Rowing Report
St Joseph’s Regatta
Last week saw the final round of racing for both our Senior and Junior crews. Our Juniors went into battle in Hen and Chicken Bay, taking part in the annual Scots College Regatta, whilst our Seniors returned to the Nepean River for the first time since the 1995 Head of the River to compete in the combined GPS Regatta.
As has been the way in recent weeks – the Junior Regatta saw many of the Shore crews having to be re-organised due to illness. This didn’t deter our Junior Quads, with the Year 8 Quads recording four 1st place finishes and four 2nd place finishes from their eight starts. There were some amazing performances from the crews in conditions that were deteriorating as the regatta went on. Our reshuffled crew of Henry Tams, Henry Crookes, Jeremy Hughes, Will Hadfield and Henry Moufarrige were in fine form and were able to finish over the top of a previously hard to handle Riverview crew.
The Year 8 “Livingstone” crew of Tom Amarti, Will Scammell, Lawson Wood, Louis Corcoran and Sam Bull continue their strong form this season and, for the first time this season, raced with Tom Livingstone’s name on the hull. They recorded a fine performance to comfortably finish ahead of the St Joseph’s College and Riverview crews.
Our Year 9 Crews equally had to overcome some late organisation but were able to go out there and show great maturity to record four 1st place finishes and two 2nd place finishes from their six starts. It has been brilliant to watch this squad go about their work this season, especially the efforts of the “Bowers” crew of Micah Minchin, Xavier Du Vernet, Harry Fuzes, Oli Koch and Seb Cheers, who are going close to notching an undefeated streak in Term 1 racing.
Our Year 10 VIII’s raced for the final time this season in Hen and Chicken Bay. Competing today were the Third and Fourth combinations, as the First Year 10 crew had to withdraw due to illness, and the Second crew was racing in the combined GPS Regatta on Nepean. Racing over the unfamiliar distance of 1000 metres for reasons unknown, the Fourth Year 10 crew showed a much-improved performance to record a well-fought 2nd place against the Riverview combination. After a solid training session in the morning, the Third Year 10 crew of Joel Hamilford, Will Wykeham-Fines, Lachlan McIntosh, Tom Green, Braeden Macdonald, Toby Crowther, Liam Kennedy, Chris Yun and Eddie Brook took to the race course determined to make up for last weeks defeat at the hands of Riverview and avenge that they did recording a strong win of their rivals from Lane Cove.
While this regatta was occurring, our Seniors travelled west to the mighty Nepean River. This was the first regatta to be held at this venue since the 1995 Head of the River, the same year that Coolio was singing about a “Gangster’s paradise” and TLC was chasing “waterfalls”. This regatta was one of the first regattas of the Term, where our crews were required to race a heat and a final in the same morning. Our Year 10 Second VIII represented the shed well in their heat row, although they were a little unsure about how much effort should be put into their “heat” row, finishing in 2nd place behind Riverview. In the final and with no misunderstandings of what needed to be done, the Shore crew shot out to the lead to hold a boat length over St Joseph’s and Riverview.
Due to illness in the shed, the Fourth IV was withdrawn from racing. Our GPS Third IV raced next and recorded a strong performance in their heat, winning through to the A final. In the A final, the crew of Tom Kierse, Kalan Welch, Angus Marshall, Addison Stanberg and Leon Li jumped out of the blocks, and the crew had to settle for 2nd place, a strong performance for what was another new combination due to illness. Our GPS Second IV welcomed back Aiden Macfarlane from illness on Friday and had the one row together before having to hit the furnace that is racing. This crew, whilst starting well, found the pace a little quick and found themselves relegated to a B-Final, which they comprehensively won over Newington.
The GPS First IV of Sam Wyles, Ethan Nam, Hamish Bergin, Jack Faddy and Callum Zhu enjoyed a great run over their two trips, recording a very strong 7:05 in the heat and then a very solid 7:06 in the final. This crew’s ability to achieve consistency led them to this result. Interestingly, it has been the most constantly boated four combination this season. The crew came away with the A final win in what was a great day for the “Purnell” crew.
Our GPS VIII’s closed out the day, with the Second VIII finishing in 2nd place behind the Riverview combination. This came about after a furious start to their heat row where they were forced to contend with boat wash and starting a length down of the line for reasons unknown to us. The GPS First VIII finished in third place overall after a much-improved Heat row. The “1” boat is very much taking great strides forward over the past month, and this again marked an improvement in performance. Like many of the crews, they have had to deal with illness, etc., but are now building their own momentum to take into the final weekend.