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Be Sun Smart!
As the weather heats up, and the mornings are getting sunnier, it's time to remember your good Sun Smart habits!
Melanoma is a real threat to Aussies, especially those who spend time outdoors, and with just a few easy changes to your routine you can protect yourself from harm.
Click here to remind yourself of the key ways you can stay sun safe.
This edition of Oar Talk...
Cover photo: Corporate Rowers at Sunrise. Credit: Pat Boere Photography.
Get Involved with Oar Talk:
- Do you have a rowing photo you want to feature as the cover photo? Send it through to devops@rowingwa.asn.au!
- Do you want to write a Guest Article for the newsletter? It could be an opinion piece or a story from the community. Pick a topic & let us know you're keen - devops@rowingwa.asn.au. We retain editorial veto powers but we want to highlight the stories and perspectives of the community!!
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The Rower of the Year Awards dinner was held last weekend and saw 110 rowers, coaches, club supporters, and Rowing WA partners come together in a celebration of our community.
The new venue of Mineral Resources Park proved a hit and allowed everyone to relax and enjoy the evening. Tables were decorated in club colours, and had a stack of photos of club members from the past year to look back on. The room was brought to life by resplendent club blazers worn by chatty rowers who for the most part had taken the dress code seriously! Janelle Austin made her debut as MC of this event and was the perfect steward for proceedings - thanks Janelle!! Curtin Uni rower and professional photographer Amy Luckett stepped in at the last minute to snap pics of presentations and we are so thankful for her help. You can find more of her amazing work here.
Jacqui, Bronnie and Giorgia were special guests on the night and graciously took part in a Q&A talking about their experience at the Paris Olympics. There was talk about how good the cheese was at the chateau (their accommodation during the games!!), but some amazing insights into the experience of an Olympian during race week. They spoke about the feeling of camaraderie among WA-based athletes at the NTC and at Nationals, where there is a unique and palpable sense of athletes banding together to represent WA no matter which club zootie they are wearing. It was fantastic to hear them speak and to have them there in person.
We would like to thank Event Partners, Perfect Balance Rowing and Croker Oars, for their support of this event. PBR gave a generous $1000 Gift Voucher to the winner of the Champion Club of the Year, and Croker Oars donated a pair of sculling oars to the winner of the Novice Sculling Award.
Congratulations to the following award and pennant winners, announced at the Rower of the Year Awards dinner!
Act Belong Commit ERG Challenge - UWA Boat Club
Club Coach of the Year - Nick Bretland (WARC)
Coach of the Year - Mark Beer (SRRC)
BRO Encouragement Award - Andrew Halley (SRRC)
BRO of the Year - Michelle Davis (FRC)
Rowing WA Volunteer of the Year - Glyn Heath (ANA)
Club Volunteer of the Year - Alan Stewart (SRRC)
 
Left: Coach of the Year, Mark Beer, Right: Club Coach of the Year, Nick Bretland
Age Oarsman of the Year - Blake Whyatt (WARC)
Age Oarswoman of the Year - Jacqui Swick (SRRC)
Oarsman of the Year - Josh Hicks (SRRC/SRC)
Oarswoman of the Year - Annabelle McIntyre OAM (FRC)
 
Left: Age Oarswoman of the Year, Jacqui Swick, Right: Age Oarsman of the Year, Blake Whyatt
Novice Sculling Award - Swan River Rowing Club
Head Race Pennant - West Australian Rowing Club
Masters Pennant - ANA Rowing Club
D Grade Pennant - UWA Boat Club
C Grade Pennant - UWA Boat Club
B Grade Pennant - West Australian Rowing Club
A Grade Pennant - West Australian Rowing Club
Premiership Pennant - UWA Boat Club
Champion Club of the Year - Swan River Rowing Club
 
Left: Champion Club of the Year winners SRRC, Right: WARC's Joely Patterson accepting the B Grade Pennant.
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The 2024 Corporate Regatta was bigger, better, and faster than last year's edition - a real spectacle for those watching from the banks and online!
Thirteen brave crews took to the water over three rounds of racing, contesting the Corporate Cup (the grand prize), and the Challenge Plate (the secondary competition). Host clubs SRRC, UWABC, Canning Bridge RC and WARC did a phenomenal job getting their rowers ready to race - a huge 'well done' to all coaches, coordinators & volunteers that supporter their club's efforts. This is a fantastic fundraising opportunity and we were thrilled to provide a regatta for them to participate in.
We welcomed crews from Roy Hill, Westrac, Atlas Iron, Pentium Water, KPMG, PCB, RFDS, The Department of Defence, Synergy, Woodside, Chironix, Furgo, and First Mode - kudos to these organisations for investing in their teams!
After a safety briefing from our Umpires, racing kicked off at a very sensible 9:00am. Coaches on the bank were very happy that their new coxswains did their jobs almost perfectly, and we had a great run of clash-free races. A few boat-scheduling issues meant that the regatta was a little slower than anticipated, but luckily we had Swannies and Canning Bridge RC's hospitality come to the rescue with plenty of food and beverage to keep everyone in good spirits through the delays.
Above: SRRC's beach - the club hosted the lion's share of crews in this year's program. Credit: Pat Boere Photography.
Through Hancock Prospecting's connection with Telethon, we were privileged to have the support of Streamer and Telethon behind this event. Streamer and the team from Two Monkeys Agency did an amazing job filming the racing as well as the legendary Adrian Barich on the beach interviewing rowers and supporters. Fat Cat, now a staple of the Corporate Regatta, thrilled spectators and left many star struck!! There was plenty of friendly competition between corporates, with Roy Hill and WesTrac big wigs making a $5k bet in favour of their own crews, all in support of raising money for Telethon.
Above: A WARC-hosted crew racing their Heat. Credit: Pat Boere Photography.
The Challenge Plate was won by the Department of Defence crew, hosted by UWABC, and coached by Portia Knight.
The final race of the day to decide the winner of the Corporate Cup came down to the narrowest of margins and had everyone refreshing RowingManager frantically trying to find the result - Pentium Water or WesTrac Gold?
And it was Pentium by a whisker! The Canning Bridge Rowing Club-hosted crew were thrilled to take out the Corporate Cup win.
Above: Pentium Water in action. Credit: Pat Boere Photography.
Click the video below to watch the Corporate Cup Final
Click the video below to watch Barra talk to the winning crew, Pentium Water:
The racing will be livestreamed on Streamer and RWA and the host clubs will have it all over social media.
Click here to read more about the regatta, including the interesting progression system in use.
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On the 13th November a contingent of our Western Australia youth rowers will travel to Hong Kong. The goal is to participate in the 46th Hong Kong Rowing Championships on the weekend of 16/17 November.
This opportunity has been made possible through a collaboration between Rowing WA and the DLGSC (Department of Local Government Sport and Culture).
RWA was successful in its application for a funding grant under the Asian Engagement banner. The concept was to take WA youth athletes to Asia to participate in racing events, and cultural broadening. The team would then engage with people overseas and promote the excitement and logistical ease of competing at Western Australian regattas. The grant covers a part of the tour costs.
Grant funding was supported for a 3-year program. Hong Kong represents our first destination in what is proving to be an exciting concept for our youth team.
The aim was set to take 2 eights across, one female, and one male, each with a coach.
The message went out to interested athletes to register for a scull or pairs race in Pennant 4. Together with a 2km ergo time, the squad was selected.
Following some juggling of timings and crew members, our flights were booked and accommodation secured. The entries are finalised and local clubs are working with us to secure boats for the training and racing planned. The crews are now preparing.
Well done to the following athletes and coaches who have bravely taken the opportunity to participate in the first year of this program. Our athletes are drawn from a range of clubs, such as Swannies, Freemantle, Westies, and UWA. Guided by our coaches Olivia Jones and John Gearing, we look forward to participating in the 2 originally targeted eights, in addition to a four and quad for each gender, and capped off with a magnificent mixed eight race!
Please cheer the following team members as they prepare to travel and race on the 16/17th November - Emma O'Neill, Alessia Cirocco, Isabella Utley, Michelle Ryan, Olivia Park, Chloe Fleay, Ella Waddy, Lara Connolly, Harper Davies, Joshua Hantke, James Young, Harry Salfinger, Austin Vincent, Oscar Lourie, Liam Davies, Liam Jaeger, Angelie Ng, Rei Poon, Olivia Jones, John Gearing, and Mark Easterbrook. These athletes and coaches represent WARC, SRRC, FRC, UWABC and CUBC.
Whilst in Hong Kong we will be promoting the positives of rowing in Western Australia, to support a reciprocal arrangement with clubs in Asia. If your club is interested in hosting future travellers, lets discuss...
Mark Easterbrook (Asian Engagement Project Officer)
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Quinn's Baptist College have just finished up a 6-week festival of rowing for their year 4, 5 & 6 students - all made possible by the Australian Sports Commission's Sporting Schools program.
Sporting Schools provides funding for schools to provide a variety of sporting experiences for their students up to Year 8. Rowing Australia has developed the 'Riggers' program, and this is available for late Primary (indoor rowing) and early Secondary students (on-water or indoor). The program can be teacher-delivered or coach-delivered, depending on the needs of the school. Riggers Indoor Rowing involves a program of fun lessons which combine gameplay, group activities and indoor rowing machines, while the Riggers Experience Rowing program involves a local club and allows students to learn to row on the water. These programs are fully funded - free AND fun, how much better does it get?!
If you are involved at a school, or have a child at a non-rowing school, and want to get the ball rolling on a Riggers program, please reach out to our School Development Officer, Lara, for more info. She can be contacted at schooldev@rowingwa.asn.au!
WATCH: the RA Riggers Program
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Izzie and Lara spent last Friday at the Associated Catholic College's Inclusive Multisport Day, hosted by John XXIII College.
This fantastic initiative is a participation-based sports day for students with a disability, and drew over 300 students from a variety of schools. Eleven sports including rugby, golf, tennis and blind soccer came out to provide fun, game-based activities to particpiants.
Students learned a little bit about rowing, practiced rowing in time with a leader, and got very good at the Fish Game - the high score of the day was 1470!! It was a lot of fun to see so many kids enjoy the rowing machine. We noticed that the repetitive, rhythmic motion of the rowing stroke was a real drawcard for a lot of students, while some were very interested in cranking out as many watts as possible! There truly is something for everyone!
A huge thanks to JTC rowing who provided 15 ergos for us to use.
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People come to Officiating through their own unique journeys. Maybe you have rowed in the past and want to stay connected to the sport, maybe you're at Uni and looking to make a bit of money on the weekends, maybe you're the parent of a rower who thinks hey, I'll be there anyway - may as well get the best seat in the house!
If you're interested in becoming a Boat Race Official for any reason, you're thinking - now what?
Step 1 is to attend a Level 1 BRO Training Session!
During this introductory session, you'll learn all the foundational info about the role of a BRO, including the basics of the different regatta-day jobs.
We are holding one of these sessions on Sunday 17 November, 2 - 4pm at Rowing WA HQ - register here: https://www.rowingwa.asn.au/events/260367
We are looking to schedule more before the end of the year, so if you can't make this one, keep an eye out!
Above: The pre-regatta Jury Meeting!
For more information about the role of a BRO and the pathway through the accreditation levels, head here.
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The 2024 Pennant Forum will be held on Tuesday 26 November, 6 - 7:30pm, on Teams.
We encourage anyone from the Pennant rowing community to attend and be part of the conversation! The discussion will centre on participation and competition opportunities through the Pennant season.
Holding the meeting on Teams is designed to encourage more people to attend, and aims to make it a more accessible event for those who work full-time.
Please register here: https://www.rowingwa.asn.au/events/265930
All registered attendees will be sent an invitation on Teams and the Agenda for the meeting in the week leading up to the Forum.
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2024 End of Season Survey
With the 2024 Masters, All Schools, and Pennant seasons now concluded, Rowing WA is turning its focus to a thorough review of our regatta program. We recognise the significant effort contributed by the Participation Working Group, with representatives from each club, and we aim to build on that foundation.
This survey is your opportunity to provide feedback that will guide our future regatta programming and event scheduling. Your insights will inform a series of forums and meetings as we work towards refining the 2025 Regatta Season calendar.
We appreciate your ongoing support for rowing in Western Australia and look forward to creating another exciting season of racing in 2025!
The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete and will be open until midnight on Thursday, 14th November 2024.
Click here to share your thoughts in the Survey!
By participating, you’ll be entered into a draw for a $100 Visa Card, and the club with the highest number of responses will win a $200 fuel voucher. Your personal details will be used only for this draw if you choose to share them.
Thank you for being an essential part of our rowing community. Together, let’s continue to elevate our sport!
Kind regards, Nick Wakeford (GM Operations)
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The Coastal activation day on Sunday 27th October at Coogee was a huge success. ANA supported RWA, from trailering the boats to assisting with the safety and coaching. Two doubles and three single sculls were utilised and most boats were used continuously for the four hour activation. The boats drew a lot of interest and questions around coastal rowing and the future of coastal rowing programs in WA. A mix of interested parties from river rowers, ex-rowers, surf lifesaving members as well as beach goers.
The activation aligned with a Surf Life Saving Surf Boat Carnival with RWA-staff member Rene Brovelli making announcements over the PA system. A Coastal Rowing Demonstration was also conducted in the break between heats and finals of the Surf Boat Carnival, which drew lots of attention.
Rene Brovelli - Rowing WA Inclusion Officer
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