Following the great day we had at Bendigo last week, on Saturday Richmond Rowing Club was back on the racing scene for Head of the Goulburn, the best regatta of the year (in my completely biased opinion)! It starts from Nagambie Regatta Centre and follows down the beautiful Goulburn river for 7.2 km, meandering through gorgeous eucalypt forests populated with galahs and cockatoos, all the way to Tahbilk winery. As far as I know, it’s the only rowing race that finishes at a vineyard! Good incentive to get us there faster đ
Another nice thing about HOTG is that racing starts from 11am for everyone except school kids, a very gentlemanly schedule indeed, giving us plenty of time to drive up, load up on caffeine and get nervous. The forecast had announced a promising “14 degrees, 80% chance of showers, with possible hail storm and sustained 35km wind”, which turned out to be pretty much bang on, but it was the gusts that were particularly fierce. In fact while we were waiting around, an 8 and a 4 ended up going for a swim on the way to the start line.
1. Dario and Stef sheltering before the race
2. A Wentworth crew getting swamped by brutal wind and waves on the way to the start line
3. Bit too heavy to row now đ
 Finally the wait was over and it was time to go. First up were Susanna, Christine, Diana, Anthea, Charlie, Phil, Guy and Leigh in the mixed 8 event, coxed by Dianne. They powered down the course in a great time of 35:05.
4. The XM8+ crew coming in after the race
Next was the D grade male 8 with Rob, John Hellerstedt, Steven, Pavel, Nathan, Lachlan, Alex, and Garret, coxed by returning member Sarah Houghton who had only just returned from the USA the night before. Thanks Sarah for jumping in despite the jetlag! The lads had a great row and were so close to winning the event, only just a few seconds behind the Argonauts crew, bringing them in second place
5. The boys ready to rock!
6. MD8+ at the finish, tired but happy
After the eights came the quads, and our first was the men’s B grade quad with Jon Roberts, Allan Randall, Mike Gehling and Dennis Beck, steered by superstar cox Derek Begg. They were looking very clean and powerful throughout, and despite the gusts managed to get a brilliant time of 31:20. This brought the first win for Richmond, well done boys!
7. The MB4X+ looking strong on the finish line
8. Winners are grinners! Medals all around
We then had two mixed quads competing: The first in the Masters category consisting of Shern, Tim, Mike Calvert and Sarah Hardy, coxed by Kathy, who came third of their event with a very respectable time of 36.05.
The second mixed quad was up next with Dario, Kirsty, Keith and Ally, expertly coxed by Lilian for her first time at HOTG, well done! Despite a few windy wobbles, the row was strong and got us a win for the event. Celebrations and wine were in order!
9. Lilian getting the cox treatment đ
10. X4X+ between rowing and wine tasting
The final Richmond crew to head off was the Women’s D grade 4 with Amy, Imogen, Lily and Stef, coxed by the lovely Laurent Demay. They had an excellent row, but the competition was too fierce and they came in second.
After all the exertion, it was time to join the rest of the Richmond gang at the cellar door, to refuel and hydrate among all the goodies Tahbilk had on offer. We could also admire the lovely old buildings, huge wine barrels and vineyard equipment that gives this old winery all its charm and character. Even the medals reflect this heritage, featuring the famous Chinaman’s bridge and the iconic 3-tiered farm building. They’re really pretty.
11. Tahbilk winery looking sharp
12. Pretty medals
13. Time for some food, hot sauce dribbling into blisters
Well done everyone for another brilliant regatta! All in all it was great craic despite the weather, and Richmond took full advantage of it all. In fact we were the last to leave, as usual đ
14. Obligatory shot in the vines before leaving
Big thanks to Steve Sheppard for his duties as BRO Level 2 during the regatta.
Thank you also to Chris and Leigh for towing the trailer, and Barry for bringing the trailer from the Regatta Centre to Tahbilk.
And Finally, massive thanks to all the coxswains who made the trip up to Nagambie and allowed a crew to race: Dianne, Sarah H, Derek, Kathy, Lilian, and Laurent. You guys are legends!
Ally
Saltwater Challenge 2018
After a great weekend in Nagambie for our annual RRC camp, on Saturday we tried to put the good work into practice at the Saltwater Challenge in Essendon. We werenât able to attend this event last year, so it was great to get back to this gorgeous part of Melbourne and go for a little paddle on the Maribyrnong. Even the weather gods were on our side, with glorious sunshine throughout the day!
The first crew competing for Richmond were Michelle, Karen, Kate and Zoe, in the Female Masters Coxed Quad event. They were coxed by none other than Derek, who was 1st Runner-up for the 2018 RV Coxswain of the Year award earlier this year. Despite being held up by other crews on some of the course bends, they still managed an impressive 3rd place and were looking very strong on their finish sprint.
The same crew raced again in the B Grade Coxed Quad event and somehow managed to better their previous time, clocking in at 18.58s for the 4,500m course. Rowing over 18km in one day, with half of it at full tilt must have been absolutely exhausting, well done ladies!
The next rowers out were Charlotte, Lucia, Dana and myself, expertly coxed by Stef. Throughout the race she provided a huge amount of motivation and gave us all the right pointers to keep it together and stay composed. She even managed to overtake a crew just in the nick of time before the big bend!
For the four of us rowing, this was the first time doing Salty and we really enjoyed the experience. Charlotte did a fantastic job in her first race in Stroke position and maintained a steady and easy to follow pace throughout. Needless to say, we were surprised and delighted to see that we came 5th out of 14 in the D Grade Coxed Quad event!
After a very brief interlude, Richmond was back on water again. Stef and I switched coxing duties and joined Jodie, Shern and Lou for the final race of the day, the Womenâs C Grade coxed Quad. It was very busy at the start line again, with all boats in the C bracket going upriver at the same time to wait for the start, but eventually our turn came up and we were off. Despite Lou still fighting off a virus, the whole crew performed really well and maintained a perfectly balanced boat throughout the race. Their strength and consistency meant we could hold off some of the boats who were trying to overtake us, and achieved a very good race time.
All in all it was a lovely day and made even better by the supporters who came out to encourage us. Big shout out to Allan for helping with boats, oars, and hanging on to 5 wallets while we were on water! Thanks also to Amy and Shane for the photos and videos, to LaTrobe Uni RC for towing the trailer, and to everyone shouting encouragement from the footbridge!
Hopefully we can do this event again next year
Ally Dejaegher
RRC fun in the sun
The past few weeks have seen much activity at RRC and the sun has been shining on us as we get stuck in to preparing for the head racing season.
There was the club races and delicious brunch put on by the mens squad a few weeks ago which gave us the perfect opportunity to get all the club mixing in a complete assortment of crews drawn randomly from a hat.
This was followed by the glorious conditions of our weekend training camp in Nagambie which saw crews really benefit from some intensive technical focus both on the lake and the Goulburn River. With 58 people (and one excitable dog) in attendance RRC took over the rowing peninsula for the whole weekend with 5 sessions on the water culminating in some spectacular handicapped racing. Thank you to all our coaches, coxes and helpers who pitched in to make the weekend a success, especially Barry for towing the trailer, Nic for bringing up the singles, Tim and Scott for towing the tinnies. All the tinnie drivers and coxes for the weekend, Geraldine Goss for developing the session plans and the DS squad who prepared an awesome Saturday night meal for the masses. A special mention to Kathy Macrow who was unable to attend and enjoy the weekend herself but still put in an enormous amount of work behind the scenes to ensure it ran smoothly.
Finally last weekend as the sun shone once more upon Melbourne we took advantage of our glorious deck and superb clubhouse to host a hugely successful AFL grand final BBQ. Despite the slightly one sided match everyone was kept entertained and enthralled as we watched to see if our lucky players scored a goal to win us a drink or the winning margin or Norm Smith medal winner would also win us some dollars. The day was enjoyed by all, even the West Coast fans congratulated us on a great party. Thanks to Cat Hardie for her fundraising exploits, Barry for his work on the BBQ and all those who blew up balloons, helped with set-up/clean-up and worked on the bar over the course of the day we couldnât have done it without you.
Now the focus moves to the three big upcoming head races, Head of the Goulburn, Melbourne Head and Head of the Yarra. Crews will be selected in the next week and I remind all of you to ensure your coaches know your availability for these events and ensure that you sign up to the regular squad training sessions on Sports Noticeboard to guarantee we get the maximum benefit out of the next few weeks of training sessions. Our coach mentor, Sue Chapman Popa will be attending many of these and we want to have all crews prepared for a great head racing season. While you’re thinking about training bear in mind this weekend is Around the Bay in a Day so there will be no parking and restricted vehicle access to boathouse drive from Wednesday – Sunday so ensure you leave yourself enough time to get to the boathouse. You can check whatâs going on in terms of club and boathouse drive events on the club noticeboard or anytime on our calendar so keep an eye out.
See you all the club again soon.