2021 Victoria “eights challenge”

2021-11-27 was the Victoria “eights challenge”  to replace the Head of the Yarra this year as Melbourne & Australia emerge from covid restrictions. It was very fast racing conditions with high tide, fast water, and a strong tailwind down the course from Powerhouse to the Judges box. A blustery, sunny day for racing.

Testosterone was running high in the pileup of long boats in the narrow above Big Bend getting the 60’s bow numbers sorted from the 40’s.

It was the last of the D grade eight racing with the new Rowing Victoria grade change. The powerwashing happening at the front of MRC’s renovation was a lowlight, Kathy doling out gummy worms after the race was definitely a highlight. 

Three Richmond eights after the race. Photo: Will Golding

Richmond vs. Richmond in the MD8+:

Men’s D8+ coxed by Derek Begg. Photo: Steve Sheppard

Cox: Derek Begg
Jack Hellerstedt
Pavel Oborin
Ben Wardle
John Carey
Michael Gehling
Jon Roberts
Allan Randall
Kim Begelhole
First place, 11:23.29

We made the HoTY ‘gram.

Men’s D8+ coxed by Kathy Macrow. Photo: Steve Sheppard

Cox: Kathy Macrow
Dennis Beck
Leigh McKee
Alex Pupko
Tim Gruner
Richie Healy
Ryan Simmons
Keith Wong
Redmond Skelton
Second place, 12:15.06

Women’s C8+

Women’s C8+ coxed by Mike Numa. Photo: Steve Sheppard

Cox: Mike Numa
Kate Dyball
Karen Doggett
Chelsea Crouser
Kirsty Fergie
Lily Innes-Irons
Zoe Maxwell
Michelle Joy
Alex Huang
3rd place, 11:42.5

John Carey getting his D-grade medal from coxswain Derek Begg. Photo: Will Golding

Richmond were also represented in the masters, with Ray Dennis rowing with Banks in the MMI+ (1st place, 15:08.85) and our own president Gerry Goss rowing in a multi -club composite in the FMF+ (1st place, 13:33.7).

The fastest time down the course was the men’s open eight Mercs/ Sydney composite with a blistering 9:15.32 aided by a pair of ex-Olympians in 7&8.

End of Year Regatta Recap and New Boats Named

It’s been a busy few months of regattas culminating with Melbourne Head, Head of the Yarra and Carrum Regatta just last weekend.
Congratulations to the 4 crews who represented Richmond at Head of the Yarra, a mixed masters crew, one female D grade crew and two male D grade crews. There were good performances by all following a large amount of training in the run up.
We made the trip to Carrum, for the Carrum regatta last Saturday for the final regatta of the year. Richmond was well represented at the regatta which saw a large amount of elite and school crews competing. A strong contingent competed in every category from Open to D Grade with crews in all boat classes except eights.
Competitive performances on the day saw wins for:

  • Dario Sportelli in the C-Single,
  • Lachlan Stewart, Richard Healy, Tom Brooks, Pavel Oborin coxed by Ainsley Raggatt in the D Grade Four
  • Kirstie Fergy in the D-Single
  • Amy Catlin and Lily Innes-Irons in the C-Pair
  • Dario and Ainsley in a composite mixed double
  • Thomas Brooks, Richard Healy, Lachlan Stewart, Pavel Oborin in the D Grade Quad
  • Kirsty Fergie, Aline Dejaegher, Jon Roberts, Allan Randall coxed by Rosie Dickson-Hoyle in the mixed quad

A day after Carrum we held our final club races for the year. Three eights took to the water to fight it out. Clearly the starter was not loud enough for one crew, with “attention” being the new “go”. Congratulations to the crew of Derek Begg (cox), Michael Gehling, Kim Begelhole, Jingyi (Alex) Huang, William Golding, Kathryn Spinnler-Jenkins, Lily Innes-Irons, Emily James and Red Skelton who took out the win.

We then gathered to name our three newest boats. Firstly, a double named Morpheus by Ally Dejaegher as part of our recent raffle to name a boat at Melbourne head.

Then Yass Queen, a new mid weight single named by Dana Hill, also as part of our recent naming raffle.

And finally the Riverboat Jasper, a single kindly donated by captain Barry Campbell.

Following the smashing of bottles we retreated to the club for our annual Christmas lunch to celebrate the year gone. We also wished Kathy Macrow a happy 60th birthday on the day!!!

Happy Christmas and don’t forget your New Years Eve party tickets!!!

HotY 2017

We started our journey in the men’s eight, in earnest, around September of this year. A “Head Season”, with unremittingly long distances, curves, bends and crashes was a completely new concept for me. Basil brought a new fiery intensity to the club; putting us through our paces with some grueling ergos and a new weights program. As well as some killer (literally) circuits. All the joys.
To think 12 weeks ago, I would go on to actually ENJOY sustaining a 28-30 stroke rate for over half an hour seemed laughable and virtually un-doable! However, I genuinely enjoyed every last minute of this year’s Head of the Yarra.
I’m a nervy race-day rower… as my team-mates will confirm from excessively detailed body-workings on our WhatsApp group; “Morning Glory”. I arrived 4 hours before the race; keen to revel in the atmosphere, cheer on other crews and wind down the nerves. However, the nerves quickly turned to an astute state of focus once I watched a few boats taking off from the judges’ box.
Tim gathered us together as a crew at 12.45 with a final few words of wisdom. “Lengthen” would be our call. Lengthen to tidy up your last stroke and reset. Lengthen to ensure a full and strong finish. Lengthen to get your body over for a tender catch.

The starting line announcer sounded mechanical and almost haunting. Boat names were being called out like the quelling from the Hunger Games, with one simple instruction; “ROW”.
“Boat 206… row”.
The race itself feels a little like a blur. I remember the relief of getting around “big bend” (I was sitting in three seat) and then faintly thinking about tanking up for the next corner…
Stef was clinical in her calls and coxing. She put in a stellar performance, driving her crew on for pieces and navigating a difficult course in what can only be described as a coxswain’s race. We managed to hunt down and pass a crew around the 3km mark. We had drawn blood! There was a hunger and a freshness in the boat, perhaps Basil’s intensity was finally beginning to rub off. We wanted more… Tim was screaming from the bank; ushering us on to take another boat down. He wanted the “bumble-bees” from Balmain… The rush of passing another crew lifted us. We soon entered a crash site. Argonauts, were the casualties, missing a bend and lodging themselves in the middle of the river. Quick thinking from Stef and an “oar”esome save from Club President Jon ensured we sailed past our rivals unscathed. We were still hunting right to the finish line; pressing Balmain on the line and perching ourselves right up the pecking order.
Our hard work seemed to be answered in the overall results. Although the results posted on the day had us in 4th place, further inquiry and clarification had us ultimately with a quality 2nd place finish from 12 D Grade Crews. Our time of 33.25 placed us into 90th place overall. Even without knowing the result, I felt an exhilarating rush of joy! We’d finally come together as a crew to put in a solid row. We drove hard right out to the end and we had the shared euphoria of a team’s effort. A beer well earned!
We couldn’t have put a Richmond men’s eight together without wider help from the club. We cannot thank Tim, Dave and Keith, Ray and Kimmy enough for stepping in during training sessions and keeping the momentum going. Special mention to Matt Ebbatson on this front, for stepping up on about a week’s notice to fill in for Tim on race day after Tim succumbed to injury. We also lamented the losses of Laurent, James and Cam to injury at earlier points in the campaign; watch this space! They’ll be back. And an extra special thanks to Basil, Tim, Dennis and Ger for driving us on as coaches. The feeling of vindication for all the training and mileage off the water made me feel like a proud, proud man!
And of course, the men’s 8 was far the only Richmond presence on the water at this year’s HoTY. First off the mark from the Richmond crews was the women’s masters A-C 8 at about 11.15am, coxed by Mike Numa. By all accounts they made a great start, pushing off strong and swiftly passed several crews through the first half of the course up to big bend. Although the coaching observation had to turn back after that, the crew pushed on to finish in a solid 8th in category in a time of 37:01. This is the first time Richmond has entered the masters category, competing with some very strong crews. They’ve now set the benchmark for those to come!

Just shortly before the men’s 8 was to kick off, the women’s D grade 8 made their dash down the course, starting at about 1.20 and coxed by Derek Begg. Again, some strong crews were amongst the competition. The reports are again that the team pulled down the course strongly. They ultimately finishing 8th in category in a time of 41:51, improving on their overall placing from 2017. Ed has passed on her take on the girl’s tilt: we made a good start, the boats who were going to pass passed and then we had a steady row down to big bend. The bend was tricky in shallow water and rowing started to get difficult. With no other boats in sight it almost felt like any given Sunday row. We got a second wind going pass Scotch and eventually make it over the line, exhausted. Once we’d cooled down with some beers in the shade, the pirates rowed the eight home, and the highlight was cap’n Derek who did not give his pirate voice a break the entire 8.6km back. Thanks for keeping it fun Derek!

In addition to those full crews, Tigers were on the water in other boats. Gerry Goss, as well as coaching all of the Richmond crews at various times, scorched her way down the course in a composite Nagambie boat in the women’s masters F-K category. Her crew won their category in a time of 33:55! Ray Dennis also competed in a composite Banks crew in the men’s masters I-K 8, which crossed the line in 35:15. And we can’t forget Basil of course, who ended up scoring a seat in a masters Argonauts crew at the last minute.
There were also Tigers on the water in the coxswain’s seat. Shern Timmins was on the water early, coxing a composite Year 10 MLC/Tara schoolgirl’s crew from Sydney – Shern’s second HoTY in the cox’s seat! Nicole Stupka also steered an Adelaide crew down the course. And Lindsay Brown added an international element, taking control of a mixed crew from New Zealand.
Although some names have already been mentioned on the coaching front, it never hurts to say them again and to make sure that everyone is included. All the coaches put in a huge amount of effort and time, which is almost entirely out of their dedication to the club and their passion for rowing. They also fulfil multiple roles, as Derek (coach/cox), Mike (coach/cox), Tim (coach/rower) and Dennis (coach/rower) all demonstrate. We’d like to say again thanks to Basil, Tim, Dennis, Derek, Mike, Gerry and Barry.
With all that, another HoTY down – bring on HoTY 2018!
John Carey (telling the story of a first HoTY experience) and Andrew Yuile (doing the round-up on all RRC involvements)

HoTY 2016

Head of the Yarra has been and gone for another year with close to 2300 competitors in 255 eights taking part in the 8.6km race up the Yarra from Birrarung Marr to Hawthorn Rowing Club. The club had an impressive number of members participating across the day either rowing in our club and composite crews or coxing some of the visiting crews. This year we entered 2 of our own crews but had representation in another 6 boats across the day.

As one of the first races in the morning, the Richmond D Grade women’s eight put in a solid effort down to Hawthorn despite the difficult traffic conditions and we managed a clean run down past Big Bend before running into trouble. The rowing gods however turned against us but thanks to Mike’s expert coxing, both the boat and crew all made it to the finish line in one piece despite a few knocks and collisions along the way. With a last minute sub, our crew consisted of Kathy Macrow, Karin Bouvin, Vicki Brennan, Jodie Naisbitt, Dana Hill, Piyada Pravitharangkul, Gabriella Ibbott, and Yash Vegi.

After a spot of lunch and a hydrating glass of wine or two, we pottered across to the Yarra to watch other crews and wait for the Men’s D Grade eight to appear around the bend. After a few false alarms (seriously how many clubs have yellow zooties) the men’s crew coxed by Shern powered past us looking far more refreshed than I had felt at the same point. The men’s crew was made up of Laurent Demay, George Frederiksen, Jon Roberts, Allan Randall, Charlie Burke, Andrew Yuile, Guy Ayres, Michael Calvert and David Micallef.
m8-hoty
Keeping with Richmond tradition, after the river reopened the women’s eight’s rowed back in costume- this year’s theme being animal fancy dress. Thanks to everyone who participated in getting all Richmond crews on the water and to our volunteer/cheersquad BRO, Stef Dudczig and some pretty great photography credits Tim Evans and Michael Gehling.
w8-fancy-dress
Dana Hill