News from the Rowing Sheds

Since the last edition of the Fountain, our rowers, particularly the senior rowers, have been very busy on the water in the lead-up to the Australian Rowing Championships – The Nationals, to be held at Lake Barrington. Here is a summary of our achievements:

Club State Championships

The Club State Championships were held from March 7–9 at Lake Barrington. A number of our rowers had to compete in heats on Friday afternoon to qualify for finals races over the weekend. While SMC does not accumulate as many points as the established clubs do, our rowers certainly made their presence felt at this regatta.

Open rowers: 

Year 10 rowers: 

Head of the River 

The Head of the River can be likened to a grand final. There are limited entries allowed in the different boat classes, which makes for some very difficult decisions. SMC performed very well on the day across all age groups. Given the smaller numbers in our older age groups and the number of races that those rowers needed to do, some younger rowers ‘rowed up’ to ensure SMC had entries in every Division 1 race. Division 1 races accrue points for the different shields that can be won.

Special mention to Soraya Navidad who, as a Year 9 rower, competed in the Year 10 single race. Also, to Year 8 rowers Isabella Child, Bonnie McManamey, Adisyn Browne, Sophia Carter, and cox Maggie Parker, who competed in the Year 10 Division 1 Quad, finishing a very credible third!

An additional special mention must go to the U15 Year 9 rowers who stepped up to row in the Open 8 race to ensure that our most senior rowers, Sarah Gillow and Madison Mackey, could finish their school rowing experience with a guard of honour prior to the Eights race. They also finished a very credible sixth place in the race.

Pictured above: Principal Mr Damian Messer with Zoe Ratcliffe and Freya Coombe (Year 7), proud recipients of the Cliff Hutton Shield for the U13 Girls Double Scull.

At the end of the day, the presentations were made. There was an air of excitement as St Mary’s emerged victorious, winning the Junior Shield (Year 7–9 rowers) and finishing third in the Senior Shield (Year 10–12 rowers). We are all very proud of these efforts and the achievements during the season. A special thank you to all of our coaches and age group managers for their efforts and support throughout the season.

Special thank you 

A special thank you to Linus and Ange McManamey, who did an amazing job preparing the Pasta Nights held after several of our Boat Loading afternoons. Both Ange and Linus donate their time and cooking expertise to prepare the pasta feast for our hungry rowers, family, and friends after boat loading.

Also, thank you to Leandar Bowden, who handles the purchasing and organisation of Breakfast Club. While many parents help set this up each morning for our hungry rowers, Leandar ensures that all the breakfast goodies are in stock and ready to be served.

Thanks also to Kate Croall, who organized the roster for our volunteers to assist at the Easy Oar Café at Lake Barrington. Our club gets a share of the profits from the café thanks to our volunteer parents.

Australian Rowing Championships – the Nationals

We wish our rowers every success at the upcoming Australian Rowing Championships – the nationals, which will be held at Lake Barrington starting next Monday. This event has already been promoted as the biggest rowing nationals to be held to date. We will look forward to sharing results with you during the week.

But, what's next? 

If you would like to be a part of this very successful, hard-working group, we would love to have you join the SMC Rowing Program.

Very soon, we will have a Try Rowing Day for those interested. Planning is well underway for this, and we are aiming for it to occur before the end of the Term 1 holiday break. Additionally, we will be running a Winter Program, which will incorporate off-water gym sessions as well as on-water skills practice.

Please keep an eye out for additional information and the sign-up form being shared soon.