Richmond Rowing Club had a great day at the Melbourne Head regatta picking up five wins in eight events the club entered.
The race – held on the Yarra River over 4.5 kilometres starting at Big Bend and finishing at the city boat sheds in front of Mercantile Rowing Club – was held in near perfect conditions with 138 crews battling it out for a wins in a range of divisions and boat classes.
The first win for the day was Caroline Manning, coached by Tom Appleby, in the Women’s Division A/B Single Scull. Caroline was elated to have won her race by defeating Melbourne University sculler Jen Bailey by the narrowest of margins of one second.
Richmond’s Women’s C Eight stroked by Frances Crotty and contained World Masters Games gold and bronze medallists Annalise Gehling and Geraldine Goss and coached by Mike Numa – one of two Richmond women’s eights competing in the event – defeated six other crews to take out the Women’s C/D eights in one of the most competitive events of the regatta.
The Mixed Masters Eight, stroked by club President Emma Catford, came out on top in a field of nine boats narrowly beating Head of the Yarra mixed eight aspirants Melbourne Rowing Club by a mere two seconds in a great display of controlled and consistent rowing.
Richmond also won two races in row over’s, with Sam Morrison taking out the Men’s A/B Division Single Scull and the Men’s Coxed B Quad Scull stroked by Martin Foster.
In other results, the Mixed Masters Eight stroked by Sally Allen showed great improvement to perform well in their race as did the Men’s Division D Coxed Four who were out gunned racing in a tub four against other crews who raced in racing boats in the Men’s Coxed Four C/D division. Richmond also had three Women’s D Division Coxed Fours make their racing debut for the club.
Richmond Head of Rowing Nicole Stupka was pleased with the results, and in particular the women’s eights who will have no doubt gained a significant confidence boost in time for next week’s Head of the Yarra.
Richmond has four crews entered in next week’s the big race that will feature 206 eights from clubs throughout the country.
Richmond is joint hosting the HOTY After Party with rival club Powerhouse and details or the event and what Richmond crews will feature in the race are available on the club blog site.
Simon Crunden