The club’s first race was Sommers Hogan and Sienna McFarlane in the Under 16 double scull over the 1000m course. Lining up against 8 crews in the final the Corowa crew kept pace with the early leaders. At the 500m mark the Corowa crew made their move pushing their bow in front as the two crews moved clear of the field. The Corowa crew showed the hard work against the current was working to move clear and record the win.
The next race featured Adelaide Robb and Eva Broad in the Under 19 double over the full 2000m course. With Eva competing in her first race over the full course, rowing with Adelaide was a perfect opportunity to learn. The race favourites the Composite crew from Queensland University took the early lead as the Corowa crew was in a battle for the placings. By the 1000m mark the Corowa crew was sitting in 3rd place before Adelaide made the call and the boat responded. The girls moved clear and finished strongly to claim second place.
Sommers and Sienna lined up in the U16 single scull with Sommers up first. After a cautious start, Sommers and the Ascham sculler moved clear from the field with a great battle over the last 250m. As the pace picked up with the final sprint to the line Sommers fell 1 second short to finish in second place.
14-year-old Sienna was up next and with no expectations, she flew out from the start. With a catch me if you can approach Sienna was sitting out in front as the local sculler was making inroads to the early lead. As the final sprint to the line unfolded and coming down to the last stroke Sienna fell 1/2 a second short in second place. A remarkable effort and a fantastic improvement from her first visit to Penrith last year.
The team headed back to the accommodation for a well-earned break before the C Grade crew featuring Eva, Sommers , Sienna and Liz Sandow started the afternoons racing for the club. The ideal conditions continued with the Corowa quad lining up against the Sydney and Queensland Uni crews over the 1000m course. The Corowa crew found the pace a bit quick but rowed the coxless quad down the course staying in their lane for a great hit out for the rowers.
Amy Underwood and Adelaide were up next starting with the Open Lightweight Single Scull. Adelaide and Amy had a great battle down the course with Amy rowing strongly to finish the 2000m course in 2nd place while Adelaide continued her strong form to finish in 3rd place beating 2 other competitors.
The final race for day 1 saw Amy and Adelaide team up in the Open LW double scull against 4 crews. The strong favourites were the Sydney crew with Corowa in a battle with the local crew for 2nd place. Amy made the call at the 1000m mark allowing Corowa to move clear and finish in 2nd place gaining more confidence rowing over the 2000m course for future regattas.
Day 2 featured the remaining 1000m races before the NSW State Sprint
Championships over the 500m began at 10.00am The day started with Julie lining up in the Masters single with a full field of 9 scullers. Julie and the local sculler moved out from the field and were well-placed for the sprint to the line. In a close finish with less than a second separating the 3 scullers Julie finished in 3rd place.
The mother-daughter combination of Liz and Eva teamed up in the C grade double scull. Against a strong field featuring University crews, the Corowa crew finished in 5th place.
The final race over the 1000m course saw Julie team with Susie Scott in the master’s double scull. In a high standard of sculling from the entire field of 9 crews, the Corowa double-finished in 3rd place.
The sprint racing began at 10.00am in perfect conditions, up first was the heats of the under-16 single sculls featuring Sienna and Sommers. Needing a top 3 finish to make the final Sienna had a great battle to fall just short of making the final finishing in 5th place.
Up next was Sommers who showed great control to sit comfortably in 2nd place and move into the final. The final featured 9 scullers from across NSW and in a tight battle over the 500m course less than 4 seconds separated the field with Sommers finishing in 6th position.
Rowing up in age group Adelaide and Eva competed in the U21 double scull, against older opposition the Corowa crew held on for a bronze medal. Julie lined up in the master’s single and showed great sprinting power to hold on strongly for a bronze medal. Continuing on their great form from Saturday Amy and Adelaide teamed up in the Open double scull.
Against a strong field the lightweight crew from Corowa pushed the open crews to claim the silver medal. Sommers and Sienna were determined to have another strong row , teaming up in the U16 double scull. In a high standard of sculling the Corowa crew were in a battle for a medal and in a last push claimed the bronze medal.
The Open quad featured 4 crews with the Corowa team of Amy, Adelaide, Eva and Liz teaming up together against the Sydney and Newcastle Uni Crews. The Corowa crew surprised the field moving clear with the Sydney crew at the halfway mark.
With the final sprint to the line the Corowa crew claimed the silver medal falling just short of the gold by 1/2 a second.
Julie and Susie teamed up in the master’s double and in a tight contest in the tail wind conditions held on for another bronze medal. The final event for the day was the Open single with Amy lining up in the 9-crew final.
With little separating the field Amy was in a tight battle for the bronze medal but just fell short to finish in 4th place Another great regatta had at Penrith as our rowers know where they are against Sydney’s best.
Corowa rowers are well placed for the remaining regattas in Victoria and possibly Penrith later in the season. Thanks to all the helpers with the mums leading the way with their daughters this time.
The annual Santa regatta is on Sunday 10th giving our newer rowers their first race opportunity. After Christmas the focus will turn to the MRA regatta at Lake Moodemere 13 and 14th Jan
