A lot has happened since our last Newsletter!
Recap of previous Regattas
Our Whanganui Rowing Association organised and hosted an Interprovincial Racing Regatta against the Wellington Association on Saturday 10 October. Our Senior school and club rowers combined with Clifton, Union and Collegiate to organise two Men's Eights and two Women's Eights at fairly short notice and all crews trained solidly. The Wellington Squad were considerably more seasoned and competitive and ultimately the Graham Moran Trophy was won by the capital City however our team competed valiantly – special mention to Jordan Manville who won the Men's Single Scull with a particularly gutsy effort. Levi Carroll also featured in Whanganui’s only other success in the Men's Double Sculls. The support of our AWRC Coaches and Regatta Officials was recognised in the official speeches which took place in our Oarsmans Lounge.
The following day the Annual Richard Tonks 6k Small Boat Regatta was raced. Our Wellington contingent who had stayed overnight took part in this event and their Men's 4X+ took out the title with a prognostic of 91.17%. However, our AWRC Boys 4X+ of Jordan Manville, James Clear, John Turner and Michael Sturdee with Campbell Monk as cox, took out second place with a very creditable 90.77% prognostic – validating the hard work they have undertaken on and off the water over the past few months.
The following weekend our squad ventured to the Porirua Goodwill Regatta where all squads performed with distinction until the regatta was abandoned due to inclement weather in the early afternoon. This was our first regatta for our Novices this season, with both our Boys and Girls enjoying early season/career wins. The boat trailer was well loaded for this event and great organisation by Messina Su’a and Georgina Ross saw the trailer loaded efficiently. The support of van drivers Darrell Monk, Steve Collins, Steve Barritt and Alistair Ross was greatly appreciated, given the early departure time of 5:00 am. It was also marvellous to see so many families travel to support our team.
On Labour Weekend Saturday the Club had its official Opening Day event with the famous and historic Mitchell Shield being contested by nine coxed quadruple sculls of mixed combinations. While Georgina Ross endeavoured to secure the trophy for the third year in a row her crew were defeated on the line by a fast-finishing crew of Dan Guan, Luke Watts, Jordis Sheridan, Petera Rogers and cox Lillie Taylor.
It is worth noting that Dan and Petera are novices this season while 14-year-old Jordis is in her second season. Well done – The trophy has already been engraved to record your endeavours for posterity! Our photo shows Dan proudly holding the trophy aloft after being presented by Club Patron Allan Luff. Also included are Luke Watts (3) Lillie Taylor (cox) and Petera Rogers (Bow) (Jordis unavailable for photographic purposes).
Upcoming events
100 Club Raffle Draw - Come join us in Oarsmans Lounge on Thursday 12 November to draw the lucky winners. Doors will be opened at 5:00 pm with saveloys and lashings of Whitlocks Sauce being provided again this year. Proceeds will go toward new sculling blades.
Safety Boat Rescue Course – Sunday 15 November at AWRC.
Waitara Regatta – Saturday 28 November.
Club Memberships - Your fees must be paid by 30 November in accordance with the Clubs constitution. If anyone has not received an invoice please email our Treasurer Belinda on awrctreasurer@gmail.com.
Thirsty Thursdays - Every second Thursday 5:00 - 7:00 pm in our Oarsman Lounge. Come along and enjoy the robust conversation! Non - alcoholic drinks are available.
Club kitchen lease
Carolyn Wills has relinquished her lease on the Clubs Kitchen premises and President Bruce has currently undertaken discussions with a successor.
She has a new vocation as a driving instructor and has undertaken a rigorous course to become fully qualified in this field. As a number of our school athletes are reaching a stage where they will be pursuing driving licences, Carolyn has offered her services to take the stress off anxious parents who don’t have the patience and /or courage to pursue their teenagers driving ambitions. Carolyn would be only too happy to assist in this regard and can be contacted on 022 6361194.
Upstairs facilities cleanliness
One of the functions that Carolyn undertook was cleaning our upstairs toilets. Despite constant overtures to our active members who use these facilities we have a constant challenge with food, food wrappers, discarded clothing and even someone donating their toenail clippings to our lounge carpet! As we have health standards to maintain, particularly under Covid-19, this has resulted in it being necessary to include the cleaning of our premises into some commercial arrangements. This is very unfortunate as it means this cost will be passed onto our membership costs.
Club safety
In the absence of anyone being prepared to undertake the function of Club Safety Officer, the Committee have made a decision to share this responsibility on a monthly basis. The ever hardworking Des Lock has taken on the initial task of ensuring our systems and audits are up to date and we request that all active members and coaches give Des your 100% support to ensure our Club is not penalised by being deficient with our health and safety.
New Karapiro accommodation venue
Lisa Murphy has managed to secure a Marae at Kihikihi for the Christmas and North Island Club Regattas as our numbers have exceeded the ability to be managed at the Karapiro Hall which has been our base for Karapiro Regattas for a number of years.
New coach boat
Whanganui Marine are finalising a new prototype aluminium hull and our Club will be in a position to trial this new craft in the next couple of weeks.
Thank-you to AWRC 'Log Removalists'
A big THANK YOU goes to the team who removed the logs from the racing course last Sunday. This was a very time-consuming operation for Des Lock, Bruce Osborne, Alan Luff, Garth Hammond, Nick Saek and Pat Carroll. If you get a chance thank them for their chainsaws, equipment. manpower and time which is made in the interests of our wider rowing fraternity.
Have a good photo we should share with others?
We are always on the hunt for photos. If you have one that you want to feature in an upcoming newsletter, send it to awrowing@gmail.com.
