I made my way to the very impressive 2km course. After bumping into a few buoys on my way in, I calmly splashed my way down to the finish trying to keep up with the other girls. Definitely the most professional course I’ve ever seen – I truly felt the Olympics were only a stroke away!
Had a lovely outing in a double which was more successful than my single (mostly because I wasn’t steering), before heading off to dinner at Nagambie Rowing Club. Had a great catch up with some new rowing buddies till they turned off all the lights which I think was our cue to leave. You know that you’re enjoying it when you don’t realise that everyone else in the pub has left! Back for an early night before an early start (which apparently was a lie in compared to last year!).
Tim helping me rig a single
Had a lovely outing in a double which was more successful than my single (mostly because I wasn’t steering), before heading off to dinner at Nagambie Rowing Club. Had a great catch up with some new rowing buddies till they turned off all the lights which I think was our cue to leave. You know that you’re enjoying it when you don’t realise that everyone else in the pub has left! Back for an early night before an early start (which apparently was a lie in compared to last year!).
Tim helping me rig a single
An impressive eight getting coachingSo 7am Saturday we got up, put some eights together, and got on the water to row up the beautiful Goulburn river. Mixing the crews up I got into another eight going up and down the course, and thanks to Kathy had my first experience lying down in a rowing boat! After munching down on a lovely lunch (thanks Zoay) and probably too much cake, we headed off in a four to take the course with Dave coxing.
Onto Saturday night’s AMAZING bbq and the infamous box biting championships (which I had being getting demonstrations of and tips for, including the importance of footwear choices and not wearing tight trousers, throughout camp). The aim of the game is to pick up a beer box with your teeth, having hopped at least three steps into the middle of a circle, while still standing on one leg. The box would then get slowly smaller being expertly cut by Michael. I was very proud that I made it through the first round but not even Charlotte and Kat could beat the human pretzel, aka Keith. Congratulations! So after a wild game of Exploding Kittens (thanks Amy), it was off for a not so early night but still early in the general scheme of things. Rowing is seriously affecting my body clock!

View of sunrise from our cabin
Huddling round the fire at the bbq
Keith’s winning moves at box biting
Congratulations Keith!
Playing exploding kittens in cabin 42Two outings later we were taking all the boats apart again and packing them all onto the trailers to head back to town. After washing the boats and putting them all away it was off home for the earliest night of the weekend! Overall I am definitely a lot better at rowing, made lots of new friends and got to show off my very blistered hands to my colleagues on Monday (I’m still not sure why I did that – I’m not sure they appreciated it!)
Thank you to everyone who helped organise camp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lucia Denniss
Further fleet investment announced at the 2018 AGM
The Richmond Rowing Club Annual General Meeting was held at the club on Saturday 28th July 2017. It was an opportunity for club members to come together, hear from the Committee about the clubs operations over the past year. It was great to see so many members present on the day.
Thank you to all Committee members for their significant contributions through the year. A brief summary of the year’s activities is provided below; the full Annual Report including all Committee member reports is attached RRC Annual Report 2017/18
Membership Growth – During the year, we increased the number of our financial members from 125 to 142 at 31 May 2018, a 14% increase. This achievement was through a combination of attracting new members and retaining existing members.
In particular, we increased the number of Learn to Row courses to four and scheduled three courses on summer evenings resulting in increased retention of Learn to Row participants. Our Development Squad is maintaining good numbers with dedicated coaching focused on improving their skill levels. We plan to continue this in 2018/19, continuing our Learn to Row program and transitioning Development Squad rowers into the competitive and social rowing squads.
Demonstrate Club Success on the Water – As a major step forward for the club, we engaged our first paid head coach resulting in focused training programs, squad structure, selection criteria and focused coaching. This has contributed to some excellent regatta performances through the year. Although Basil has returned to the UK, we have appointed Matt Wilson as our Head Coach for the coming year – he will be starting with us in early August.
Member Engagement – The club runs a number of events to bring club members together, from our Training Camp and regular circuit sessions, to social events like Quiz Night and New Years Eve. In 2017/18 we held 6 successful major events at the club and a number of smaller events.
The Committee plans to continue this level of events in the current year. This takes a significant effort to arrange and we are always looking for volunteers to assist. Our club would not be able to operate without all of our members who volunteer their time in so many ways. As we look towards the coming year, we will be asking for more help and creating more volunteer roles to take some of the pressure of the usual suspects. If you have a special skill or would like to help regularly, please reach out to the Committee as we would love your support.
Governance and Finance – The clubs finances remain strong, underpinned by income from hiring our amazing venue. This allows us to invest in the rowing program, but we must also continue to invest in our facilities, to generate this revenue. This year we refurbished the bar and kitchen to bringing it up to the standard of the rest of the club.
During the year, we also invested heavily in our fleet and equipment, christening both a men’s and women’s brand new top of the line Sykes quad/four and investing significantly in our refurbished gym. We were also able to purchase a new set of oars for the men’s eight and pair, whilst benefiting from a VicHealth Active Club Grant for a set of sculling oars.
In addition, the Committee is pleased to announce we have ordered 3 more brand new boats to improve our fleet with a men’s and women’s double/pair and a coxless quad for our most competitive crews. These additions will also allow other crews greater access to better quality boats as we replace our oldest boats in our fleet.
A major part of the AGM is to elect a new Committee and saying farewell to any departing members from the Committee.
Geraldine Goss, our outgoing Vice-President has been a member of the Committee for four years, the last three years as Vice-President and Fundraising Coordinator before that. During this time, she has supported two different Presidents and numerous Committee members. She has been active within the Fleet subcommittee and in considering Richmond’s licensing requirements. Whilst at the same time she has been incredibly successful as a rower. Thank you for all your assistance.
Laurent Demay steps down from the position of ordinary member having contributed strongly over the past year with new member communications and fundraising activities.
The new committee for the 2018-19 season consists of:
President – Jon Roberts
Vice-President – Aline Dejaeger
Secretary – Kim Begelhole
Treasurer – Kathy Macrow
Captain of Boats – Barry Campbell
Head of Rowing – Tim Evans
Facilities Coordinator – Lucy Crunden
Fundraising Coordinator – Christine Sullivan
Two ordinary members – Yashwini Vegi, Stefanie Dudczig
Congratulations and welcome to our newest Committee members, Kim Belgelhole and Stefanie Dudczig.
Following the conclusion of the AGM we took to the water for some fun with club races. With a change in formal to get us ready for Head Season, the races were a time trial format from the Island to the Club. Congratulations to all those who took part.
Thank you to everyone who helped with the bbq and bar afterwards, especially Gypsy, John and Laurent for preparing the food and Karin and Dennis for looking after the BBQ.
Reminder RRC Strategic Planning Session – 7 July 10am to 12pm
Don’t forget the Richmond Rowing Club Strategic Planning Session, running from 10am to 12pm on 7 July at the club.
Full details are on the earlier blog post. I’m looking forward to seeing as many people there as possible.
Register your interest on the Facebook event or let me know if you are planning on attending. If you can’t attend and have any feedback please drop me an email or see me at the club.
http://3.25.77.84/2018/05/21/strategic-planning-session-7-july-2018/
https://www.facebook.com/events/204966720336055/
RRC Presentation Night Awards 2017/18
Thank you to all of the RRC members and guests who came along to celebrate another successful season at our recent Presentation Night. It was a great night with lots of new and old faces reflecting on the efforts and success throughout the year. Thank you to the “Doghouse Four” for arranging the evening of BLING, with some amazing decorations and videos along with a cameo appearance on the video from Basil with his Richmond zootie.
We also congratulated our Male and Female Club and Masters rowers of 2017/18 year determined through participation and success at regattas, club races and club time trials. The winners on the evening were:
- Mal Scott Award – Male Club Rower of the Year – Jon Roberts
- John Sawyer – Female Club Rower of the Year – Shern Timmins
- Male Masters Rower of the Year – Leigh Sullivan
- Female Masters Rower of the Year – Michelle Joy
The Don Edwards, Cox of the year award was presented to Derek Begg.
The President’s Award was presented to Kathy Macrow for her commitment to Richmond Rowing Club, truly embodying the spirit of our club through all she does from coxing to coaching to administration over a number of years.
For the first year we christened the Mixed Quad Round the Island time trial as the Hendley Family Mixed Quad Time Trial with a commemorative plaque commissioned to record the winners names which will be maintained in the gym. Rod Hendley and Judy Hendley were present for the awarding of the inaugural award to Aline Dejaegher, Shern Timmins, John Carey, Jon Roberts and Stef Dudczig (coxswain).
The male coxed four Round the Island time trial was won by Alan Randall, Jon Roberts, Andrew Yuile, John Carey and Stef Dudczig (coxswain).
The female coxed four Round the Island time trial was won by Edwina Griffiths, Jodie Naisbitt, Shern Timmins, Yashaswini Vegi and Derek Begg (coxswain).
A number of other awards were presented on the night including:
- Best and Furriest – Stef Dudzcig
- Eye of the Tiger Award – Doghouse Four (Kim Begelhole, Ray O’Shae, Alex Reid, Rob Gordon)
- Captains Award – Doghouse Four (Kim Begelhole, Ray O’Shae, Alex Reid, Rob Gordon)
Tim Evans
Head of Rowing
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!