Sydney Youths Turn Tricketts
After a gruelling sequence of regattas during the last four months, numbers were down for Sydney at the annual grade championships regatta at Penrith. There were however a select group of youth athletes who were keen to represent the club and maintain their racing fitness ahead of the upcoming northern hemisphere season.
SRC has traditionally performed well at the Edward Trickett Grade Championships, an event which rewards depth across different classes of rowers. This year however, with many of our athletes coming of the tough national selection process, and misadventure affecting the senior grade rowing squad, the club only had a small group that competed over the weekend.
The standouts in this bunch were a group of under 21 athletes, for whom the coming months may still hold opportunities for representative and international racing. On the women’s side, the quad of Bianca Riley, Brianna Caputo, Georgia Bradley and Madison Brown won the B grade final ahead of a field of eight crews. Subsequent wins in the A grade double and B grade single delivered a rare Trickett turkey to Bradley.
For the men, similar success came in the B grade quad, winning in a time of 6.09 over a small but select field that included a top Canberra crew. This was followed by the rare sight of an SRC first four in the A grade double sculls, with the combination of Patterson and Boakes narrowly besting Bevan – Barnes, Parcsi – Duignan, and Brenner – Kenny.
The club’s masters also got involved in the action, with a Steve Handley coached crew collecting a bronze in an explosive final of the C four. The Sydney men were up against a tough field but turned heads with their performance, including that of respected rowing analyst Barry Moynihan who commented on the ‘Humphrey Bogart’ looks of the SRC 2 seat, Charles Lloyd Jones.
The legends had earlier won silver in the C eights, marking a successful regatta for the squad ahead of the upcoming state and national master’s championships. The senior men’s squad competed in the D eight with some juniors. The race began well with an early lead to Sydney established over the race favourites Balmain, however the 1000m journey proved too far for the SRC crew, which faded into 5th.