Nepean Rowing Club is offering a free 3 session learn to row course to 13-18 year old's this school holidays (4-19th July).
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Due to the current situation we made the decision to do this year's presentation online. Thank you to everyone who got involved. We look forward to seeing you all on the water soon. 

We are pleased to announce that we will be resuming private learn to row sessions from the 30th May.
​There will be a protocol in place to ensure the healthy and safety of everyone involved. 

We had twenty rowers compete at the Sydney regatta. We were able to boat a few crews and it also provided an opportunity for the small boats that will be racing in Nationals next month to race at SIRC one more time. 
First
Para 1x: Kate
WU19 1x: Edee
WO1x: Sienna
Para 2-: Kate and Paul
WU23 2x: Edee and Macayla
Second
MU19 1x: Miles
WU23 1x: Annelise
WO 2x: Sienna and Annelise
MC4+: Jason, Miles, Harry, Paul and Alex
WO4x: Sienna, Edee, Jacqui and Annelise
Third
MO 2x: Jason and Miles
WC4+: Aimee, Jacqui, Edee, Macayla and Jess

​Thankyou to everyone who helped on the day to make it all possible. We look forward now to our next regatta which will be the Drummoyne regatta on the 15th March. 

For the first time in a long time we sent a substantial amount of rowers from one school to this regatta, the public school's State Championships. 

​This year we had fourteen Penrith Highschool students attend the regatta. This in itself is quite an achievement given the program has only been running for one year. They had some good results, with highlights including:
WU15 1x: 6th: Gauri Kotera
Women's Inter Regional 4x+: 3rd: Gauri Kotera
MU15 1x: 3rd: Daming Wang
MU15 2x: 3rd: Daming Wang and Tanish Patil
MU16 1x: 8th: Alex Vella

A big thankyou to Penrith Highschool for their support of this program, without which we would not be where we are now. We look forward to the future of this program. Thanks to Sarah who has been pivotal to the success as a whole and in particular for this event. 

Edee also attended the regatta, representing her school, Wollongong Highschool of the Performing Arts. Edee had a comfortable heat though her start was not ideal with a not so straight start causing her to crash into buoys. She had a smoother race in the final and went away with the silver. ​

A wet three days was forecasted and the weather did not disappoint. Unfortunately this also saw the majority of Sunday's racing cancelled with only a couple hours of heats and semi-finals racing taking place. 
Good work to all those who worked hard for the event and for those who unfortunately did not race, rest assured there will be more opportunities in the future.
Special mentions to:
Kate Murdoch for winning the Para single and the Para double with University of Queensland rower, Mac.
Aimee Wagner who teamed up with Maxine from Glebe to claim the bronze in the lightweight under 21 double.
Miles Harrold for placing seventh in the under 19 single.

We had twenty Nepean rowers head to SIRC for the RNSW Small boats regatta. This was a good opportunity for all rowers to row at SIRC with some of the major competitions for juniors fast approaching and masters rowers not too far away from their big regatta also.
It was a good day of racing with good, though slow conditions. Thank you to everyone for their efforts on the day and for your help to ensure it all ran smoothly. 

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Mixed Doubles Race: After much hype, the highly anticipated mixed doubles race took place on the final day of camp. Originally it was a race organised after some rowers were talking at the Christmas party last year. This was changed during camp with crews selected by drawing names out in random (though one crew saw a substitute take place which was totally not rigged). The race was approximately 150 metres in length (which was suggested by the social rower of the race) so it was very different to normal racing.
The race got underway, and saw 'Danny's Angels' take an early lead (to the surprise of the commentators) however as they approached the line one of the rowers lost their oar (I will not mention names, though the video can be found through the below link) and the rest of the field caught up. It was 'BFF4EVA' who took the win and there was a close battle for second and third, with the judges deciding on Tweedledee & Tweedle dumb taking second and 'Hugh let the dogs out, Hugh, Hugh, Hugh' taking third, though this decision was not well received by one of the crews.
This was alot of fun and created some good banter. Thanks for all those involved in the race, cheering crews on and for starting and finishing the race.
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https://www.facebook.com/nepeanrowingclub/videos/576559192893581/?t=4 

Friday 10th
We were greeted with some rough conditions on the first day of racing but this not deter rowers and all the racing went ahead as scheduled. 
A few highlights included; Gauri and Harry winning their first races in rowing in the WD2x and MC4x respectively, Monique won her first 2km race and also snapped her first oar. Everyone dealt with the difficult conditions well, we had some good results and a lot was learnt from the day of racing.

This year was the first year all the rowers did not stay together. However, we did continue the tradition of having dinner together at Wingham Hotel. It was a good night and we continued on the tradition of going to the shops afterwards and bought healthy snacks for that night. 

Saturday 11th
The second day of racing was upon us and while conditions were better than the day before, it was a head wind, which smaller rowers are never happy with (and we have a lot of them).
A few highlights included a number of scratch crews performing well including:
- WC2x's: Tallara and Macayla; Jacqui and Sarah
- WD4x: Sarah, Edee, Cleo and Gauri
We were able to put together a women's D and C grade eight this year. The women's D eight raced well on Saturday and while having a tight battle with UTS during the majority of the race, they went away with the win. The crew was: Aimee, Jacqui, Monique, Edee, Macayla, Cleo, Sarah, Annelise and was coxed by Alex. 

The mixed eight is always a highlight of the entire regatta, but it is also a big deal for our club. It is always an achievement to be part of the crew and something everyone who attends the regatta wants to be part of. This year we went with less experienced girls to lower our handicap. They did not disappoint, and performed well. It was a good race and we were happy with the result, placing fourth in a field of sixteen. Congratulations to everyone who was part of the crew, you should all be proud of the effort you put in. 

Final Thoughts
I apologies for not covering all racing but I would like to say it was a great effort by all rowers and I am confident everyone gained something from the weekend. 

I was again very happy to see the great team effort over the weekend. From helping rig/de-rig boats, helping rowers on and off the water, preparing food, cheering rowers on and so much more. A special mention to Mark (who I know will love that he gets a mention) for his efforts over the weekend and for everything else he did and continues to do to keep the rowing program running the way it does. 

Thanks to everyone who was involved in this year's camp and Taree, and I am confident it will set up everyone for a successful second half of the season. 

The air quality was again a concern on Sunday however unlike the day before, with an earlier start and a condensed schedule due to numerous withdrawals from various clubs, the entire event went ahead. We had very good racing conditions all day and this lead to some good times and results.

We had sixteen rowers compete for us on the day and we had some very good results. While it is noted that many withdrawals were present especially in the older age categories the results were none the less very good and something everyone involved in should be proud of. Please find a list of medallists below. 
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I will not detail every race however I will reflect on the performance of the club generally. The amount of wins and medals is something that some could look at as the success of the day but for me this is not the case. I do think we had a very successful regatta but rather because I could see the improvements all of the rowers involved have made over time. For some these improvements are from the start of the year having only begun rowing this year (though some still do not know what way a gate goes) while for others this was a culmination of years of effort. The hours put in before the race are what determines the result on the day in a large part and racing gives rowers feedback on their progress. While I only give praise sparingly (if at all) I will say that I was happy with many of the performances on the day. 

Thank you to everyone who helped make the day/weekend possible. A moment from the day before I will not forget was when the young boys were struggling to carry their boat and without hesitation two fellow rowers jumped on to help out. This to me is what it is all about, in being part of a club, being part of something bigger than yourself. This report would not be complete without a special mention to Mark who I am sure will thank me for mentioning him in another report. 
 
Before I finish I must mention one last thing. As those on the day would be aware I made a bet involving pushups based on the result of a particular race. Unfortunately for me I lost and had to do 100 pushups which was hard in itself and I can still feel the effects 5 days later. I know many rowers enjoyed this sight and found joy in my pain and I will share some photos for those who missed out. 

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