Sunday 25th October saw a large turn out of Richmond rowers at the Australian Indoor Rowing Championships. Certainly not our usual kind of regatta however after so many weeks in lockdown any competition was welcome.
Throughout the preceding weeks we had been training hard on zoom with the ever motivating coaches Dario Sportelli and Will Golding. Having built the 4 sessions per fortnight into our working from home schedules it was great to catch up with other club members so frequently and still be able to train as a team. In the lead up to the event we all had our software updated, internet connections tested, AB cables at the ready and our ergos cleaned and prepped.
We started the day itself off with a yoga session from Gerry, which was a perfect way to ease into the day, settle the nerves, keep time moving on and ‘be present’ for our races.
It was certainly a different atmosphere to what we are used to, being alone in our houses getting race ready but another thank you to all that logged on to the zoom channel to offer their support.
First up were our coaches themselves, Dario and Will competing in the 19 -29 Men’s 2000m (Will in lightweight). Dario came away with a silver and Will a gold – setting the tone for the day.
At 11am it was the turn of the girls 2000m. Playlists at the ready and we were off, the 2k plans were in place we knew what we had to do. Despite feeling prepared we went through the whole 2k rollercoaster, yeah I’ve got this, keep pushing, when is this going to end, what the heck, can I just stop?, why are we doing this, stay strong, only 300m left, let’s go!
And the PBs and medals came rolling in.
Congratulations to all the competitors and medal winners
Chelsea Crouser 19-29 2k Lightweight – Gold
Xanthe Hadfield 19-29 2k – Gold
Kirsty Fergie 30-39 2k – Bronze
Sarah Hardy 50-54 2k – New PB
Geraldine Goss 54-59 2k
Phil Munson 65-59 2k
And a special mention to Helen Pearce 40-49 2k – Gold plus a new Australian Record.
And as if that wasn’t enough a short recovery time and (for what seemed like a good idea at the time to do both) it was the 1000m
Alex Kinsman 19-29 1k – Silver
Kirsty Fergie 30-39 1k – Bronze
Helen Pearce 40-49 1k – Gold
Cynthia Masters 55-59 1k – Silver
Michael Gehling 30-39 1k – New PB
Pavel Obrin 30-39LW 1k – New PB
Campbell Mayne 19-29 1k
Then on to the 500m
Xanthe Hadfield 19-29
Geraldine Goss 54-59
Finally, to end the day the 2000m relay where Richmond picked up
Richmond Women – Ainsley Raggatt, Xanthe Hadfield, Chelsea Crouser, Kirsty Fergie 19 – 39 2k Silver
Richmond Women – Susanna Mullner, Sarah Hardy, Geraldine Goss, Helen Pearce 40+ 2k Silver
Richmond Men – John Carey, Will Golding, Dario Sportelli and Michael Gehling 19 – 39 2k
Richmond Mixed – Pavel Oborin, Campbell Mayne, Alex Kinsman, Amy Catlin 19-39 2k Gold
We ended the evening with a zoom call to raise a glass to ourselves and congratulate each other on what was an intense but rewarding period of training. A big thank you must go to Dario and Will for their ongoing encouragement and dedication to the coaching sessions, and to the club for loaning out the ergos to give us the opportunity to train. We hope our new found strength can be put into good use on the water and look forward to the next time we will be able to race. Go tigers!
Kirsty Fergie
