Rowing Regatta Update

The MGC rowers have been extremely active in 2023, with our annual summer training camp at MGC running over the fortnight prior to school starting, with rowers competing at the Ballarat Regatta, Barwon Regatta, Morongo Regatta and Firbank Regatta so far.

During this time, there have been many exceptional performances.

Ballarat and Barwon Senior Regattas

At the Ballarat Regatta, Zoe Korr and Mia Harrison both made the A final of the U19 Single Scull and U19 Double Scull, performing strongly and ultimately placing one second behind the lead boat in the double.

At the Barwon Regatta, our Senior Squad performed very well, with many A finals. A highlight was the performance of the Division 1 crew, who for the first time won the Division 1 Senior Schoolgirl Quad Scull event, at what is often the most hotly contested regatta of the year in Victoria, as well as the Division 3 eight who put down a strong performance making the hotly contested B final in a very competitive division.

Division 1 Champions! – Gemma Watson, Mia Harrison, Imogen Otter, Zoe Korr and cox Grace Illingworth

Division 3 Crew in their final (Gwyn Op’t Hoog, Claudia Bellsmith, Olivia Cavka, Luca Sherman, and cox Lyla Artavilla

Morongo and Firbank Junior/Intermediate Regattas

At the Morongo Regatta, our intermediate and junior rowers raced for the first time this season at a school event. Despite their lack of race experience (caused by the floods in Term 4), our rowers performed strongly with numerous A and B finals (14 out of 18 crews) despite many nerves!

Impressively, our Junior 1st crew missed defeating the top ranked junior crew by less than a second in their first competitive race, with many other strong performances across the day.

At the Firbank Regatta, our Junior and Intermediate squads performed very well, winning their first events for the season in what is an extremely competitive sport at school level. The juniors impressed particularly with their 7 A finals (top 4 place) out of 11 races. Both squads raced extremely well and demonstrated consistent improvement, regardless of place in the regatta. Most importantly, the rowers had a fantastic day (despite the second week of horrible winds!)

Congratulations to Lulu Macdonell and Gabrielle Simcox (pictured below) on winning the Year 10 Division 1 Double Scull, and Mila Narayan, Arabella Cavagna, Miriam Thomas and Clementine Huon, along with Cox Leni Edwards on their victory in the Year 9 Division 9 Junior Coxed Quad.

Gabrielle Simcox and Lulu Macdonell after winning the Year 10 Division 1 Double Scull

Nationals Selection

Congratulations to Zoe Korr, Livi Tribe, Imogen Otter, Mia Harrison, Grace Illingworth, Estella Davidson Rios, Hannah Scothern, Gwyn Op’t Hoog, Lucinda Op’t Hoog, Sara Lay and Gemma Watson on their selection for the National Championships.