MANNING Rowing Club members are determined to field a crew in next year’s Stack’s Finance-Croker Oars Mixed Eight Challenge in the Taree Summer Regatta.
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The club wasn’t among the 15 crews involved in the 1000 metre handicap event last Saturday, won for the third successive year by UTS from Sydney University.
‘We spoke at the end of the regatta and in the next 12 months the club will be concentrating on men’s and women’s eights,’’ club official Hugh McLeod said.
“We want to have a crew in the mixed eight challenge next January and we want to be competitive.’’
The majority of members of the 2018 crew have been concentrating on coaching for the past 12 months and that’s why the club wasn’t involved this year.
There were major problems at the start of last year’s mixed eight race and the start was delayed by more than 20 minutes.
“It’s always going to be tricky, lining 15 crews up for the handicap start,’’ McLeod said.
“But this year we didn’t have the same worries and we were only a few minutes late with the start.’’
He said the club has received plenty of positive feedback from visiting clubs. More than 600 rowers took part over the three days.
“A successful regatta runs to schedule,’’ McLeod said.
“And the last race on Sunday started right on the scheduled time.’’
Strong nor-east winds buffeted crews on the opening day, but conditions calmed on the following two days. This was in contrast to 2018 when the program was curtailed because of winds.
There were some solid performances from Manning rowers.
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Roy Halliday defied a chest infection to score a strong win in the masters single scull. He was also a member of the winning masters quad, teaming with Graham Nix, Rhett Pattison and Colin Broos.
Youngster Josiah Smith was upgraded to the C-grade single sculls and showed promise by winning the race in slashing style. Still an under 16, he also contested the under 17 single sculls, where he was second.
A relative newcomer to the club’s ranks, Kaye Smythe, won the women’s masters single sculls. She has recently joined the club from Sydney.
Two of the club’s’ experienced rowers, Pauline Arnold and Karen Anderson teamed with rookies Emma Johnston and Hannah Smith to win the D-grade women’s quad.
The club’s first para-rower, Tara Copp, teamed with Hugh McLeod to win the double scull, while she was just off the pace in the D-grade single scull.
Manning will host the Central District championships on March 9 and 10, where the club hopes to be strongly represented.
