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| State Titles Wash-up |
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| Written by Andrew Holman |
| Tuesday, 03 March 2009 00:00 |
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Hi all, Apologies for the delay in getting this email out, been a busy couple of days. For those who are not aware, the club enjoyed great success on the weekend at the Club State Championships. We came away with 9 state titles, defending 3 from last year and adding 6 new ones. The absence of elite rowers away at national championships this week, particularly from MUBC and Mercantile reduced numbers in the A grade events, which were essentially reduced to match racing between PHRC and Melbourne RC. This is a worrying trend in Victorian rowing which will hopefully be addressed by our governing body for next season. Nevertheless, our club had a brilliant day in the sun and wind, brief details of each crew's fortunes are below... MD1x Adrian, Pete B Both our guys struggled in the strong winds early in the morning and respectively reached the D and E finals of this hotly contested event. They both continue to plug away, and better results will come. FD2x Alissa, Jen The girls cruised through to the A final in good style, but dropped off the pace early in the final. Despite showing good form, they were not quite quick enough, finishing in 3rd place, 11 seconds off the pace. A solid result after only a couple of weeks in this boat. MA8+ Jeremy, Andrew, Alex, Malcolm, Drew, Bingles, Shane, Hatsy (Caitlin) Conditions were extremely difficult at the start of this race with the blustery conditions making handling an eight problematic at best. Starting at a severe angle, Caitlin got the boat straightened out rapidly and we quickly made up an early deficit. Melbourne were not able to hold their early pace, and some strong rowing in our boat saw a convincing, if not entirely comfortable, win by 1 length. FB2- Nicole, Alissa Weeks of praying for tail winds (or at least flat conditions) came to naught for our featherweight pair who once again had to bang into a gusting headwind against much heavier and stronger opponents. In the end, the 20sec margin was really quite impressive. MA4+ Bingles, Drew, Hatsy, Shane (Nicole) A great stroking effort from Shane here took us out to an early lead. Melbourne were again unable to match the effort required and the crew was able to ease down over the second 500m to record a comfortable 10sec win. It's entirely possible also that everyone in the boat may have been considering the upcoming A pair final and possibly conserving some energy...? MC4+ Roland, Angelo, Pete L, Dave (Tara) These guys have been hit by some significant illness over the last 2 weeks and were not at 100% by any stretch. Despite this, they acquitted themselves very well as we have come to expect with a strong 2nd placing, only 8 seconds down to half of the MRC A grade eight. MD8+ Doug, Adrian, Sam, John D, Andrew, Pete B, Jeff, Rick (Caitlin) The guys here ran into some impressive crews from country Victoria and showed good promise, eventually going down into 3rd place, but only 11 seconds off the pace. Some late withdrawals didn't help crew cohesion, but Sam and Andrew proved more than adequate replacements. Next year this event is one to target. FB4+ Greer, Sarah, Yvette, Kate (Nicole) In what was always going to be a difficult task against some very strong crews, the FB4 had a truly exceptional row. This boat has been the 'problem child' of the women's squad for weeks, but not only finished 3rd, they were 6sec off first and only 1 second off 2nd. As it turned out, a sign of things to come later in the day for all the girls in this boat. MA2- Shane, Bingles This all Power House match race was always destined to be a torrid affair as Shane and Bingles put Hatsy and myself to the sword early, then never took the foot off our necks. Even bogged down in the McAfferey, they held off a determined finishing surge and were just too good on the day, holding on for a 1.66sec win. Well done. MA2- Hatsy, Drew Less said the better. Hatsy may need a partner who remembers to keep his oar in the water on the first stroke... MD2+ Angelo, Pete L (Caitlin) Both these guys have been ill in the last couple of weeks, but still took to the water with justified confidence. They took on a full field and finished a creditable 3rd, not bad given they only stepped into the pair 2 months ago. Next year... FC4+ Felicity, Amanda, Greer, Sarah (Nicole) After being less than convincing in their heat row, the girls nevertheless made the A final, then turned out a flawless performance in the final to overcome an early deficit, take the lead with 600m to go, then power away for a convincing 8sec win. Great stuff! MB4+ Andrew, Jeremy, Malcolm, Alex (Caitlin) Surviving a hotly contested heat, with 4 boats in a blanket finish for only 3 spots in the final, the guys were a little skeptical of their chances in the final. They needn't have worried, as they pulled out a genuinely good performance to finish a very close 3rd in the final, only 5 seconds behind the eventual winner. A good result for Alex who is still learning the stroking role and a nice return to racing for Malcolm after a slow recovery from a nasty back injury. MD4+ John D, Doug, Jeff, Adrian (Caitlin) Not a bad effort from this essentially scratch crew. They finished 4th in the heat, thus progressing to the B final, where they took a solid 2nd placing. MD4+ Pete C, Angelo, Pete L, Dave (Tara) There was some expectation attached to this crew, as we had targeted this event a couple of weeks ago. However, things often don't go to plan in racing, and it's fair to say the crew were not at their best by this stage of the day. The guys scraped through to the A final, but faded in difficult conditions, finishing in 5th, well off the pace. They'd probably rather forget it, but lessons can still be learned. We'll do it different next time! MB2- Malcolm, Alex Mal and Al probably (well, certainly) haven't had enough time in this boat. They came up against some pretty competent pairs and lost early ground, but held pace well over the final 500. 4th place, 17sec off the winners. MA4x+ Shane, Drew, Hatsy, Bingles (Nicole) I had thought I was immune to peer group pressure by this advanced age, however it appears that is not the case. Wedged into the 'retard' seat of the quad, I was carried to a surprisingly comfortable victory by my vastly more competent and very patient crewmates. Another nail in Melbourne's coffin of A grade woe... MC8+ Roland, Doug, Sam, Rick, Jeff, Angelo, Pete L, Dave (Tara) I think it's fair to say that this was not a terribly enjoyable race for our boys. Struggling in the conditions, they lost early ground to a couple of very competent crews and were never in the hunt for the win. On the positive side, most of the guys in this crew would have come away aware that they are capable of much better. I'm confident that they will produce on another day. Well done to Tara in her first effort coxing an eight in such difficult winds. FA4+ Yvette, Jen, Chap, Kate (Alissa) On a personal note, this was my vote for 'race of the day'. The senior women's squad at PHRC of whom really only Chappy and Yvette remain, have been trying unsuccessfully to win this event for many years. Yesterday, thanks to the new-found aggression of Kate, plus Jen's remarkable talent for stepping up into the required role, we finally took the elusive prize. The girls jumped to an early lead and hung on desparately over the fast-finishing MRC crew to win buy a little over a length. Great effort! MA1x Shane As we've come to expect, Shane displayed his apparently bottomless talent and inexhaustible energy once more, recording an impressive win in one of the blue ribbon events of the day. In response to a call from the crowd, Shane slipped frighteningly easily into a podium pose that may spark some debate about his life outside rowing... MA2x Shane, Bingles Having successfully scared off the competition in this event, the guys had a row-over, notable only for the fact that it gave Power House a clean sweep of all mens A grade events. FD2+ Felicity, Sarah (Alissa) After much cajoling some weeks ago, convincing these two to get into the 'tub' there were no signs of reluctance this time around as Sarah held her tempo, Felicity stayed strong and quick through the catch and Alissa patiently steered them through nearly 6min of headwind pain to take out a well deserved state title over a full field. Excellent work. MB8+ Roland, Rick, Sam, Andrew, Drew, Malcolm, Jeremy, Hatsy (Nicole) I hate to whinge, but we got stiffed by the lane draw here. In the outside of 4 lanes, we jumped to an early lead thanks to Hatsy and Jeremy's positive start, then held level with Melbourne through to 500m. As the strong wind on our side of the course took it's toll, the lack of horsepower in our boat began to show. In what was an exceptionally clean and technically solid row given the conditions, we were just not strong enough to overcome the wind and stay with an evenly matched opponent. All credit to Melbourne, we'll get them next time. So, we had wins in the following... MA8+ MA4+ MA2- MA4x+ MA2x MA1x FA4+ FC4+ FD2+ Congratulations to all involved, particularly to Shane who was in ALL of the winning men's boats, Bingles who was in 5 of them, and Hatsy who was in 3. A fabulous effort as well from Sarah and Felicity, who took 2 titles apiece in the C4 and D2. Nicole was up to her usual tricks in the coxswain's seat with 3 wins, Alissa took 2 and Caitlin chipped in with one. Thanks to all for your efforts over the past 8 weeks of training with this day in mind, it's great to see so much hard work pay off. Enjoy this next phase of somewhat more relaxed training and racing before the 27+'s get serious again for some more masters glory in June and October! Cheers, Drew |