This is Your Captain Speaking

Hi everyone, and welcome to a special edition of the Captain's newsletter.

Last week we farewelled our Nationals squad - 17 athletes and two coaches left for Adelaide to represent the club at the Australian Rowing Championships at West Lakes. Below you'll find links to keep updated with their progress and you can even watch Sunday's interstate regatta live and for free over the net!

Happy rowing!

Mike Jones
WARC Captain 2011

Roll Call

The roll call for WARC's nationals squad, and the events they're competing in, are:

Hannah Vermeersch - U23W2-, U23W4-, U23W4X, U23W8+
Darci Miller - U23W2-, U23W4-, U23W4X, OCW4-
Meg Downes - U23W2-, U23W4-, U23W4X, OCW4-
Amy Walters - OWL1X, OWL2X, OWL4X, OCW2X
Sarah Steger - U19W1X, U19W4X, U19W2X, SG1X
Maegan Thompson - U19W2-, U19W4-, U19W2X
Emma Harding - U23W4-, U23WL2X, OCW4-
Bridget Colby - U23W4-, U23WL2X, OCW4-
Phillipa Colby - OCW2X

Nick Wakeford - OM1X, OM2X, OM4+
Matthew Cochran - U23M2-, U23M4-, U23M8+
Zak Campbell - U23M2-, U23M4X, U23M8+
Sam Hughes - U23M2-, U23M2X, U23M4X, U23M8+
John Ciccarelli - OM2-, OM4+, OCM2X
David Moo - U19M8+, U19M4+, OCM2X
Alex Winch - U19M8+, U19M4+, SB1X

TC Maguire - U23M8+ (cox)

Mat Higgins - Coach
Brendan Klemm - Coach

Nationals and the Interstate Regatta

The Nationals regatta runs over seven days. The first four days (Monday-Thursday this week) have seen our athletes put through their paces in heats, repechages and semi finals for their events.

For the athletes who made it through the preliminary rounds, the remaining semi-finals and finals are held over Friday and Saturday. The regatta culminates in an interstate regatta on Sunday, where each state's top crews are pitted against one another!

Congratulations to the following WARC athletes who were selected to represent WA in the interstate regatta:

Nick Wakeford - Kings Cup (Interstate Mens 8+)
Hannah Vermeersch - Queens Cup (Interstate Womens 8+) and Womens Youth 8+
Sarah Steger - Womens Youth 8+
TC Maguire - Mens Youth 8+ (coxswain)
Matthew Cochran - Mens Youth 8+
Sam Hughes - Mens Youth 8+
Zak Campbell - Mens Youth 8+

Eat A Cow Night

To celebrate the return of all WA's athletes from the nationals campaign in Adelaide, WARC have secured 400kg of meat.

Yes, you read correctly: that's FOUR HUNDRED KILOGRAMS. That's the equivalent of four Nick Wakefords. Or three Dave Watts. Or eight clones of TC herself.

As a result, the WA Rowing Club will be hosting an epic Eat a Cow night at WARC's boatshed. There will be an eating competition, prizes, the bar will be open and mayhem will reign.

All are welcome!

Details:

When: Friday, March 18, 5pm onwards.
Where: WARC boatshed function room, on Riverside Drive
What: The rowing community's record attempt to consume 400kg of beef (yes, some salad will be provided)
Cost: $30 per person for 'all you can eat buffet'
Anything else?: Vegetarians BYO

The fine print: Pay by EFT or purchase from John Ciccarelli on mensvc@warowingclub.org EFT for WA Rowing Club on BSB: 036 001 Account: 132464.
Please put your SURNAME, club initials and a reference code of "EAT" so "COCHRAN, WARC, EAT".

We hope you take this invitation in the spirit for which it is intended. If you got offended, maybe chillax a bit. Or consider vegetarianism.

Trailer Refurbishment

Many, many thanks to Paul and Elma Thompson, and Ray from Killarnee, who gave the venerable trailer (formerly known as the blue trailer) a complete overhaul. The trailer was originally built in the 1950's (rumour has it by convicts), and a great deal of work was needed in order to make it Nullabor-worthy.

The good news is that everything came together at the last minute, as you can see from the (albeit small) picture above it looks fantastic (and is now RED!)

Special Thanks

All the races at the regatta have not yet been won and lost, but WARC's nationals campaign has already been a huge success.

Congratulations and many thanks to all the athletes, coaches, squad captains, parents, supporters, and club members.

Whether you sold sausages at a BBQ, changed your training program so others could use the club's equipment, gave athletes a lift to training in the morning or anything else, your contribution helps make this club what it is. I'm incredibly proud to be part of something as fantastic as this rowing club, and I hope you are too.