Rowing Report
Last weekend saw two regattas take place, the first in Sydney for our Junior boys and the second in Penrith for our Year 10 and Senior crews.
The Shore Regatta was held in Sydney over the weekend with the Shore Junior squad making a strong showing. The Year 8 squad enjoyed some good racing, with the increasing wind making it a little tough going through the middle stages of their race. I am pleased to report that no diggers or crabs were caught by our crews.
In a very loaded side of the draw, Shore recorded one win, two 2nd places in very tight finishes and two 3rd places. Our first Year 8 quad of Oli Mott, Sam Chan, Ed Macdonald, Ben Gordon and Harry Leahy showed brilliant boatmanship to take the win in the first Year 8 division.
The Year 9 quads, due to their experience and training, found the conditions not as challenging and were able to record five wins and a 2nd place in their races. This is a very talented and hard-working age group and it is great to see the improvement that was continued on from last term. The first quad of Harrison Frape, Ben McHutchinson, Luke Robinson, Lawson Armstrong and Oscar Miller showed tremendous focus in one of the closest races of the weekend to close out the win.
In Penrith, our Senior squad and our Year 10 VIIIs competed in the annual Scots College Regatta.
The Year 10 VIIIs showed great speed in the early racing this year, recording four wins and three 2nd places from their eight starts. A highlight was the debut of our Fourth Year 10 VIII, who in their first race this season recorded a very good win. All of these crews have shown tremendous improvement over the January camp period and I am very much looking forward to seeing what the next few weeks have in store for the squad.
Our Senior crews closed out the Regatta, with all crews recording strong performances. The Fourths recorded 2nd and 3rd places in their races in what was uncharacteristic conditions for the Sydney International Regatta Centre (SIRC), with the crosswind making the racing very hard-going in the outside lanes. Our First VIII and Second VIII raced well with the Second VIII putting in two very strong performances in both races, recording 2nd places to two different crews. The First VIII finished the Regatta but unfortunately did not race to the standard they are capable of, with the conditions and a little sickness ultimately affecting the performance of the crew. They will be looking to bounce back strongly against their AAGPS rivals this weekend at the NSW State Championships.
Mr G Bates
MIC Rowing