University Rowing Champs (previously known as University Games) 2010 was held on the beautiful Lake Waihola, a freshwater lake just north of Milton in Otago.

The lake itself is part of a wetland system, and as such is remarkably shallow. In fact the name “Waihola” comes from the Maori word “waihora”, meaning “spreading waters. This enthralling etymology is matched by the spectacular beauty of Waihola, for as the sun rose over a crisp, misty Otago morning, the lake appeared, mythical, through the tree-lined trailer-park set about with boat-racks and port-aloos.

Wellington suffered a blisteringly windy summer leading up to Champs, and unfortunately this meant that many crews did not get the water time needed to achieve the results they deserved. Despite the handicap that is the Wellington weather, Victoria came away with a handful of medals, including the tourny mens and womans IV, mens VIII and mixed VIII. While all the crews impressed on the water, special mention must be made of the mens and womans novice crews, who, although spending much of the season grounded by the unforgiving weather, showed great strength of character and threw down commendable challenges to the vastly experienced Otago and Canterbury crews.

Given the lack of water time and training opportunities, the enthusiasm and dedication shown by the members of Vic Rowing was impressive, and this tireless commitment is brought into sharp focus when viewed against the backdrop of the traveling distance Uni Rowing Champs 2010 required.

The Vic Rowing Exec would like to thank all those who contributed to a successful and memorable Uni Rowing Champs 2010, especially Amy Robson, whose organisational prowess is second to none.

For those wishing to row for Vic, the University season starts again in February 2011. Until then, we will be training as part of Wellington Rowing Club. Feel free to contact them at http://www.wellingtonrowing.org.nz/ or email Vic Rowing under the contact tab.

With the new University Rowing season fast approaching, the Victoria Rowing Club are looking forward with great anticipation to the 2010 University Rowing Championships, held this year on Lake Waihola, near Dunedin.

The University Rowing Champs, previously known simply as Uni Games, is the highlight for many university rowing clubs up and downt the country, and Vic Rowing is no different. We are keen to get stuck in to the season, complete with training camps, Singlet Night and Crate Day, with the same enthusiasm that saw Vic Rowing shine at Uni Rowing Champs last year in Twizel, and Tertiary Games in Hamilton.

Vic Rowing will be recruiting during the first week of uni, and will be holding the first training session/catch-up day on Sunday 7th  March at 11am, at the Wellington Rowing Club.

Friday 7 August saw the Victoria Rowing Club travel up to the cosmopolitan Mecca of Hamilton, to take part in the much-anticipated Tertiary Rowing Games.

The races consisted of a brisk 700m sprint across the picturesque Hamilton Lake. To the obvious dismay of many competitors, the rumoured “buoy-turn” did not eventuate, as crews had to settle for the tried and tested straight-line racing style. The weather was fantastic, with not as much as a light breeze, and as the searing heat baked down on mystical foggy Waikato morning, perfect racing conditions eventuated.

The intermediate men’s and women’s crews could only manage a few 3rd placings, owing in part to a combination of stiff competition and heavily reduced training opportunities. However, the Victoria novice crews pulled out all the stops and treated the boisterous spectators to a no-holds-barred thrashing of the competition. The novice men easily won their fours race against experienced Waikato, Auckland and Wintec crews, and the novice women demolished the opposition crews with a 7-legth decimation in what has been described as the race of the day. The two crews combined for one final race in the novice mixed eight, and to nobody’s surprise, they won comfortably.

Final results, Victoria placed a close 3rd behind the experienced rowing juggernauts of Auckland University and Waikato.

[Victoria University Rowing does not in any way condone binge-drinking]

That said, the fine men and women did Victoria University proud by achieving a post-regatta land-based boat race whitewash, firmly entrenching our reputation as the most battle-hardened university, as the long hours training paid off once again.

Thanks goes out to the Victoria Rowing Exec (especially Lisa and Elyse) for making our attendance possible, and to the lovely folks at the Hamilton Rowing club for the use of their boats, and the Waikato Rowing club for the use for their floor. Thanks must also go the organiser of Tertiary Rowing, Pip of Waikato.

Finally, Exec thanks the Vic rowers for their determination and dedication over the past month and a bit, for putting up with our enthusiasm, and for placing the club into a commanding position heading into the 2010 season.

Paul Rainier

I’m happy to announce that this year’s University Rowing Championships in Twizel was a roaring success. A Vic squad of 38 strong was the only north island team to make the games in Twizel, and travelled by bus and ferry to to valiantly compete over two days with respectable results. A special mention goes to this year’s novice girls squad who took home a swag of medals and really showed their mettle against the other Universities. 

The after party that ensued will long be remembered as one of Uni Rowing’s greatest.

The AGM also took place in May and saw the election of the executive for the coming year with Edward Cade as President, Lisa rofe as Treasurer, Paul Rainier as Vice President, Elyse Cowling as Secretary, and Tim “swamp” Wilson as club captain.

The executive is currently preparing for a mini-regatta on the 7th of August in Hamilton.

-Craig

The VicRowing executive would firstly like to give a big thanks to VUWSA for agreeing to provide a $4500 grant to help get us down to Twizel for the University Rowing Championships in April. Cheers guys.

VicRowing has been at the Kelburn Campus today (Friday 6th March) signing up new members to the club and giving  people a chance to mess around a bit on an erg courtesy of Wellington Rowing. So far we have had good numbers showing interest so it’s likely we will have some big squads heading down to Twizel this year.

A reminder to everyone that the first Vic Rowing open day of the year is at 2pm this Sunday 8 March. All members, both new and old, should attend so that we can sort out preliminary teams and get informed about the plan of attack for the coming season.

Cheers,

Craig