Our 2018-19 rowers have been enjoying their boats since mid Term 3. With the season officially commencing at the start of this Term, the rowing program is aiming for students to enjoy their rowing training and their competitive opportunities in Term 4.

Season Launch 2018

The Heyington Club hosted rowing parents on Tuesday 23 October for the launch of our 2018 Rowing Season. Parents enjoyed drinks and nibbles at Mercantile Rowing Club, while being treated to witnessing the dedication of our latest fundraising purchase, our brand new, German made Empacher 8+. This purchase was made thanks to the fundraising efforts of the Heyington Club, as well as the generous donations of specific donor families. This boat has been named “Fearless Girl” as a dedication to our 2018 Year 12 Rowers, who were not able to race their final Head of the Schoolgirls with finals being cancelled due to weather conditions. Many of these rowers where able to attend this evening to witness our dedication, while Year 12 students Téa-Rose Passon and Annabel Joubert were tending to their studies.

This celebration included an introduction to parents of our star-studded coaching line-up for 2018-19. A huge thank you goes to Lucy Fortey our Heyington Club President, and the whole committee for making this celebration such a special event.

Head of the Goulburn Regatta

On Friday 27 October, a group of Senior and Intermediate rowers attended an overnight stay in Seymour, prior to competing at the Head of the Goulburn Regatta in Nagambie. This event is a 7.2km time trial which concludes at the Tahbilk Winery. With some Year 11 rowers absent due to preparations for exams, we were able to boat an 8+ and a 4x+ with the assistance of intermediate rowers Chloe Cooper (Year 9) and Isabella Bufé (Year 9), who rowed in our 4x+. Our rowers learnt a lot from this valuable racing opportunity, in execution of rhythm and power for 7.2kms. We rate capped our crews to ensure all our young rowers were executing our technical and rhythm objectives for the duration of the event.

Our 8+ rowed in the Geraldine Ilott and the crew was Lucy Motteram (Year 10), Chloe Rodgers (Year 10), Lara Nattrass (Year 10), Charlotte Murdoch (Year 10), Harriet Fortey (Year 10), Francesca King (Year 10), Henrietta Paterson (Year 11), Lulu Murrell (Year 11), Cox: Ella Carton (Year 10). Our 8+ finished 8^th out of 12 crews, holding off the winning Geelong College Crew until the dying stages of the event. Students were pleased with their efforts and rhythm throughout the event.

Our 4x+ rowed in the Jess Tallent, and was Georgia Green, Jennifer Madgwick (Year 10), Chloe Cooper (Year 9) and Isabella Bufé (Year 9), Cox: Annabel Brend (Year 10). The Tallent finished 4^th out of 11 finishers, which was a fantastic result for our young rowers.

Fourth Consecutive Victory at Melbourne Head Regatta

On 17 November, Senior rowers tackled the Melbourne Head Regatta on our home turf on the Yarra River. Rowers through the lead up to this event had only completed limited organised training due to Rowing’s commitment to our students being able to perform their best in their exams. Students were provided work which they could complete in their own time around their exam schedules. Students use this time to devote themselves to their studies and arrive in shape for Melbourne Head fresh, confident, happy and healthy which is our aim in Rowing.

With a focus on effort over results, and fulfilling their full Processes of St Catherine’s Sport, students from both the ‘Fearless Girl’ and the ‘St Catherine’s 120’ put together fantastic racing performances. The event is a time trial, which means as coaches we are unaware of the result of the race until after it is run. Yet, all rowing coaches and rowers were extremely pleased with their efforts and their execution of their racing aims throughout their respective time trials. Without knowing the result, coaches and students deemed their performance a winning one. We learnt later that the actual racing results where a reflection of their efforts.

The St Catherine’s 120 raced Women’s School Coxed 8+ Division 2. They achieved a 2nd place in this event, with the only crew posting a faster time being the girls from Melbourne Girls Grammar School by four seconds over 3.5kms.

The Fearless Girl raced Women’s School Coxed 8+ Division 1. They achieved our fourth victory in this event in consecutive years, adding to the titles of 2015, 2016 and 2017. This group of Senior rowers have demonstrated excellent levels of resilience and strength of character. We look forward to seeing them continue to develop throughout the holidays and into 2019.

First Round of Selections

All rowers have concluded their first round of rowing selections. We are very pleased with the efforts of all of our rowers throughout the process. Our selection policy is very detailed and inclusive of ergometer testing, a technical assessment by our coaches for our Juniors and Intermediates, or a biomechanical stroke analysis for our Seniors which is measured by our Peach (Biomechanics) System.

Coaches put in many hours of work to assess each student, so they can each be provided feedback to learn from the first round of selections. We ensure feedback is very specific so students have the best opportunity to make the improvements required to achieve their selection goals for their season, and most importantly improve their rowing.

We look forward to seeing each girl take on the challenge of improvement throughout the rowing season.