RNSW Spring Regatta 13th October 2018

18/10/2018

Our first regatta at SIRC for the season was upon us once again. We had good conditions all day and some good racing was on display. Twenty Nepean rowers came out for the day and we were able to boat many crews but also many singles took to the water.
Sienna and Aimee teamed up for the B grade double. They had a good start and held with the leaders, Glebe. At the 1000m mark the girls continued to push and first placed Glebe could not hold on and they went away with the win.
Tallara and Jacqui made their return to the C grade pair after moving back down a grade. Their training preparation was not ideal and the start of the race was not pretty to say the least, but they made improvements as the race progressed and held out a late push from Sydney to take the win.
Jason and Magnus competed in the B grade double. After one practice row that saw the boys work out some technical differences and try and work together to get the boat moving, it was looking good for the race. They had a well paced race and while Cranbrook stuck with them throughout the boys had enough to hold them off and go away with the win.
The women's D four of Sarah, Letisha, Cleo and Pal with cox Hugh took to the water without high hopes given this was the first time they had taken to the water in this boat together and three of the girls had very little experience rowing sweep. They had a crash course tin sweep rowing he week leading up to the race, practicing in pairs. They started well and pushed away from the Sydney Women's MLC crew to claim a comfortable victory.
Congratulations to Cleo and Jackson for competing in their first regatta. Cleo came fourth in her novice single. Jackson though having a good race in his novice single unfortunately fell out in the final 100m. Though rumours were he was more disappointed he did not get to row the D double with one of the finest technical rowers due to his fall.
Sadly this week we were informed of the news that long time member Lee Chaumont passed away after losing her long time battle with cancer. Lee gave so much over the years to rowing not only at Nepean but also to the wider rowing community and this was recognised in 2016 when she along with Tine De Vries was awarded the RNSW volunteer of the year award. She was also awarded the honour of a single scull being named after her in 2017 in recognition of her year's of dedication to Nepean and the sport of rowing broadly. Lee will be sadly missed and her contributions will never be forgotten. As a small token of our respect to Lee Nepean rowers wore red tape on their arms for the regatta.