For most tigers, the Victorian State Masters Champs is the last regatta of the season. So, lucky for us it’s now a two-day event with so many races that you won’t start missing rowing for weeks. We had a contingent of nearly 40 tigers down at Nagambie and I think everyone enjoyed the last hurrah of the 2015/16 season, with medals a plenty. Having the regatta held over two days also meant that the regatta also doubled as a Eurovision themed sleepover! Go Dami! (but also props to Belgium – you were robbed).
Although the mornings were chilly, Nagambie put on its best Autumn weather in the afternoons and some of our Anglo-tigers even claimed that they were sunburnt.
Naturally, there were loads of successful crews. Gerri Goss won about eight gold medals, and a couple of silver too – well done Gerri on another ridiculously successful season.
Our new members Christine, Denis, Jenn and Leigh took out the Mixed Masters D4+, with great coxing by Morgan. Great work guys, we are so glad to have you on board. Thanks too for taking the trailer and for being so good at rigging. Boat loading is better with people like you. Let’s hope you can back it up at the Nationals!
The rowers (formerly known as the DS) capped off their remarkable season winning the novice quad AND the novice four. Well done to Catie, Karissa, Ros and Iluka, what an awesome result, well done on your dedication throughout the season. Not to be outdone the other RRC crew also picked up the bronze medal in the novice quad and quite pleased about it they were too.
Club stalwarts Michelle, Karen, Lisa and Stef won the women’s club quad in a nice time of 3.53. Then Lisa, Gerri, Karen and Michelle got the female masters coxless quad as well, in an even better time of 3.52, well done ladies!
And the lads won the masters AB Eight – well done to Rob, Ray O’Shea, Matt, Laurent, Jon, Allan, Tim and Charlie – expertly coxed by Derek Begg. Good work guys!
On the other hand, some crews were highly unsuccessful. For example, Erin and I competed together in six events and we came last in every single one of those events. Happily for us, one of those events (Mixed AB 8+) only had one contender – so while we came last, we also came first and we got a gold medal for our efforts. Please never tell anyone outside of the club that we won our medal in this way. I’ve been wearing it around the office and I don’t want anyone to blow my cover.
Now, to the serious business of snacks. While we often pretend that we row in order to keep fit, in reality we row so that we can justify eating more, so a quick review of the comestibles is in order. The coffee at the caravan park café is clearly not single origin, and they’d struggle to make a buck on Gertrude Street… but the raspberry and white chocolate muffins were fairly tasty. Matt Ebbatson enjoyed his egg and bacon sandwich, but it wasn’t as good as the one he had at Wentworth with poached eggs in it. The egg and bacon rolls at the famous “oarsome” café were of a high standard, but they didn’t have any Tabasco and to make matters worse, they ran out of tomato sauce on the Sunday. Tim recommended the hot chicken roll, while Barry preferred the pies from the Nagambie bakery. Stef impressed everyone in the Richmond tent by introducing us to the famous German delight “Toffifee”. The pizzas from the Tahbilk pub are mostly cheese — with the “Americano” and the “Vulcano” toppings virtually indistinguishable from each other — but the leftover pizzas were inexplicably popular on day 2. Erin actually hid some under her car. Jenn brought down a range of antipasto from the Camberwell market, which was enjoyed by all on the balcony of cabin 37. We also had some nice sandwiches at the Fox Hole Cafe on the way home. So, nobody starved.
All in all, a lovely weekend was had by all. However, it goes without saying that the real winners were those other tigers who pinged the swans by a point after the siren! (yellow and black!!)
Sarah McNicol