Rowing Report

Junior Pennant comes back to North Sydney

Last Saturday, for the final time of the season, the 2023/24 Junior fleet went into battle in Hen and Chicken Bay for the final time. Our Juniors this year have done a tremendous job representing the values of Boat Club. I have never seen a group come through that is better representatives of the mantra “Deeds not Words”.

This regatta was a little different from regattas in the past, where our crews were graded into A final or B Final, depending on their performance throughout the season. All our Junior boats were contending in A finals, which in itself is a great testament to the boys and coaches.

Our Year 8 Quads raced first and were able to record five 1st place finishes and three 2nd places from their eight starts. This was a brilliant effort, especially with some of the last-minute shuffling that was performed due to a few boys reporting in unwell. Our Year 8 First Quad of Charlie Armati, Lawson Wood, Louis Corcoran, Sam Bull were joined by Harry “Fergo” Ferguson for the final race and kept their Hen and Chicken Bay record intact with a very impressive seven second margin A-final win.

The Year 9 Quads raced next and were able to record one 1st place, three 2nd places, one 3rd and a 4th from their 6 starts. It was great to see our Year 9 First Quad of Charles Bassingthwaighte, William Reid, Edward McDonald, Ollie Mott and Harry Leahy throwing everything they had at the undefeated Newington crew. I know these boys will be very motivated to get into the big boats next year. Our Year 9 Second Quad of Micah Minchin, Xavier Du Vernet, Harry Fuzes, Oli Koch and Sebastian Cheers continued what has been an amazing Term 1 for this crew and took out the category A final. This boat has gone through this Term undefeated, which is very impressive.

After the racing we were joined by Mark and Kate Livingstone and their daughter Sophie to christen the “Tom Livingstone” boat. Tom would love the fact that a boat that is named after him is helping the next generation of Shore rowers.

With this racing over, I am very glad to report that Junior Pennant will finally return to its spiritual home in North Sydney. This year, due to the impressive efforts of the Year 10 VIII’s, Year 9 Quads and the Year 8 Quads, Shore went into the final with a near-impossible to defeat margin.

Junior Pennant Final Standings

1st: Shore 329
2nd: St Ignatius 276
3rd: St Josephs 262

Mr G Bates
MIC Rowing