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Just a reminder that this weekend is the last Saturday in July and we will be hosting our Annual General Meeting at the boathouse from midday.
I hope to see many of you there and it will be followed by a boat naming ceremony for our recent double purchase and a social gathering upstairs in the boathouse with a bbq and the bar open. Please see the attached Agenda AGM 30 July 2016 for the schedule of the meeting on Saturday.
Important business for the meeting is the presentation of the last years reports and financial statements for the association. We also have the task of electing the new committee for the upcoming year and I would like to highlight that we have the position of Fundraising co-ordinator vacant with no member nominating for this role and I will be calling to the floor for anyone wishing to stand, so I encourage you to think about this opportunity and how you can help give back to the club. If you are potentially interested and would like to speak to me before the AGM to find out more about this particular role and the commitment required to be a committee member I would be happy to speak to you and you can contact me via email, [email protected].
Best wishes,
Karen Doggett
Richmond Rowing Club President

As many rowers have indicated they will be driving up to Nagambie on Friday the thirteenth (queue spooky music) Boat loading has been moved to Thursday the 12th and later to 7.30 pm to accommodate one last training row.
To make this a fast load after training could those arriving at 6 pm help push the trailer down to the club so we can start loading as soon as possible.
The Nagambie weather forecast looks a pleasant 19-21 degrees Sat and Sun.
Thanks all

We have a busy day at the boathouse tomorrow with the regatta and a wedding reception in the evening. The lucky couple have started to set up for their reception tonight so please can I ask that if it looks like decorations / furniture have been already set up for the function, that you please leave them as they are and stay out of the hall area if it has been set up.
Our cleaners will be coming through at about 11am. Please would you help us keep the boathouse clean and tidy by ensuring you put rowing gear in the changerooms and not leaving any rubbish or water bottles lying around.
The caterers and other suppliers will start to drop off things from 4pm tomorrow. There will be no access to the hall, classroom and terrace from that time.
Many thanks for your help. Next year we will leave Henley Regatta day free of venue hires!

Our venue hires have been very successful in earning the club the money to spend on refitting the boat bays, the purchase of new boats and equipment, our club mentor and improving our general club finances, enabling us to continue to offer reasonable membership fees. It is our most significant income stream.
When we hire out the boathouse as a venue we always let the hirer know that we are an active club, but that our rowers will restrict their activities to the changerooms and gymnasium and will not interrupt or disrupt the event in any way.
Please ensure that when a venue hire is happening you stick to this and do not use the corridor as a training or social area. We do not wish to jeopardise our venue hire revenue by impacting on events.
Thank you to everyone for their consideration.

Our venue hires have been very busy at the start of the year with the boathouse being well used for conferences, training courses and a wedding.
Unusually we have a venue hire this Sunday so if you are not going to Barwon regatta, please be aware that the venue hire is using the hall and terrace areas this Sunday with set up from 9am and the actual function starting at midday.
On Wednesday it is the Herald Sun Jayco Bike Tour and there will be very limited access to the boathouse area. If you are training on Wednesday, please be aware that RRC is the coordination centre for the event from 7am to 9pm and the hall and classroom areas will be being used during these times. There will also be their volunteers coming and going during these times so the boathouse will be quite busy.
Thanks to everyone for their consideration.
Lucy

At the season launch we discussed briefly the use of training heart rate zones: when you work out using a heart-rate monitor, you’ll aim to work out within a specific zone. Training within a zone means working within a particular percentage of your maximum heart rate during the workout—for example, 65 to 80 percent for most rows and 90 percent or more as you blaze to a fast race finish. For most of your workouts, your heart rate should fall into zone 1 (warmup/warmdown) or 2.
You can get an estimate of your maximum heart rate using the formula of 220 minus your age. (Note: this may overestimate the max heart rate for women: more precisely it has been found that the mean peak heart rate for women = 206 – (0.88 x age)).
Continue reading “Training heart rate zones”

We have a conference booked in for this week. They are setting up today and will be in conference from Tuesday to Friday from 8.30am – 5pm. If you are at the boathouse during these times, you can use the gym and changerooms as usual but please ensure we do not disturb the conference.
In the evenings, please leave all furniture in the hall and classroom where it is so when the hirers come in the next day it is ready for them.
Many thanks for everyone’s help with this.

Come down this Sunday at 9am to find out more about plans for rowing this coming season.
We would like all rowers to come down as the coaches will be presenting how training will be organised for Winter and the racing seasons. It will be your chance to ask questions and let coaches know what you would like to do next season.
Stay for the start of Winter Training at 10am. Keep your fingers crossed for sunshine.
Enjoy brunch after your training session, from 11.30am and catch up with friends who have been having a break from rowing.
If you are able to help cook bacon and sausages for brunch or help put out and serve food, please let Lucy know ([email protected]). Thanks!

Hi Everyone,
We’ve just completed a packed Learn to Row course with 21 people taking part. A massive thank you to all the volunteers from the club who came down to help out!
It was a huge success and it looks like we’re going to end up with a new DS with somewhere between 12 – 20 rowers!
To help with resourcing (and boats) I have planned for the DS to train on Wednesday Evenings and a double Session on Saturday mornings avoiding likely squad training times. I’m now looking for volunteers to help coach /cox the crews on these days. I’m looking for volunteers who can help:
– Regularly (e.g. 1 or more sessions per week)
– Semi – regularly (e.g. 1 session a fortnight)
– Given period (i.e. for one week only, a single day, once a month or whatever every little will help)
It’s a great opportunity to practice coxing and improve your confidence if you’ve not done a lot but also gives an opportunity if you’re an existing rower who has considered coaching a great way to transition from Rower to Coach without impacting your own existing training schedule.  So even if it’s one or two days, every little would help and it will provide our new novices with a breadth of rowing knowledge and experience.
I will be running the coordination and programming so please shoot me an email ([email protected]) if you are keen to help and let me know what you are willing to commit to or which days you might be available.
Cat Hardie

Thanks to everyone who attended the Planning day on Saturday 20^th June and to those who completed the member feedback survey which is essential input into this day. We now have a draft plan for the year. We will publish the final plan in August when it is ratified by the 2015-2016 Committee.
You can read a summary of the input we received from the survey here: [wpfilebase tag=fileurl path=’End of Year Survey 2014-15.doc’ linktext=’End Of Year Survey 20…’ /]
RRC had a great season in 2014-15:
–          We opened our new Boathouse is October
–          Our WD8+ won Head of the Yarra
–          11 crews won medals at Victorian State Championships
–          We had about 50 people compete in the regatta season
–          We won medals at many regattas
–          Fundraising (excluding venue hire) raised over $15,000
–          There were lots of social events
–          We had fun!
Our goals for 2015-16 are:

1. Maintain membership numbers
2. Increase rowing participation
3. Improve our competitive level of rowing
4. Continue to provide frequent social events
5. Raise over $12,000 from fundraising
6. Re-rack the boat bay

One significant item coming out of the planning day is that we are trying to make the structure of the rowing program clearer, have really clear expectations of rowers and crews and prioritise our resources around these commitments. We will also work to improve our Selection procedures to make these more transparent and timely.
The coaching group is meeting on Sunday 5 July at 9am to flesh out the details further. If you are thinking about coaching next season, please head down.
To find out more about the rowing program, come down on Sunday 19^th July for the Winter Training Launch at 9am. We will explain how we want this year to run, give you key dates for the rowing year and answer any questions you may have. There will be training at 10am, followed by a brunch.
The Launch is applicable to rowers at all skill and commitment levels so head down if you want to be on the water this coming season (and at brunch you can catch up with everyone you haven’t seen since last season!)
There will of course also be lots of social events next year (possibly more than last year!) with regular Thursday nights continuing, club races and brunches, weekends away and more.
This of course needs lots of volunteers. Some people offered to assist through the feedback survey and we will be taking them up on it! However, the more the better so please speak to a Committee Member to find out how you can help make RRC even better in 2015-2016.
In particular we have had a couple of offers from people to be part of a Social Committee. We need some more volunteers for this group that would coordinate (but not necessarily do all the work for) social events such as regular Thursdays, Sunday brunches, Melbourne Head social event and the Christmas party. Please contact Karen on the [email protected] email if you want more information or to volunteer.
We are looking forward to a great 2015-2016.
Go Tigers!