Rowing Trophy Regatta 2021

Somerset rowers have won the Andrew Butler Trophy for the Girls Overall Points score. The team of rowers competed in the final regatta of the local Gold Coast schools rowing season at Wyaralong Dam recently.

With changes made this season, the regatta now finishes with the Open Quads with the Girls Open Quad scull of Rowing Captain Sofie Smith, Kate Jordan, Nathalie Brown and Emelia Fink coming Second, while the Boys Open Quad of Rowing Captain Fergus McKeon, Cam Smith, Callum McClure and Nick Tan came third. With five Girls Quads entered for the day it was always going to be close between Brigidine College and Somerset College for the Overall winner, with Somerset College taking the win by just two points. The boys were not able to match St Peters College who had entered eight Boys Quads for the day, with Somerset College only having six.

Helping the Girls Open Quad to win the Girls Overall Andrew Butler trophy was the Year 10 crew of Lillian Tan, Eliza Strong, Georgia Daly and Lauren Taylor Girdler winning the Overall Year 10 points. The Girls Year 9 crew of Maya Pearse, Kinari Patel, Esme Fink and Noa Chester-Haviv came third as well as the Year 8 crew of Brooke Bowden, Livi Budd, Nadia Wu and Leylah Zubair.

Wyaralong Dam, has steadily been developed over the past few years and is well established now as the Queensland State Rowing Centre. With a ten lane 2000m course it is the largest racing venue in the state and will be the venue for some further regattas in Term Three as preparation for the State Championships in Rockhampton from 18 to 20 September. The conditions were far from pleasant as the cold southerly wind made the water challenging to row in. As gates were lifted to accommodate the small waves, there was little that could be done to avoid the splash of water and several boats came back in drenched.

The Year 7 girls Brooke Bowden, Livi Budd, Audrey Cirocco, Isabella Vujanovic, Sarah Nickels and Natalia Zotti did a fantastic job of competing in the Year 8 events, as did the Year 7 boys Benji Strong, Angus Riddle, Xavier Brand, Tony Stephens and Will Hoult. With plenty of other Year 7 rowers involved in the program and competing at several regattas this year it is a great sign for the future.

The Year 9 boys quad of Jake Phillips, Callum Miles, Bowen Mansell, Alex Jordan have had a fantastic season competing with the Kenmore Year 9 Boys Quad. Unfortunately, the crew were not able to catch them in the final regatta and had to settle for second place. It has been great to see both crews display such great racing at such a young age.

Luke Oishi of Year 8 had to step up and fill in for the Year 10 Quad with Lachlan Ray, Matthew Nickels and Joe Boone. They were able to manage a second place behind St Peter's Lutheran College. A great effort considering the last-minute crew change and the additional 500m in course length than they had been used to racing.

It was so good to see the squad of 54 rowers compete over the GCRASRA season. With many highlights at Coomera Lake in Single, Double and Quad sculls, a great breading ground for local development in the sport and certainly a fantastic start for many rowers who have never had any regatta experience. The result at the Trophy Regatta, winning the Girls Overall points and coming second in the Boys Overall points is a great indication of how successful we are locally. Let’s hope we can keep this success going as we now look to the South Queensland and Queensland School State Championships in Term Three.