Bring on Bunvegas

Our moment in the sun has passed, rowers, if only temporarily.

For two whole weeks, WARC sat on top of the pennant table and oh did we bask! You'll be happy to know I gave Stuart, the captain at ANA, a great deal of grief over that magical one point that put us on top.

However, in the fickle nature of our sport, ANA came back at us with the fire of a thousand suns at the Fremantle Rowing Club regatta and we got suitably burnt, the upriver magpies picked up 100 points on us (well, 103 to be exact) as we battled to boat on time and get through our racing.

It's not all bad: In the time since the last newsletter 2007 captain Su Guy got married, three WARC members got selected for WA's Youth Cup side, our website got just a little bit more funky and Tom Morris managed to repair the beloved Mason which had been triaged to Intensive Care with dubious chances of recovery.

Preparation for States is on track, Sean Leyland's Junior 4- came fourth IN THE ENTIRE WORLD in Austria and the sun shone down at Armadale.

FOR THE DIARY:
Next 2km time trial: August 2
Rotto bike race day and UWA cocktail party: after the erg, August 2
Entries due for Bunbury regatta: August 3
Reports due for next committee meeting: Monday, August 4
Next committee meeting: Thursday August 7
Olympics start: August 8, 8pm (getting close!!!)
We get to Bunbury: August 8.
Bunbury pennant regatta and associated antics: August 9
Eaton headrace: August 10
Entries due for CUBC pennant: August 17
CUBC regatta at Champ Lakes: August 23
WARC Return of the 80s Prom Queen cocktail party: August 29

FRC Regatta and the Row of the Day goes to...

the WB8+

The ROD award: After careful analysis of... well, nothing at all... the ROD goes to the WB8+ who beat both A and B grade 8s to secure a much-sought-after second place in the event, behind Perth College's juggernaut first 8. The crew was a combination F1 and J crew and the vibe in the boat was pretty great, the crew came from a significant fourth place to (in typical WARC stye) come through to win. The other contender for this award was Simon "junior" Johnston's single scull race, which he lose by about 0.0007 of a second and provided some serious WARC cheering.

Win of the day: WE4+ who rowed beautifully to take out their premier race. This means the X-Chix have graduated out of E-grade, which is a great achievement for their first season. Well done!

Disaster of the day: I kind of don't know where to start with this... we have lost the rigger to the HWT single scull. I've emailed the other clubs but have no idea where they went.

Thanks of the day: To Janelle Austin who acted as WARC liaision officer for the morning despite the fact she had one of the heaviest competition loads of all rowers. This role is usually allocated to someone who is not racing, Janelle's status as resident Tank Girl now comes with an Intelligence Officer tag. Also, to Phil Colby who managed to make sure the Js got on the water and back in again with the right boats and bow numbers, to Tom who still has (most) of his hair despite an incredibly frustrating day, to the drivers of the trailers and Mikey Jones who sorted pizza for unloading purposes.

I don't know what we'd do without you guys..

Other stuff:

WARC won four events at this regatta, significantly down from the 11 we won at the last regatta. We were fined $80 for missed races and/or late scratchings which has either been handed on to rowers or absorbed by the club depending. Although no WARC rowers rowers had direct clashes, it was unfortunate the organisers tried to catch up time without alerting the clubs, leading to a series of missed races. We had 45 athletes compete in an average of three events each. For the rest of the results... click here.

Again, I would ask that rowers take some personal repsonsibility for their events:

1. If you know you can't row a race, make sure the right person knows to scratch you.
2. READ the running sheet before the regatta. Know what boats you are in, and arrive in time to rig those boats. No other club has a running sheet that is as detailed as ours and it's a constant frustration to hear rowers say "oh, gee, my boat is not rigged." Please do not expect someone to do this for you.
3. If you have a turn-around between races of less than 25 minutes, make sure you get some help from your mates to put your next boat on the water with the right bow number attached. There is no excuse for missing races that are 18 minutes apart if you are sufficiently organised.

I think we all know that boat loading has become an issue. From the next regatta, I will ask the F1 squad to de-rig, tag and tape all stuff for transport the day before transport, so the remainder of the club simply needs to get it all on the trailer. This decision has been made as the de-rigging, tagging and naming requires the hands of experienced rowers and the loading itself needs taller people. Anyone keen to learn how to de-rig is welcome to join in.

If anyone has other suggestions on how to expediate the loading process, please call or email me as I'm pretty much at my wits end here.

Oar fees

This year, the club will be invoicing rowers in three stages for their oar fees. This is to avoid the slug of (in some cases, upwards of $300) at the end of the season that rowers copped at States. This has become an issue as the cost of oar fees increased to $5 for D, E and SJ races and $7 for all other events.

The most anyone owes at this stage is about $90. The oar fees have been calculated as follows:

- $7 for all headraces
- Fees for all pennants up to and including FRC regatta
- Addition of any fines spread between members of a crew
- Subtraction of $50 which is included in initial membership of the club.

Not all rowers will get oar fee invoices, particularly those who have competed little or started late. For non-competitive members who have competed (this mainly applies to coaches) you will need to pay the $50 ARAWA fee plus any oar fees incurred.

Payment details will be included in your invoice. If you would like to know what you owe, please email me (Peta) on 0414 282 448. If you have any specific queries on your oar fees, you are welcome to query them but I would ask you do your own legwork on establishing whether fees are correct (I can help you with this.)

A note from the worlds...

I received this email from Elliott Bannan's mum this week. Elliott rowed with the junior M4- which came a remarkable 4th at the World Champs in Austria. Elliott and the crew, watched over by former WARC headcoach Sean Leyland, were very welcome guests at WARC earlier this year. I was greatly moved by Elliott's email...

Dear all,

I would like to thank you all for supporting my crew in our effort at the 2008 World Rowing Championships. It has been an incredible experience, something that I will never forget. The last six months of my life have been incredible. Marked with successes and failures. A death of a friend and mentor in January, a gold medal at nationals in March, Australian selection in April and missing the podium on the World stage in July by 3/4 of a boat length. There were occasions this year, when things were going particularly badly, where I hated rowing so much I thought that I was living a nightmare. Injuries, illnesses, setbacks. However it is the support of those around me, family and friends, who have kept me going through these times. Rowing is a sport that lacks any of the glamor and hype of professional sports. Rowing athletes give up their lives for the sport and thus rely on the kindness and generosity of their communities in order to achieve success. It is sad that we will not return home with medals. After all the training. All four of us have driven our bodies to the point of sickness and ill health at some stage. However this is exactly the nature of sport at the international level, the three crews in front of us were simply the better ones on the day. Despite not finishing where I wanted to I have achieved much in my 8 month Rowing career. Representing my country was a truly humbling experience, something I can never forget. When I come home in September I look forward to seeing you all in person

Elliott Bannan 

Parking dramas

We've had a few dramas with parking over the past couple of days...

First thing:

Following the FRC regatta, we were unable to transport our trailer from the club back to its storage point near Pearce Street for a couple of days.

As a results, someone called the Perth City Council on us and we had three parking officers (not rangers, officers...) come down and raise concerns about the use of parking spaces outside the club, with a warning that WARC will be "more closely watched". Please be aware that you can be fined for parking in the loading zone directly outside the club and that park is now out of bounds to all WARC members until further notice for anything other than loading or unloading gear. Hopefully, this whole issue will blow over and we can return to the status quo.

Second thing:

PCC is looking to introduce 24-hour paid parking throughout the city shortly. WARC has written to all councillors asking for the area around WARC to be exempt from 24-hour paid parking between the hours of 4.30am until 8.30am.

It seems unlikely that we would be at risk of incurring a fine during training, but it is conceivable (and I would consider likely) that PCC may choose to "blitz" rowers from time to time and issue fines early in the morning.

Hot August Night cocktail party

WARC's annual cocktail party is on again.

Pencil in Friday, August 29 to kick up your heels as the competitive season draws to a close with the rowers at WARC.

Tickets are $20, buy from Amy Walters or Clementine Jolly.

(More on this event later!)

Pennant points

ANA 989
WARC - 885
FRC 535
UWA 520
SRRC 408
BY 382
CUBC 318
MURC 130
PE 62

Next regatta: Bunbury pennant August 9 and Eaton headrace August 10.

City to Surf: 12km of fun

FROM TOM MORRIS:
(tommorris@westnet.com.au)

All WARC Members,

The City to Surf is fast approaching and I wanted to throw it out there to get a Westies team up and running (literally). The event is on Sunday, August 31 which fits nicely with a "no regatta weekend"… It’s a great way to show support for the charity Activ Foundation, which provides support to people with disabilities in Western Australia. The team we’re getting together will run the 12km course from St. Georges Terrace to City Beach oval.

The entry fees for this event are:

Adults: $30 (it’s less if you’re an HBF member)

Children: $22 (juniors)

If you’re interested, get back to me by Friday and I’ll add you to Team Wests. Details regarding payment, t-shirts and entry will be given out following your confirmation.

Regards,

Tom

tommorris@westnet.com.au

Funky footwear

Earlier this year, Janelle Austin entered WARC in a Milo competition. To her amazement, we won: About $1000 worth of Adidas gear! After a bit of debate, we decided to buy lots of pairs of WARC-coloured, top-quality socks and sell them to members for just $5 per pair (they're worth about $20!!). We'll be selling them at the BRC regatta and other events (we're not taking emailed orders as it's just a bit labor intensive.)

Urgent (ish) Help wanted

TRAILERS:
We need to sort towing two trailers from Perth to Bunbury for the next regatta. Ideally, we would like four volunteers for this task so that drivers only need to cover the distance once.

(On that note, when loading please note those who tow trailers are using their private vehicles... make sure if you're loading up a car to take appropriate care.)

SCAFFOLDING

We have four starters for setting up cross-beams to support scaffolding to be erected under the shed this Sunday. We need a couple more people with a wetsuite and suitable footwear who can come help out so we can paint the outside of the club. For more info, email me on peta.rule@amawa.com.au. I think this is the sort of thing you can tag "life experience."

Ongoing help wanted

LTR coordinator: Matt Hort is busy training to row to Mauritius. (yes, this ocean row really is going to happen!) As a result, we do not currently have anyone driving our Learn to Row course and at this stage, we will not be having another course during the competitive season. If you know of anyone (we would consider financial compensation for this task) that might be interested in coordinating and organising a Learn to Row program, please email peta.rule@amawa.com.au.

Bunnings coordinator: Last year, WARC raised in the vicinity of $8000 by running barbecues at Bunnings. We have a task-list and details about how we ran them last year, but we currently lack someone to take on a coordination role to make sure these happen. If you, or anyone you know, would like to help raise some serious dollars for WARC by getting the members to cook sausages at Bunnings, please email peta.rule@amawa.com.au.

Social secretary: In recent years, WARC has held a quiz night and a cocktail party. Without a social secretary to drive these events, they will not happen. Former social secretaries have simple task lists to follow so it's just a matter of following instructions for some of the best nights in the WARC function room. If you're up for a party, please step forward to drive these events.