SRC Sizzles at Small Boats 2018 by Coach Carter
This was our first regatta of 2018 and only a week out from our 3-week training camp in Perisher Valley/Jindabyne. Many of the athletes were feeling a bit lethargic and tired from camp still but managed to pull off some impressive performances.
Harriet Hudson, in particular, put on a master class display of single sculling in the Women’s Elite event. The 20-year-old won her heat against several NTC athletes and finished 4th in the final in an outstanding field of Senior National representatives. Later in the day, she teamed up with Romola Davenport to win the U23 Double ahead of SRC’s U21 combination of Crystal Piper and Lauren Lyon who came in second.
There were a few other notable victories in the Elite double sculls with Nick Clifton and Dylan Boakes taking out the Men’s category and Eleanor Disney with Madison Brown winning the Women’s event. Max Brenner and Lucas Giles took out the U21 double with Tal Lewis and Wyatt Batt coming in narrowly behind them in second place. Jake Brighton and Pat Graham finished the U23 double in a respectable second place.
Lauren Lyon put on a man of the match winning performance to qualify fastest in the U21 single scull and followed it up with a personal best time of 8:02 in the final finishing in second place. Lauren Louise Lyon’s lacklustre left leg looked to be lingering a little but as it lengthened out it looked like lightening further along down the line.
Our U21 pair duo of Jackson Kench and Alex Nichol have been watching too many World Championship videos it seems and thought they could emulate what the lightweight Irish pair did in 2017 – which was to rate 40spm the whole way down the course. It was a gutsy effort but unfortunately, since neither of them is Irish, they weren’t quite crazy enough to hold onto it in the last 200m where they were overtaken to finish 1.5sec behind the winners. This was a tough lesson to learn but one which they will certainly improve on in upcoming regattas.
Tal Lewis had a great result finishing 3rd in the U19 single and says he’s feeling confident with his racing so far and looking forward to State Champs. Lauren Graham and Issy Furrer had a positive start to their season with a second place in the U21 and U19 pairs races. It was their first time racing pairs together and they dedicated their performances to Rex Cox who sadly passed away last year aged 98. Rex was a former club captain of the Southern Alps Ski Club and a legend on the slopes. The girls like to think of themselves as Rex’s Angels.
Wyatt Batt recently finished his schooling at Sydney Grammar last year and has joined SRC as one of our U21 lightweight men. He placed 2nd in his single scull which was a terrific start to what could be a very promising career.
Lachlan Carter