#regattawrapup

Racing started at 10:30am, with our “sizzling seventies” Masters Men in the first wave. As typically happens at regatta, the Masters racing is grouped into divisions by age. However, sometimes it can be hard to get a big field of competition when the average crew age to qualify for the “H+” category has to be 70 or above! 

Not a problem at the HOTY, with eight 8+’s starting in the H+ category. It was going to be a hard and tough battle, and our men relished stepping up to the challenge!

Around the Yarra’s bends, the crew of Chris, Ian, Graeme T, Graham W, Harry, John, and Leichhardt’s Denis and Bruce, and Peter M in the cox seat, aimed to chase down crews from Toowong RC, Melbourne Uni BC, Banks, and North Shore RC, among others.

In the end, the men came 5th in their division in a time of 35:41.95. Not bad at all for eight men born before WW2! Very proud of your hard work at training and results to show for it!

Almost exactly an hour later, it was the glamour ladies’ turn in the Womens D Masters category.

A field of 14 crews competed in this category. While this was the second HOTY outing for St George’s men, it was an entirely new experience (and course!) for the ladies.

The glamour ladies of the St George WMD8+ - Sue, Jo, Krys, Merete, Judy, Bev, Deb, and Maribel (coxed by Jacky) - have been working towards this race since June. Leading into the HOTY with great results at the Iron Cove Classics, the Head of the Parramatta, the Head of the Nepean, the crew was exhilarated, excited, and perhaps a little nervous, to go at it against the best from around the country.

The ladies took the course and one-by-one chased down their opponents: First the Fremantle Composite crew, next the Balmain RC 8+, after that the Essendon/Footscray combination. Steadily (or stealthily?) our women worked their was down the 9.5km field, catching the competition at every turn.

Finishing in a time of 35:07.44, the ladies walk away with 4th in their division, and claim to the fastest crew from NSW. Excellent result! Shows what dedication, training and a plan can achieve!

After the race it was time for festivities..... what can we say? What happens at HOTY stays at HOTY!!

The view from the HOTY Race Festival

The Head of the Yarra is one of Australia’s largest rowing events, this year attracting over 2,100 competitors from every state and internationally.

St George Rowing Club looks forward to returning in 2016 with the aim of fielding at least 3 crews! See ya then, Melbourne!

And a big hug and flowers to Stephen and Al for taking the boats down and back..... A massive effort, and that’s before we mention what happened to your foot, Al!!!

[WARNING: Graphic, icky foot injury pic below!!!]

Update [12/12/15]: Pleased to report that though Al’s foot is still looking pretty bad, he’s back “on his feet” as it were and getting around ok!

The Men’s events went first, and the St George composite MM8+ crew of Graeme, Harry, John, Gary, Ian, Chris, Denis and Bruce (both Leichhardt rowers) and their cox Peter finished in a time of 18:54.68, 4th on age-adjustments and just over a minute shy of the strong Glebe-crew winning pace.

Then it was time for the ladies to see what they could do on the water. The starting order saw the St George WM8+ starting between Sydney Women’s MLC and Leichhardt - both incredibly well-seasoned rowing machines. The ladies’ game plan: go hard, get ahead, stay ahead.

They did just that, catching the SWMLC crew early on, and maintaining the starting distance over Leichhardt for most of the course. In the end, the St George women got 2nd with a time of 19:41.78. Leichhardt won, but will surely be looking out at the next race for the St George ladies. Well done to the crew of Sue, Jo, Merete, Judy, Maribel, Danika, Bev, Mabs (from North Shore, thanks so much for helping out), and super-cox Wendy!

The Head of the Parramatta, hosted by Sydney Rowing Club, sees crews from clubs and schools across Sydney compete over 4.5km from Homebush Bay east along the river to Abbotsford. Many of the crews racing will also be heading to the Head of the Yarra, so this is great practice for the Masters planning on heading south of the border at the end of the November.

Highlights include:

- 1st to Oliver, Julian, Robert and Airton in MD4

- Great work by Braeden getting 2nd in his MN1x race, and then teaming up with Will to get 2nd in the MN2x

- 1st for Sue, Jo, Judy and Maribel in the WD4x continuing their excellent form from the Australian Masters in Adelaide 

- Congrats Theresa on your first regatta and club points with 3rd in the WD2x (with Danika)!

- Awesome row by Julian for third in the other MN1x division, and the 2x crew of Julian and Oliver getting a seriously fast time in their double for 2nd place, and unlucky not to get the win.

And continuing the tradition of taking a relaxing swim after finishing the race! 

Well done everyone.... Another fun day of rowing and racing!

We had 22 rowers attend, and 17 went home with at least one 1st place medal. Some took home even more, including:

- 4 wins each for Danika and Linda - 3 wins for Jo and Lilly - 2 wins for Sue, Steve H, Airton Snr., Alan, Robert, Elisa, Eamonn and Connor.

Named in honour of former club president Ray Browne, Brownie's River Run has become the annual season opener for St George Rowing Club. This year we will be building on it to run monthly time trials, but will retain Brownie's legacy in the first time trial of the season.

Here are the results!

Congratulations to Alan, Airton Snr, Krys and Andrea for the fastest time.

The winners

A special mention to Oliver, Julian, Braedon, Kate and Dylan for their 3rd place in the 4X+, this was tremendous since you carried Kate over the 8km course.

Well done also to our inaugural entrants on the 3km course Caitlin, Vaughn, Amelia and Lilly who got to see dolphins swim underneath and surfacing squirting water over them through their race!

We will use these results to improve the starting gaps between crews for our next time trial.

A big thankyou to the many volunteers who helped out with the logistics, catering, cooking, time keeping etc. Without your efforts the morning would not have run so smoothly.

More pics from the day can be found here.