Thanks to everyone who put forward suggestions for the name of our newest RRC fleet addition. As a committee we thought long and hard about the choice for this new boat. It is a brand new Sykes coxed quad/four for women that will no doubt get extensive use and be with the club for many years to come (if we look after it very well! – please). As a result we believed it was important to name it after a person who embodies the Richmond Rowing Club spirit and who has contributed throughout many years, continues to do so today and hopefully will continue for many years to come, so it is my pleasure to announce it is to be named the Dennis Beck.
Dennis has been a smiling face around the club for many years and has been an active and very successful rower, representing RRC at state and national levels. Most current members will know him as regular coach, cox and substitute extraordinaire happy to jump in and fill a seat or do what is necessary to ensure crews get on the water and have fun. He is never far away when we call for a volunteer to BRO at regattas, serve drinks on the bar, or man the BBQ. Along with this he has served on the committee in the role of captain and been a constant helpful hand at the club. The current committee believe he is very well deserving of this honour.
Can you recognise the man throughout his RRC career? and some other familiar faces.
I was delighted to be at the club with the man himself when the shiny new boat was delivered just over a week ago and also very proud to be involved in its maiden voyage at Nagambie last weekend. Now just over a week old the brand new boat has received its first bling with a successful row on Saturday with the WC4X+ winning through a heat, semi and the final to take out the title at Australian Henley.
Let’s hope for many more successes in this beautiful boat (and with some more fundraising maybe we can buy another one 😉 – don’t forget to buy your Quiz night tickets for 18th March now).
Fundraising success = Brand New Boat
You may recall thanks to our super fundraising efforts of last season the club was able to purchase a brand new stern coxed racing 4+/4x+ and I am pleased to announce that it is finally on its way in a shipping container somewhere between China and Australia. This boat was specifically aimed for to help fill a gap in our fleet to assist coaching from the coxing seat particularly for our development squad. This item highlights the vital role of a cox to a crew and it is with this thought in mind that we could not think of a better person to honour when choosing the name of this boat than cox and coach extraordinaire at RRC, Derek Begg.
Derek Begg stepped down from the committee at the end of last season after serving 12 years in various roles including that of Secretary, Head of Rowing, Head of Club Development and general member. His time and effort during this period can not be underestimated and we all greatly appreciate all his hardwork, time and dedication to the club. His vital contributions have been critical to both on the water successes and behind the scenes in terms of coordinating lease negotiations and much more. Aside from his service to the club as a volunteer on the committee he has also probably coxed every member we have at some point and I personally have great memories of victories and achievements obtained in crews he has coxed and coached. For this reason the committee was unanimous in deciding that he was a very well deserved recipient of this honour.
The hope is that we can celebrate Derek’s great contributions to the club with the naming of this boat at our Christmas celebrations on Sunday 11th December (assuming delivery of the boat occurs as expected). Confirmation of the details of this day is to come so keep an eye out and make sure you reserve the day for some festive club races, bbq and fun. We would love to see as many people as possible old and new, friends and family at the club to celebrate this event and the upcoming Christmas holidays.
