Tapping In The Monthly Newsletter of the Riverside Rowing Club

Transcription

1 Tapping In The Monthly Newsletter of the Riverside Rowing Club August Edition 2015 President s Message So here we are again and ideas are starting to gel! One idea that I am working on is that of a Coaching Group. This will include all our RRC coaches and will guide many aspects of our life on the water and crew formation. It will support all three groups within the club Juniors, Competitive Masters and Recreational Rowers. I am very keen that all members of the club are given the opportunity to reach their full potential. It will be the job of the Coaching Group to foster this. We are a large club and our members have many skills that would be very valuable to the club. But where are these hidden gems? As you are all aware we depend on volunteers and I would like to develop a system so we can share the load more equally and make use of your particular skills. Please contact me if you have any ideas. As you know Geoff Playford has taken on the onerous task of Boat Captain. With the coming busy season almost upon us I would ask you all to support him in any way you can. Did you know that I was a member of SARIRC (ok who knows what that stands for you should!) in My only claim to fame was that I rowed in the bow seat of the winning Maiden VIII on the Port River and still have the pewter mug to prove it! Good Rowing Max H-S President!1

2 Welcome to New Members As most members will be aware Riverside RC has formed an association with UniSA and we are delighted to be the university s nominated rowing club. A special welcome therefore to the following who have joined our club -Ruby McFall, Maddie Hooper, Jessica Stroet, Louise Maney, Stephanie O Brien, Alexandra Prest, Emily Vandenbroek, Michael Cadzow, Caleb Steer and visiting from the UK Cooper Lynch. We look forward to getting to know them and hope they enjoy both the rowing and the social side of the club. Early success has come to this group in the Winter series see report below. Welcome also to two (more mature) new members who have both come back to rowing after exended periods. Robert McLennan is originally from Victoria where he rowed at a senior level. Rob is G Grade. Also welcome back to Ray Harris who was a prominent and successful member of SARIRC in the 1960 s and was Captain from Ray is H Grade. Annual Dinner-29 th August Not to be Missed! The Riverside Rowing Club Annual Dinner is a great occasion and all members - especially new members are encouraged to come along (with or without) partners and enjoy the evening. There will be presentations of trophies in various categories, and a distinguished guest speaker. Riverside RC BAR-Please Note! Thank you to Lewis Jones, Peter Rowell, Kate Argue and Robyn Fuller for manning the bar at our last function. We have at LEAST 10 more bookings before Christmas, so would appreciate volunteers stepping forward. Lewis Jones is organising the volunteer roster so please contact him directly on or at lewis53@internode.on.net (Thank you to members who have already done so). Remember, beer = boats! Thank you for your support. Liz Thamm (RRC Bar Manager)!2

3 Winter Series Something New and Very Welcome For the first time a Winter Series of regattas is being held at West Lakes. Round 1 on Sunday 14 th August consisted of 3x 500m sprints with about 20 minutes in between. We were delighted that some of our new members from Uni SA rowed in their first races and did very well. We had two RRC crews racing as follows- RRC Novice womens 4x+ cox Don Telford Ruby McFall, Maddie Hooper, Jessica Stroet, Louisa Maney one first, two seconds, against ARC. RRC Moes MM8+ H Grade Cox Jo Wall Paul Gunson, Peter Smith, Mike Napper, Ray Harris, Max Hoseason- Smith, Richard Clark, Hugh Orr, Ken Milne one first and two seconds- against AUBC. Congratulations and thanks for all at RSA for this excellent innovation. Rowing SA Forums An Excellent Initiative The first of the Rowing SA Forums was held on Sunday 17 th July 2015 at 7am at the Rowing SA Boatshed Café. The purpose was to open a wide ranging discussion with all the South Australian rowing clubs on how things can be improved for the rowing community at all levels. Thirty two representatives attended this first meeting and each was given the opportunity to briefly state their major concerns. RRC President Max Hoseason- Smith and Boat Captain Geoff Playford attended. The following schedule planned for coming months indicates the areas that clubs are most concerned with- September 26 th Recruiting rowers November 13 th Quality coaching January 29 th Rower retention March 11 th The Complete Club May 6th Rowing and / in the Community Editorial comment we hope this group will tackle the appalling state of the concrete steps at the northern launching place!!3

4 RSA/SASI Time Trials-Not to be Missed by Serious Crews! Did you know that RSA runs time trials once a month and the next is on Saturday 29 th August? All grades of boats may enter from singles to eights. So what are these all about? Well, we get on the water at 6.30am and row up to the north end of West Lakes (Bower Road). We then turn around and line up at the start. When we get the word we take off and row furiously to the south end (Trimmer Parade) a distance of 4.75km and each crew is accurately timed. The crews go off at set intervals one after the other. These time trials are mainly designed for the elite young rowers but Masters may enter in the usual way via our Regatta Secretary Jane Dawson. This provides a great opportunity to test your crew and compare your performance from month to month. We understand there are only two of these left -29 th August and 26 th September. After that they are for the elite rowers only. The Bob Bradley Trophy Time Trial A Great Success! The first of the Bob Bradley Trophy Time Trials was held on Sunday 9 th August This is a fun time trial event for singles and pairs that has been developed by our RRC Regatta Committee to try and engender more interest in racing on the Torrens Lake and to add more colour and life to one Sunday morning in the City of Adelaide. The morning dawned fine and still and a little warmer than the weather had been for the previous week-this was appreciated by all concerned. A briefing was held at 7am and the rules of the road outlined to all rowers. Thanks to Mike Napper four buoys were placed in the lake and rowers were required to row to the south of these. This was appreciated by the rowers as it improved the safety on the water and ensured that the distance rowed was much the same for all. Scullers rowed upstream to the University footbridge and lined up in order for a rolling start with boats going off at 15 second intervals.!4

5 It is a test of not only rowing but also of navigation dodging the waterfall, the fountain, the new footbridge etc all the while trying to reach the finish line as fast as possible. Marshals were stationed along the banks of the lake and warned the rowers when they were approaching certain death eg hitting the fountain etc. Our thanks to them for ensuring that we lost not one rower through collision or drowning! Ten male single scullers and two female single scullers took part and two pairs one each from RRC and Goolwa RC. We were especially pleased to welcome guests from Goolwa RC- David England, Ian Brown and Sue Briton- Jones and Lachlan Kirchner from St Ignatias RC and James Corbett from CBC Masters RC, And the winners were MM1X Mark Johnston, MW1X Gordana Kalanj, Open M1X Lachlan Kirchner, MM2- Ian Mc Bryde and Bill Marmion. After the racing a delicious breakfast was served to some people with egg and bacon muffins and tea and coffee- thank you to Max Hoseason- Smith and his band of helpers for doing this so well as always. Hugh Orr then gave a brief address about Bob Bradley (who passed away in November 2013) and the reasons that this event had been developed to celebrate his outstanding rowing career which spanned more than 60 years as a member of our club. Bob Bradley s wife Pat then presented the Bob Bradley Trophy to Mark Johnston and medals the other winnners. Peter Furze presented the Bob Bradley Memorial Oar Rack Trophy (!) to Mark Johnston. All in all this was a memorable rowing and social event and was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who attended. Above all it was a lot of fun. Congratulations to Mark Walsh and the RRC Regatta Committee for all the planning and thought they put in to making this event so successful. It is hoped that next year we will get even more!5

6 entrants and the event will become a regular highlight of the rowing calendar. (By the way did you know that while we pronounce buoys as boys Americans pronounce it booees?) Vale Ron Fitch Ex SAR Commissioner Ron Fitch passed away on 20 th July 2015 aged 105. A separate tribute was ed to RRC members on 24 th July The photo below shows RRC Secretary Zandra Smith after presenting a copy of the new club history book to Ron on 18 th January The wall plaque in the club was unveiled at the opening of our clubhouse by Ron on 24 March Last But Not Least Some special thank yous to- Andrew Foreman our master craftsman for making the wonderful Bradley Trophy Anne Wheare and her band of polishers for shining the trophies Rick Fitzgerald and Doug Raymond for fixing up the clubhouse porch s weather cover.!6

7 Key Dates for Your Diary August 2015 (16 August, Sunday, Round 1 Winter Series 3x500m) 26 August Wednesday Rowing SA AGM - all welcome 29 th August Saturday RSA Time Trial 29 th August Saturday RRC ANNUAL DINNER 30 August, Sunday, Round 2 Winter Series 1x2000m September th September, Sunday, Round 3 Winter Series 1x9000m 20 th September, Sunday Working Bee at West lakes 26 th SASI Time Trial October th, 9 th 10 th October Australian Masters Games 16 TH October, Friday RRC CAPTAIN S COCKTAIL PARTY 17 th October, Saturday, Opening of the RSA season Regatta 24 th October, Saturday, Port Adelaide RC regatta 31 st October, Saturday Henley on Torrens November th December, Saturday Round the Island race West Lakes 28 th November, Saturday Head of the Yarra Melbourne December th December Friday Wald Cup and Christmas get together 5 th & 6 th Renmark Regatta 12 th December Twilight Regatta West Lakes I was immediately intoxicated by the extraordinary sense of power one could obtain while striving to pull an oar through the water, the feeling that I had every muscle group in my body working to produce force on the oar handle On his first experience of rowing-harry Parker Head Coach Harvard Heavyweight Crew. Ref p12 Rowing Against the Current by Barry Straus Good Rowing!!7