Milly Cheeseman and Jo Somerville coming down to the finish line in the C grade double sculls.
Hundreds of rowers from across Victoria and Canberra visited the region over the weekend for the 156th annual rowing regatta at Lake Moodemere hosted by the Murray Rowing Association.
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After the first half of the Rowing Victoria’s calendar of events had been cancelled due to the COVID outbreak, this was the first regatta for most competitors for the 2021/22 season.
The regatta attracted a large field once again with over 900 entries and 600 competitors at the regatta. There was a large contingent of rowers from the Melbourne and Geelong clubs, Ballarat, Gippsland and Canberra.
The local clubs were well represented with a strong showing from Corowa and Rutherglen Lake, Wahgunyah, Albury Wodonga and Yarrawonga rowing clubs.
After a fantastic lightning storm greeted the visitors on Friday night, competitors arrived at the course on Saturday morning to find that the rain from the storm fell mainly around Lake Moodemere.
Some quick work from Neville Hetherington and the access road leading to the regatta end of the lake was quickly made usable again.
The weather on both days was sensational for rowing with many exciting and close races across the two days.
The Sunday program included the Victorian Sprint Championships for the A grade boats in both the male and female categories. These championship titles were evenly split around the clubs with Ballarat City, Corio Bay, Nagambie, Mercantile Rowing Club and Corowa Rowing Clubs all picking up a title.
Will Day from Nagambie Rowing Club came out of retirement to team up with the up-and-coming sculler, Will Le Deux, to win the A Grade double sculls in a thrilling finish. Will Le Deux also won the A grade single sculls after having had some fantastic battles with the local sculler from Corowa, Brad Pearsall over the course of the weekend.
One of the highlights of Sunday’s program occurred in the male B Grade eights where the crew from Melbourne Argonauts were against a crew from Mercantile. Nothing more than 30cm separated both crews all the way down the course with the Melbourne Argonauts crew just holding the slightest of margins as they came down to the final 100 metres of the race. By this stage, both eights were rating above 40 strokes per minute and the Mercantile eight were able to surge to the line in the last metre of the race to claim the victory by the official margin of 1cm.
Another thrilling race was the Male A grade pair starring the local crew from Wahgunyah Rowing Club; Bryce Stones and Joel Tyrrell. Bryce and Joel’s racing technique is unusual but what they lack in finesse, they make up for with a mighty lot of dash. In the final of the A grade pair, Bryce and Joel pushed an accomplished pair from Mercantile all the way down the course, and just missed out on claiming the prize by the smallest of margins.
In the female racing, a noticeable performance of the regatta was the winning form of sisters Aleesha and Kaylah Walker of Ballarat City. These young females won many races over the weekend including the Victorian Sprint Title for the A grade double sculls.
Caitlin Somerville (Rutherglen Lake Rowing Club) and Patrick Somerville (Mercantile Rowing Club) preparing to go out for their race
The most successful club at the regatta was the Corio Bay Rowing Club from Geelong based on their strength in the masters races.
Corowa Rowing Club finished second the medal tally which is a fantastic achievement.
MRA President Paul Somerville said the reputation of the regatta increases every year and the feedback from the competitors and the judges was extremely positive.
“The regatta was voted the best regatta for Rowing Victoria’s 20/21 season and the weekend’s regatta only further enhanced its reputation,” he said.
“Putting on this regatta is a huge undertaking with many hundreds of volunteer hours required in the planning of the regatta, and the preparation of the course and the catering.
“The Murray Rowing Association would sincerely like to thank the volunteers of all three clubs who make this regatta happen.
“The MRA would also like to thank Parks Victoria and the Indigo Shire Council for their ongoing support of the regatta.
“Finally, they would like to thank all of the businesses in the district that support the regatta by sponsoring races in the program. Special thanks also go to Hetherington Plumbing Services, Focus Engineering, Murray Valley Piling, Brimin Engineering and Federation Hire for providing the infrastructure necessary for the regatta.”
