This fortnight in OarTalk...

We are coming to you from Mooloolabah, QLD, at the Australian Coastal Rowing & Beach Sprints Championships!

We are here primarily to learn as much as we can about running Coastal Rowing & Beach Sprints regattas, and to help Rowing Australia put on the event. Grant Ford and Craig James are here on the RA Umpiring Team (the 'Jury') and are learning lots about the rules, regulations and logistics of the competition. So far it's been incredibly interesting... Beach Sprints are a LOT of fun (to compete in and to watch), Coastal Rowing can be challenging in bigger swell but an amazing endurance event, and it's very much worth continuting to develop back in WA. Watch this space!

Craig & Grant on the beach ready to Umpire the Sunday Finals. Photo: Sarah Black

Photo: Rowing Australia/Con Chronis @chronis71

After having to move venue overnight on Friday to find better water for the weekend, the exciting news for WA is that UWABC's Thea Adamson WON the Open Mixed Beach Sprint Double!! Her and doubles partner Marcus Della Marta (UTS) got through a heap of tough racing to earn the gold medal - congrats Thea. This morning she races the Open Mixed Beach Sprint Quad - we'll keep you updated on how she goes! Nic Rogers (UTS but regular WA State Team coxswain!) is also here with his club and had success in the Open Mixed Coastal Rowing Coxed Quad Scull on Friday. 

Photo: Rowing Australia/Con Chronis @chronis71

• WA Under 23 World Championships Wrap Up
• World Under 19 Championships - Next Week!
• Flashback Friday - Part 1: Controversy for the WA 8+ at the 1904 Interstate Races!!
• All Schools Regatta Series Updates
• Feedback Wanted: Age Based Regatta
• Director Vacancy
• Level 3 Coaching Course 
• Hour of Power with Decent Rowing
• Water Safety Update

WA Athletes Rise to the Occasion @ World U23 Champs

The Aussie crews who competed at World Under 23 Rowing Championships last week did us all proud with their incredible hard racing all week long. The WA athletes - Becky, Riley, Alex R, Johnson & Alex B - plus coach Jamie were crucial parts of the team's results and we are so proud!!

Men's Coxless Quad

The boys cruised through the heat into the A/B Semi where they were challenged by a tough field - fourth through the 1500m, it took a classic Rossi push to pump out the quickest last 500m and cross the line first to book their A Final slot. The Final was a quick start - second to the half way mark where they faced off with an extremely fast finishing German crew who took a page out of the Aussies' book and went from fourth to first! The fellas were thrilled with their Bronze medal - check out the smiles!

Athletes: Alex Rossi (WARC), Johnson Daubney (SRRC), Harry Fox (MUBC), Nick Blackman (AUBC), Coach: Jamie Hewlett (WAIS)

Result: Bronze (5:45.36)

Photo: Art of Rowing/Rowing Australia

Women's Coxless Four

The girls took the longer route to the A-Final, via the repechage, but in a tough progression with only the two heat winners going stratight through this wasn't too much of a disadvantage. They were the fastest of all the repechage winners and put them in good contention for the A Final... when Sunday's race rolled aound, it started almost how it finished - Poland out in front from the start, China into second, and the Aussies slotting into third from the 500m. Holding off a big push from a motivated GB crew in the closing stages, the girls earned their podium spot and were absolutely thrilled!!

Athletes: Sarah Marriott (MUBC), Sara de Uray (MUBC), Becky Pretorius (SRRC), Phoebe Robinson (UQBC), Coach: Alistair Matthews (Mercantile)

Result: Bronze (6:35.80)

Photo: Art of Rowing/Rowing Australia

Men's Coxed Four

Riley's Four cruised through their heat, qualifying second fastest of the two heats and booking their Saturday A-Final slot on Thursday. The final was a battle for the bronze medal - winners Italy led almost from the start, and the rest of the podium as hard fought. The Aussies ended up missing bronze by less than half a second - an amazing result that we are very proud of!

Athletes: cox: Hannah Cowap (SRC), Alex Wood (UTS), Dylan Rhodes (KAND), Torben Ungemach (UTS), Riley Rees-Turner (SRRC/KAND), Coach: Matt Ungemach (UTS)

Result: Fourth (6:13.15)

Photo: Art of Rowing/Rowing Australia

Men's Coxed Eight

The US-Based U23 Eight was only selected a month ago but under the coaching of John Bowes they pulled off something magnificent! The fellas booked an A Final directly from their heat and Sunday's race was as exciting as it promised to be. The Aussies fought valiantly for the bronze medal position, but in the second 1000m the German crew won the tussle for the last podium spot. A super campaign from a talented crop of sweep rowers!

Athletes: cox: Harry Keenan (SRC/Yale), Patrick Long (UQBC/Princeton), Alex McClean (Mosman/Yale), Alex Baroni (WARC/Cal Berkeley), Harry Manton (MUBC/Cal Berkeley), Marcus Emmett (MUBC/Yale), Lachlan Doust (UTS/Syracuse), Jamie Arnold (MUBC/Cal Berkeley), James Isles (MUBC/Dartmouth), Coach: John Bowes (Rowing Australia)

Result: Fourth (6:13.15)

Photo: Art of Rowing/Rowing Australia

You can read World Rowing's full race report here!

World Under 19 Rowing Championships - FRC & SRRC represented!

The World Under 19 Rowing Championships are being held from August 2 - 6 in Paris, France. This event is the pinnacle for the world's youngest generation of talented rowers and will be for many of them their first experience with National Teams & international racing. 

We are so looking forward to cheering on the whole Aussie team, but especially the Women's Coxless Four - Greta Spencer from Swan River, Lyla Fievez from Fremantle are coming together with Georgia Montague and Minaya Bishop from UQBC for this crew!! Under the guidance of coach Mark Beer (SRRC), they have been training together since April and we are so excited to watch them!!

Their provisional race schedule (subject to change of course) is:

You can follow their Instagram @ausjnr4 where they're posting lots of amazing videos of their time in Europe. 

The World Rowing website has all the latest information including results, entries & race reports - you can find that here.

Live streaming will go ahead on the World Rowing website for the A Finals.

We will be keeping you up to date with everything that happens during their regatta!

GOOD LUCK GIRLS!!

The 1904 Interstate Eights - Part 1: Controversy for WA!!

Extract from The Brisbane Courier, 8th May 1904 

Inter-State Championships

Eight-Oar Race Won by Victoria | Poor Performance of the Western Australian Crew

The twenty-eight annual inter-State contests for the eight-oar and sculling Championships of Australia took place on the Hamilton Reach of the Brisbane River on Saturday.

On Friday night the private shed at the starting point was broken into, and Slack’s boat was damaged.

The eight-oar race was watched with the keenest interest. The positions were numbered from the south side of the river, the boats being placed as follow: -

No. 1, Western Australia

No. 2, South Australia

No. 3, Queensland

No. 4, Victoria

No. 5, New South Wales.

New South Wales got away first, and Queensland started well, but Western Australia made a bad beginning. At the dredge Victoria was a head, with New South Wales next and Queensland close up. Western Australia were far astern, and at the quarter-mile gave up. Victoria retained the lead from NSW, with Queensland and South Australia on even terms. Victoria and South Australia were each rowing 42 to the minute, and Queensland and NSW 39 to the minute...

New South Wales rowed in splendid style, the blades rising together and firm strokes being made, but they could not overtake the others...

As the end of the course was approached, the excitement was intense. South Australia made a fine effort to overtake Victoria, but the latter had plenty of strength in reserve, and bending their oars, again swept away...

There were several thousands of people on the banks as the pistol shot announced another win for Victoria, and a great cheer went up. South Australia, still in excellent form, followed, a length and a half behind, and two lengths divided them and Queensland. New South Wales finished four lengths behind Queensland. Western Australia did not finish. Time: 17 min, 2-5 sec.

Of the 28 races rowed since 1878, Victoria has won 23. NSE has started 26 times and won four. Queensland has has 16 starts and won one. South Australia has starter six times, Western Australia four times, and Tasmania once (in 1885), without success.

Regret was expressed for the accident which prevented the West Australians from finishing.

NEXT OAR TALK - FIND OUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO THE WA EIGHT...

Rowing WA Board Vacancy

Rowing WA currently has a vacancy for an appointed director on its Board for a term of 3 years. If you are an experienced director or someone looking to build Board experience with a passion for rowing then we’d love to hear from you.

The Board will consider expressions of interest against the attached skills matrix and Board diversity best practice.

For more details, including a position description & information about how to apply, head to the RWA Board page on the website. 

All Schools Regatta Series Update

The third and final regatta of the regular All Schools series was held on Saturday 29th July! Shenton were the big winners of the day taking  30 medals back to their shed. Fremantle/Bunbury/Iona composites took out both SB and SG Open Eights, showing their prowess in the big boats. The fastest SB Open Single was raced by Fremantle's Oscar Lourie, and the SG Open Single's quikest competitor out of a huge field of 26 was won by clubmate Emma O'Neill. Thank you to UWABC for doing a brilliant job hosting, our Umpires and volunteers for keeping things running smoothly as always, and to the athletes, clubs and supporters for bringing their excitement and energy to the competition! You can find the full list of results here. 

The Act Belong Commit All Schools State Championships is being held on Saturday August 12th - entries close midnight on the 7th of August so make sure you chat to your coaches about what you might like to race in!! All regatta info can be found here. 

Feedback wanted! Age Based Regatta

Our first pennant regatta of the year trialed an Age-Based model, as opposed to the traditional Grade-Based model.

We would love to hear your feedback - the survey can be accessed here!

Rowing WA is always trying to develop the best racing experience for new and experienced rowers and is considering whether this is a model that should be considered long-term across the entire pennant season, so we are very keen to get your feedback on how the regatta went.

Age-based regattas are common practice interstate, nationally and internationally and in most other sports. Intended benefits include the elimination of grading issues and facilitating the retention of athletes post-U23, whilst encouraging school rowers to continue racing past school. Potential weaknesses are the dominance of certain athletes in certain age divisions and considerations for novice and lightweight athletes.

This age-based format opens racing opportunities up to the whole WA rowing community in pennant regattas, including masters, youth, and novices, with the ability to select your level of racing between 1km or 2km distances in each age group. Any races that have enough entries to create multiple divisions will be seeded, putting athletes alongside those of similar abilities to create meaningful and close racing. It is assumed that coaches and athletes will self-select races that challenge their athletic level. Like the grade-based system, rowers can always row in a higher grade. 

Our existing grade-based system intends to group rowers together based on ability (irrespective of age). With A&B grade racing 2km and C & D grade racing over 1km. However, the grading system was imperfect and created some challenges for clubs when entering crews in regattas, especially as rower grades changed during the season.

Thank you in advance for participating in this survey. Your response will be used to continue to improve the quality of racing in WA.

Level 3 Coaching Course

Rowing Australia is running a Level 3 coaching course in Canberra from 1^st - 6^th October.

The Level 3 is a 'Performance Coach' qualification, designed for coaches working as or wanting to work as School or Club Head Coaches, Junior National Teams. This program aims to develop the coach’s concepts of applied sports science, program management skills, and the ability to develop less experienced coaches within their network. These coaches also have potential to develop workshops and information sessions which are important for coach development of all levels. Information about the RA Accreditation Framework can be found here.

To achieve the qualification you need to attend the course & pass the practical assessments, and complete a significant amount of coursework. 

The course cost of $1265 incl. GST, covers all materials and the cost of 5 nights accommodation and 3 meals per day staying at the AIS.

Currently accredited Level 2 coaches who have held their accreditation for 12 months are able to register. Exemptions to the 12 months can be applied for.

Please contact rbatt@rowingaustralia.com.au to register your interest. There are limited spots available.

Rowing WA have secured the Department of Transport (Maritime) (DoT) Speed Exemption for the sport which will now last us until August 2025.

Under the Navigable Waters Regulations 1958 and the Western Australian Marine Act 1982, rowing coaching and safety vessels could not operate in a manner to provide the necessary support and instruction to rowing crews whilst training or officiate safely whilst competing. Rowing WA and DOT work together to provide this instrument that provides sufficient exemptions from the Speed Regulations and Act to ensure rowing training and events can be conducted appropriately whilst also ensuring the ongoing safety of rowers and other river users. 

All coaches who use speedboats on the riverways in WA will need to renew their Water Safety Accreditation. We will be updating this online and will email all coaches, clubs and schools once it is ready to go!