The final two regattas of the year were finally upon us. Unfortunately the weather cast some doubt on the events going ahead. The smoke from the recent fires has caused issues for training and now presented an issue for racing.
We only had half a morning of racing before the regatta was called off.
Good work to all those that were able to compete and as always thank you to everyone who helped make the day possible. 

Good work to Miles, Hugh, Aimee, Edee and Sarah who went to Mosman Rowing Club to participate in the first NSW Pathway Schools eight training day on Sunday 24th November. It was a great experience for them and one they enjoyed, especially the 2km r18 erg. 
Thank you to RNSW for organising the day, to the schools that provided boats and to all the coaches from schools and clubs that helped with the day. 

Thank you to everyone who cam and gave it a go. Also, a big thankyou to all the Nepean members who helped out on the day. 
Please check out the Learn to Row page for details for next years Come Try Day or to sign up for private learn to row lessons. 

We set off for our first regatta at SIRC for the season. We had a strong contingent of 34 rowers competing and had a full day of racing. We had experienced rowers right through to novices racing on the day. Strong winds could not detract from a great day of racing, despite a handful of races at the end of the day being cancelled. 
Congratulations to everyone on their results and as always, thank you to everyone who made the day possible. 

Our first club run event saw a new format being implemented with all boat classes being available to race. We were fortunate to have great conditions and with close to 200 competitors in total, it was set to be a great morning of racing. Twenty seven Nepean rowers took part in the event with the majority competing in crew boats, and they all performed very well.
A big thankyou to the seventeen club members who volunteered for the day along with the BRO, Steve. Thanks to this help the event ran smoothly and I am very appreciative of everyone's contributions on the day. 

We set off for the final JB Sharp regatta with ten rowers and were fortunate to have good conditions all day. 
Racing kicked off with Sarah taking out a win in the under 16 singles having been pushed the whole way by a UTS sculler. The women's intermediate quad of Aimee, Edee, Cleo, and Macayla took out a clear water win with a push to the line in the final part of the race. Later that day an open quad was boated with Aimee switching out for Sarah, and again they went away with the win. The final race for these rowers saw Aimee and Macayla face off against Sarah and Edee in the intermediate double. Aimee and Macayla went away with a good win.
The novice racing saw our newer rowers take to the wate. Alliah has continued to improve, and this showed in her placing second in the novice single. The Penrith Highschool program continues to progress, and we had four boys rowing at this regatta. Alex, Tanish, Eric and Daming raced in the novice quad against only one other crew, Balmain. Although Balmain proved too strong for them, they worked together well and continue to show they are learning every time they go on the water. Alex, Tanish and Eric all raced the novice single. A special mention to Eric for competing in his first regatta and placing fourth in the single.
Congratulations to everyone on your results. It is only very early in the season and is a good starting point for us to build upon for future racing.
This series is always a good experience and we are appreciative of everyone involved who make it possible. A special thanks to all members who chipped in and helped with loading, on the day and unloading. It is everyone's efforts that make it all possible, so thank you.
Our next event will be our own Head race on the 25th August.

We celebrated the 2018/19 season on Sunday. We had a lot to be proud of this season and it was great to see so many rowers come and enjoy the day. Congratulations to all the award winners and boat name recipients. Thank you to everyone who helped make this a great season. 

We headed off to the first regatta of the season with a squad of nine rowers. Glebe is always a fun regatta with 500 metre sprints always making for some exciting racing.
Sarah placed second in the under 16 single, beaten to the line by a Sydney University sculler.
The intermediate quad of Aimee, Annelise, Edee and Macayla took out the win.
Aimee won the handicap single and Macyala placed third. 
The novice single saw two rowers go for a swim and Monique go away with the win. 
A big congratualtions on all those competing in their first regatta: Alliah, Annelise, Monique, Alex and Tanish.

Jason and Aimee put their hands up (or were gently persuaded) to compete in the sixteen kilometre Perth to Fremantle race in their singles.
They both endured some tough conditions and I know short and long term they have learnt (or will eventually) something from the experience that will help them further their rowing in the future.
Aimee won the A-E grade category and Jason placed third in the A-E category. 
Will recently moved over to WA and lucky for us he put his hand up to jump into a masters composite eight. While cardio has never been Will's strength, we knew he was going into this event not prepared in the slightest, but he gave it a go, and that is all you can ask. 

The much anticipated Australian Masters Championships was upon us once again. With the event being held over in Perth it was no small feat to organise a trip of this magnitude. A big thank you to Jason and Mark who were fundamental to the success of this trip. 
We had six rowers along with Mark make the trip from Nepean; Jacqui, Fiona, Aimee (coxswain), Andrew, Jason and myself.
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With such small numbers we only had five events that saw exclusively Nepean rowers in the boat. 
Mixed A/B quad of Jason, Myself, Fiona and Jacqui placing third overall and first as a non-composite crew.
Mixed A/B double of Jason and Jacqui wo placed second against Rowan and Shantelle from Newcastle University.
A grade double of Jason and myself placing first.
A grade pair of Jason and myself placing second.
A grade single with Jason taking the silver. 

Due to only having a small number of rowers we teamed up with numerous clubs to justify taking a trailer over to the other side of the country. These included: Manning River, Lake Macquarie, Newcastle, Newcastle University, Brisbane Waters and Endeavour.
With many of these clubs we also formed composite crews. These proved very successful with the below resulting in medals.
​A grade coxed four- silver- Fiona, Dux (BWRC), Shantelle (NUBC), Jacqui and Aimee
A grade pair- bronze- Jacqui and Shantelle (NUBC)
A grade coxed four- gold- Sean (END), me, Sean (BWRC),  Jason and Aimee
A grade quad- gold- Rowan (NUBC), me, Rhett (Mann) and Jason
C grade quad- gold- Sean (END), Rhett (Mann), Sean (BWRC),  Jason
B grade coxed four- silver- Sean (END), Rowan (NUBC), Sean (BWRC),  Jason and Aimee
Mixed A/B coxed four- silver- Shantelle (NUBC), Jacqui, Sean (BWRC), Jason and Aimee
Mixed A/B eight- silver- Fiona, Dux (BWRC), Shantelle (NUBC), Jacqui, Sean (BWRC), Rowan (NUBC), me, Jason and Aimee

,We also had some very good performances, that while not producing medals, are still commendable, especially considering the high standard of racing this year. 
A grade quad- 4th- Fiona, Dux (BWRC), Shantelle (NUBC) and Jacqui
B grade pair- 4th- Sean (BWRC) and Jason
A grade double- 5th- Dux (BWRC) and Jacqui
A grade single- 6th- Jacqui

Jason and myself were privileged this season to be part of the interstate racing as coaches of the men's quad consisting of Gary (Drummoyne), Sean (Endeavour), Sean (Brisbane Waters) and Rhett (Manning River). While they did not have the perfect race they still went away with a fourth and learnt a lot form the experience, as did Jason and I.

A big thank you to everyone who made this such a great trip. I will leave you all with some pictures I got on our way back, along with some great snap of Mark. 

The final NSW regatta for the season was finally here, and the older members of the club had the opportunity to race against the best in the state in their respective age groups. We only had a small contingent of six Nepean rowers competing, however we were able to organise a few composite crews which enabled us to have more racing.
Saturday racing commenced for Nepean with Jacqui teaming up with Dux (BWRC) in the A double. A strong Glebe crew pushed off early and while the Nepean composite crew began to claw back Shellharbour City, they did not have enough left in the tank to bring back the early lead they established. They went away with the bronze. Jacqui shortly after this race jumped into the mixed double with Jason to defend their title from last year. Newcastle Uni and Nepean pushed away from the rest of the field and it was a two-crew race for the gold. While Jason and Jacqui started to gain on the Newcastle Uni crew in the later stages of the race it was not enough and they had to settle for second with only eight one hundredths of a second separating first and second.
In other mixed racing, Jason, Magnus, Jacqui and Fiona teamed up to take out the mixed quad. The other big boat of the day saw Jason, Sean (BWRC), Magnus and Daniel line up for the B quad. A good start and smooth racing resulted in them having a boat length lead coming into the final two hundred and fifty metres. A crab by the Nepean composite crew saw the trailing Black Mountain crew take a brief lead but this did not faze the crew who lifted for the final couple of hundreds of metres to take the gold.

​In the small boats, Magnus had a tough race in the C single. A Melbourne University sculler was the one to watch and he got off to a good lead with Magnus trailing in second. Magnus kept his composure and while some would say his recovery was not seamless, he pushed through in the final stages of the race to claim the victory.
Paul had a tight tussle with Sean (BWRC) in the D single and got on top in their battle, with Paul taking the silver by four hundredths of a second.
Jacqui had a good race in the A single to place fourth. While still not attaining a medal, she continues to move in the right direction having placed sixth in the same event last year. 

Jason and Daniel raced the A pair, with only having raced the pair once previously, one of the members was a bit nervous (easy guess as to who that was). A mishap by the starter did cause some confusion but the pair got on with the race at hand. Keeping their composure, they came into the final stages with the Black Mountain crew who lead from the start in their sights. A less than desirable few strokes by someone who will go unnamed was not ideal and saw the Black Mountain crew take gold and Nepean take silver. While not happy with the result due to matters both outside and within the crew’s control, we always need to learn from experiences such as these and implement this into future racing.
Sunday racing began with still conditions but much like the previous day the conditions changed throughout.
The first final of the day for us was the women’s A four. This crew has improved since first coming together, however they are still a very new combination and are still working on moving the boat together. The crew of Jacqui, Shantelle (NUBC), Dux (BWRC) and Fiona got off the start cautiously but began to find their groove as the race went on. They pushed away from the remainder of the field to claim a six second victory.
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This same crew combined for the A quad and went away with bronze. Shantelle (NUBC) and Jacqui then came together for the A pair. They have had a few training sessions in the pair and have come together well. They were off a two second handicap from the other two crews in the race but they made this back within the first two hundred and fifty metres to then push away and go on to claim the gold.
Jason and Daniel progressed through their heat to make it to the A double final. A controlled start saw them in the mix early on with Manning River crew pushing off to a lead coming through the middle of the race. However, the Nepean crew kept to their plan and pushed through them to take away the win. Jason went on to combine with Sean (BWRC), Rhett (Manning) and Sean (Endeavour) in the C quad. They reclaimed their title from last year with a good race to row through the early leaders from Glebe. Later in the day Jason raced in the A single. It was a two-boat race early on with Newcastle Uni pushing Jason for the first half of the race but with three hundred metres to go Jason pulled away to take away a good win and claim the title for the second year running.
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Jason, Magnus, Miles, Jooya and Aimee once again took to the water shortly after the eight in the C four. They went away with a comfortable win in the end. However, Jason, Magnus and Aimee did not get to rest long as they went back out with the two roughies from the C eight, Trent and Hugh, to contest the D four. They got off to a good start and slowly pushed through the field to claim another win for Nepean. Surprisingly the oldest rower in the D crew was able to make it through the three races, but that is probably just because it was favourable conditions, otherwise we may have had issues.
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Paul raced in the C single and after a strong heat race he was in a good position for the final. He went off hard and had a good race but unfortunately, he was just short of claiming a medal, taking away fourth place.
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Victoria and Tallara took to the water to contest the women’s C pair. There was some strong competition with ANU and UTS hosting strong crews. The girls have been training the pair consistently in the lead up to the regatta, and this was fortunate because when they started training it had its fair share of issues, with a capsize being a big one. Though, I am assured stroke seat rows perfectly, so bow is presumably to blame for any issues. The girls had a good row and took away the bronze which was a great result for them given their limited preparation.
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A special mention to Harry for competing in his first race, contesting the D single. He progressed through to the semi final which was a good achievement for his first regatta. Unfortunately, he had a bad stroke early on in the semi and went for a swim. He, in true Harry form, raced the remainder of the race despite this mishap.
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Sunday again saw good results in a couple of big boats and also good racing in the small boats.
The women’s sole big boat for the weekend, saw Tallara, Victoria, Fiona, Aimee and cox Sarah take to the water for the C coxed four. A strong UTS crew took to the lead early but the Nepean crew did not let them go easy and held off the UNSW crew to claim the silver.
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In the small boats, Aimee claimed a bronze in the C single with gold and silver going to women older than her mother. This however was not a first for Aimee, with her being accustomed to her elders being quicker than her, with a fifty year old beating her just last year.
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Sienna took out the win in the A single with Sydney closing in on her in the final stages but she had enough in the tank to hold her off. Sarah and Cleo both progressed through to the semi-finals in the D single however were unable to progress through to the final.
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A certain rower who will go unnamed, dislocated his finger on Saturday afternoon at footy. Some would say that if he was not dogging the boys this would never have happened, but that is just what I have heard. Despite this late withdrawal all the men’s racing was able to go ahead with Paul stepping up to race the C quad and B four and Miles racing the B pair.
The C quad of Miles, Jooya, Hugh and Paul progressed through to the final after a steady heat. In the final they got off well but some of the other crews as expected got off very quick in the early stages of the race. The boys crawled back to place third with second place Leichardt only being five tenths of a second in front of them on the line.
Miles then quickly jumped out of the quad and into the pair with Jason. We were all excited to see this great transfer Miles talks about translate to a fast moving pair. Fortunately (probably for Miles mostly) the boys had a good race and were able to claim a clear water lead 500 metres into the race and could settle down as the race progressed so as not to exhaust themselves too much with a four race shortly after.
The B four saw Jason, Miles, Jooya and Paul face off against ANU and UNSW crews. Early on it was clear it was going to be a battle between Nepean and UNSW but Nepean proved too strong and they went away with the win.
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A few special mentions must be made for Sunday’s racing.
First, Edee competed in her first single race in the D category and performed well for the amount of rowing she has done to date. Everyone’s first race is a daunting experience however we realise in in retrospect that it was not as scary as we thought and we learn a lot form this.
Second, Letisha competed this weekend for the final time for a long time with a knee surgery this coming week meaning she will be out of the boat for a minimum of twelve months. We wish Letisha all the best for the surgery and during her recovery.
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​Third, Tallara backed up twenty minutes after competing in the C four in the A single. This was a credit to Tallara, it was no small feat. This year saw only the one women’s crew boat for the regatta due to a lack of numbers and depth on the women’s side meaning small boats were a bigger focus. A big thankyou to Tallara for showing the team spirit I think we should all aim for, in putting the team in front of herself, and racing in a crew so close to her single.
Fourth, Mark’s feats are often marvelled by onlookers and this weekend proved no different. Due to Tallara’s tight turn around in the single she was unable to get back to the boats to row to the line. Mark stepped up and carried her single 1500 metres to the start line. While it was a sight to be seen, Mark’s continual work at the club is something that I am very grateful for and even the not so entertaining to watch jobs he does do not go unnoticed.  
As always, a big thank you to everyone who made the regatta the success it was for Nepean. We came fifth in the medal tally which was a good achievement given the number of rowers we had competing over the weekend.
For some this marks the end of the season and the beginning of off-season training that recommences this week. For master’s two big regattas remain, in the state and National titles still to come. 

Aimee travelled to Grafton with her mum to compete in the Combined High schools Championships having won the under 16 single last year at SIRC. 
Heavy winds were expected though the regatta went ahead as planned.
Aimee raced up an age group and competed in the schoolgirl single. She won her heat which placed her in a good lane for the final, which could prove useful in windy conditions. She had a good race in the final and she was happy with her performance, going away with second place, only three seconds behind the winner. 
She also had the opportunity to jump into an inter regional eight which was a good experience and the crew came second.
Our next school events for our junior rowers will be the Schoolgirl and Schoolboy Head of the River's on the  16th and 17th March respectively. 

The pinnacle event for age racing for the state was finally upon us. We had a small group of rower’s head to SIRC for the event. The NSW State Championships is the strongest state Championships in Australia with many interstate competitors competing in all age categories. We had very good rowing conditions for all three days and the rowers took advantage of this along with some good training coming into the competition, to pull very good times.
First up was Miles in the under 19 singles on the Friday afternoon. Being an under-age rower in an event with half the competition from interstate, meant it was going to be hard to progress to the final. Miles executed a very good race a and pulled a personal best time but unfortunately missed out on making it into the final by just one and a half seconds. He then went on to compete on the Sunday in the schoolboy single representing Penrith Anglican College. He progressed through to the semi final where he had a good race, but he was not quite quick enough to progress to the final, coming in sixth, with the final qualifying fourth spot being one and a half seconds quicker than him.
In the under 16 single Sarah had a comfortable heat to progress through to the semi-final. She pushed hard off the start but paid for this in the later stages, and she was unable to progress to the final. She did pull a personal best time, and learnt from the experience.
Hugh competed in the under 16 singles. He had a tough heat and pulled a big personal best to progress to the final. He had a very disciplined race in the final, racing his best race to date and pushed through the field as the race progressed to place fourth. While not attaining a medal, this is a very good achievement, and one he should be very proud of.
Aimee competed in the under 17 singles. She progressed through the heat and semi to make it into the final. She raced her own race in the final and came off the start at the back, but worked hard to place sixth in the race and fourth against the NSW rowers.
Jooya was the final race on the Sunday for us and competed in the under 17 single. He did what he had to in the heat to progress through to the final. He paced his race well in the final and was out the back off the start. He worked through rowers as they tired, to come second against a Queensland rower. A silver medal after a tough off season due to an injury is a good demonstration of his good work ethic which has allowed him to get back on track so quickly.
I was personally very happy with the results on the weekend and for anyone who knows me, knows that does not happen all that often. The rowers sent to this year’s regatta worked very hard this season to achieve these results and they should all be very happy with their own personal achievements. While I was happy with many aspects of the racing over the weekend, I was most impressed by the mature racing of such young rowers. The ability to flat pace, especially in young age categories, is tough with so many other rowers positive splitting races. The ability to do this shows great maturity and puts these rowers in a good position for future racing.
 

For the first time in my memory, a regatta was held on Australia day. High temperatures were predicted but our small squad of rowers were keen to have a last hit out before State Championships which is only three weeks away.
There was tough competition for this regatta with the vast majority of rowers competing also preparing for State. A notable performance by High saw him place third in the under sixteen single, this places him in a good position for State.
Unfortunately due to the schedule and hot weather, some of the afternoon racing was cancelled.
Good luck to everyone competing at the NSW State Championships.