A Great Blog

BRC Trivia Night - 14th August: All welcome!!

2010-07-08T01:04:00.000-07:00

Balmain Rowing Club is holding a fundraising trivia night on the 14th
August at 6:30pm, at Balmain Town Hall - it promises to be an
absolutely fantastic night!

BRC is issuing a challenge to all rowing clubs in Sydney - do you
think YOUR CLUB can beat Balmain's best and brightest minds on the
table?

Come along and settle old sculler's scores by pitting your minds
against other clubs, boat race officials, and members of the rowing
community!

Trivia Invite_472010

Request for Proposals - BALMAIN ROWING CLUB

2010-05-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

ARE YOU AN ARCHITECT? BALMAIN ROWING CLUB NEEDS YOU
Balmain Rowing Club is applying for a construction certificate and needs an architect to manage the process. If this could be you (or someone you know), go to the BRC website for the brief (request for proposal) or call David Longhurst.
Contact: David Longhurst, President
Phone: 0415211743

THE RFP PROCESS IS NOW CLOSED - THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!

BRC goes for Six of the Best at Iron Cove Master's Regatta

2010-05-08T05:15:00.000-07:00

- Owen Nix

Balmain Rowing Club notched up six race victories at the Iron Cove Masters regatta on Saturday, May 1. Held on the Leichhardt course, it is the final metropolitan lead up regatta to the NSW Masters in a fortnight.

Still conditions in the morning were enjoyed by all competitors and only a slight tail breeze was evident for later races in the programme.

Brett Fountain started the day in perfect style in taking out the Men’s A Single Scull. Challenged by Robert Downton of Leichhardt for the first 600 metres, Fountain proved too strong over the latter stages to claim the win. Owen Nix made it a one-two finish for Balmain, passing a fading Downton in the last 100 metres.

The Women’s C Quad Scull of Lara Frolchenko, Shannon Laffan, Janine Lippi and Anna Bauweraerts claimed the club’s second win of the day jumping out to clear water early on and continued to stretch their lead to 5 boatlengths at the finish. The other Balmain crew of Katrina McGregor, Sheila Donnelly, Suzy Tay and Lucy Blakemore battled with two crews from North Shore for the minor places and were edged out to 4th as the three crews overlapped at the finish. Shannon Laffan was delighted with the win, stating “'Wow, what a buzz! I'm sure my crews' collective years of experience made the difference. Our stroke, Anna maintained a steady cadence and kept the pressure on our competitors, Janine ensured we got off to a clean start allowing us to build up a good lead from the outset, while Lara kept us all on our toes and on the best path to the finish line. I simply put in the strokes and was nicely surprised to find that my race conditioning hadn't deteriorated too much!”

Lippi, who is contesting the NSW in Grafton and Australian Masters in Perth over the next 5 weeks, claimed a second win in the Women’s C Single Scull. The John Lee coached sculler moved out to a comfortable lead and enjoyed a gap of almost 50 metres over second place at the finish line.

Randal Hayles and Chris Nelson raced with a controlled rhythm and plenty of power to take out the Men’s A Double Scull. The crew trailed Balmain’s Brett Fountain and ex-BRC competitor Jason Nissen who now races for Hunter Rowing Club for the majority of the race. However, they remained relaxed and hit the lead with 250 metres to go with Nissen and Fountain claiming second. All four formed the Men’s A Quad Scull which took on Leichhardt in a match race. Balmain/Hunter was able to move into the lead and gained clear water on their close neighbours as the race progressed towards the finish and while Leichhardt kicked into a finishing sprint it was more than matched by the Brett Fountain stroked crew as they claimed a win by almost two boatlengths.

The Mixed Quad Scull of Owen Nix, Shannon Laffan, Alexander Weilsmann and Angelique Lele claimed the 6th win of the regatta. Starting off at 35 stroked a minute the crew dropped the rating down a couple of points and managed to pick off the Sydney and Brisbane Water crews by halfway and went out in pursuit of leaders St George and the NSW Masters Women’s crew. Laffan called for a concerted effort with the legs with 400 metres to go and Lele raised the rating back up to 35. This saw the crew move up past the NSW Masters Women and on level terms with St George and then the lead with 20 strokes to go to notch up a win by just over a boatlength.

For many, this regatta represents the end of season 2009/2010. A small contingent is heading to the NSW Masters Championships and also the Australian Masters. The next racing opportunity for a number of club members will be at the JB Sharp Winter Series of regattas held in Iron Cove.

Balmain enjoys the spoils of Trickett Club Championships

2010-04-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

Balmain Rowing Club enjoyed a share of the spoils at the Edward Trickett NSW Grade Championships Regatta on the weekend at the Sydney International Regatta Centre in Penrith.

Held over two days, the regatta is named after Australia’s first world champion in any sport and featured clubs from throughout the Sydney Metropolitan area, Newcastle, Queensland, Victoria and the ACT. Relatives of Edward Trickett were on hand at the regatta to present medals to placegetters.

Day one was run with still conditions all day and Balmain concluded the first day of competition with a silver medal in the Men’s B Grade Quad Scull. Up against Mosman, who swept the B Grade sculling events, it was no surprise to see the favourites leading out from the start in the centre of the course, moving out to a decisive 3 boatlength advantage at halfway that continued to grow as the race progressed.

The Balmain crew of Josh Bray, Brett Fountain, James Waldersee and Liam James were drawn in lane 8 alongside Macquarie University in station 9 and the crews maintained an overlap throughout the race, with Balmain holding 2/3rds of a boatlength margin after 1000 metres. This buffer was eroded to just 0.13 of a second after the third 500 and Macquarie edged into second place with just 150 metres to go. However a powerful finishing sprint where the rating in the Balmain crew increased by 9 points, saw the Keith Swanson coached boat edge ahead and claim silver behind Mosman, by just 0.03 of a second.

Balmain captain, Liam James, relished the close racing with Macquarie University. "We always knew the competition would be tough at the Trickett, and the B quad certainly did not disappoint. While Mosman shot forwards to an early lead, we spent most of the race neck-and-neck with the Macquarie Uni crew fighting for second place. When we reached the 1500m mark, both crews started to lift, and by the 1750 we were at a flat out sprint at 41 strokes per minute. Macquarie Uni matched our pace stroke for stroke, but we just managed to get them on the line. It was a fantastic race for 2nd and certainly one of the closest races I have ever been in. The Macquarie Uni crew rowed a brilliant race - there was nothing between us."

Further success was to be had on day 2 in the Women’s D Grade Quad Scull. Jeff Paterson’s crew of Katrina Macgregor, Sheila Donnelly, Renata Ijpma and Lucy Blakemore qualified comfortably for the final in Lane 1 with the slowest of heat times.

Under coach’s orders to take the race to the other eight boats from the outside lane, the Balmain crew did exactly that trailing early leaders and eventual gold and silver medallists Black Mountain and Hunter Valley Grammar School respectively, by a mere half a boatlength at the midpoint of the race. The crew enjoyed a similar buffer over fourth-placed Surfers Paradise after 500 metres and pushed hard in the next 250 to preserve this gap in the race for the bronze medal. The Queensland crew continued to erode the deficit that stood at a canvas with 50 metres still to cover and result for 3rd place went to the photo finish camera (capable of deciding the outcome of races down to a hundredth of a second) to determine who would claim a spot on the podium. Both crews waited out on the water nervously and were elated to hear that they could not be separated and both Balmain and Surfers Paradise claimed the bronze medal.

The last Balmain crew to take to the water was the Men’s C Grade Coxless Pair of Chris Nelson and Josh Bray. With most Balmain crews racing in sculling events this season, Nelson and Bray had been targeting this race since February and starting to find increased speed in training in recent weeks. A solid headbreeze greeted competitors on the start line and the Balmain crew lined up alongside one of the top Masters crews in NSW in Geoff Canning and Duncan Crockford of Drummoyne. The Drummoyne crew has been together for a handful of years and featured Crockford, a winner of both the Thames and Brittania Challenge Cups at the Henley Royal Regatta three decades ago in crews with dual Olympic Gold Medallist, Andy Holmes. Also contesting this race was the young Leichhardt crew of Kristian Bodell and Nicholas Andronikashvili, who turned their attention to sweeping at Christmas time.

The Leichhardt crew moved out to a boatlength and a half lead after 500 metres from Nelson and Bray who were also holding the Drummoyne combination at just over a boatlength. These three crews continued to pull away from the rest of the field and Leichhardt went on to win by just over 3 boatlengths. In the race for the silver medal the Balmain crew toughed it out to hold off Canning and Crockford with the Drummoyne crew reducing the deficit to just under a boatlength at the finishing line.

A second silver medal for Balmain concluded a successful end of the season for a number of competitors. The attention of the clubs’ Masters crews turns to the regattas on Iron Cove over the coming fortnight, followed by the NSW and Australian Masters in May and June in Grafton and Perth respectively. For many the Trickett regatta is the culmination of a long season, while others will be targeting success in the JB Sharp series over the winter months on Iron Cove.

Sydney Women's MLC regatta wrapup

2009-11-15T16:37:00.000-08:00

We certainly had a great result at the SWMLC regatta on the weekend! Out of 17 races contested, we won 6, came 2nd in 7, 3rd in 1 and 4th in 3. Congratulations to all competitors!
Some notable mentions include Josh Bray, who won his first single sculls event, beating former BRC member Simon Glascott - the BRC connection was however too powerful for the rest of the field, who were a further 20 seconds behind! BRC's Master's mens squad is obviously moving from strength to strength with powerful performances from Xander, Owen, Patrick and Chris, who were often competing at the front of the pack with BRC's junior/men's squad - the most competitive rows were between the two BRC crews, rather than the rest of the field!

Thanks to those who stuck around for loading and unloading - you made light work of getting the equipment off the trailer and helped to get the eight home again in somewhat trying weather conditions!

Congratulations to SWMLC for hosting such a successful regatta, and we look forward to many more club regattas in Hen and Chicken bay!

World Master's Games Wrapup

2009-10-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

[Note: results of the racing can be seen here, and will be collated for BRC soon. Until then, please see below for a general wrapup of the WMGs!]

World masters games rowing
A bunch of masters from Balmain raced at the recent world masters regatta. Some of our rowers raced singles, others in crewed boats (there were doubles, quads, fours and eights). There were several all-BRC crews (men and women), and also lots of composite crews, where BRC folk raced with rowers from other clubs. We also had many BRC members involved in the administration and running of the event. Once again, Balmain has shown that it is one of the clubs in Australia that really pulls its weight, both in competition and administation of our sport.

The world's largest regatta
There were some 3000 people at the regatta - far too much lycra really. It was to be the largest regatta in the Southern Hemisphere, and quite possibly, the world. Most of the crews were from Australia, although there were plenty of international crews from places as far away as Alaska, Chile, USA, UK and Russia. The average age of racer was 50, and the oldest rower was in his eighties.

The best course in Australia
The regatta was held at the regatta centre in Penrith (SIRC) with a full set-up and wonderful organisation by the volunteers at NSWRA (we all owe these volunteers a huge thanks). If you have raced at SIRC you will know that it is a lovely course - fully bouyed and with a bubble line finish. All this was in place, with fantastic marshalling and held starts.

Three days of joy
Days 1, 2 and 3 (Sunday-Monday) were overcast and a bit drizzly but there was fantastic racing as wave after wave of fully-loaded races came down the course. It is always wonderful to see eight eights racing, but to see several
heats in a row, with 8 lanes full of sweep eights - well that is really sensational to watch. Most of the racing was very competitive and being over 1000m, it really was a case of sprint, recover, repeat. All of the pontoons were bustling all day long, with some pontoons marked for "exit only," to give you an idea of the scale of the traffic going on the water. But just as the regatta momentum built, disaster struck...

And two days of misery
Unfortunately day 3 and then again in day 4 (Tuesday and Wednesday) with thousands of rowers left devastated by the cancellation of the regatta due to dangerously high winds. It was so disappointing to have everything in place but obviously safety was the main consideration when it came down to making a decision. In the end, the regatta was not have been the scale it could have been and many competitors were disappointed. Luckily there were only a few who only entered in races on the last days, so most competitors still had a wonderful regatta despite the cancelled days.

What did we learn
Um, apart from, not to hold international regattas at SIRC in the windiest part of the year? (this would have been a central games decision, not NSWRA by the way).
Well we learned that BRC is very well connected and networked with other clubs from around Australia. We learned that our crews are always competitive, even more so if they have practiced a bit before hand. And we learned that rowing remains one of the world's truly great competitive sports.

-Matt B-Y

VOTE NOW for BRC's Community Partnership Grant Application!

2009-10-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

The Balmain Rowing Club is 127 years old and requires urgent restoration to remain safe and effective. It is one of the few local sporting clubs that does not have a liquor licence or poker machines, and is therefore highly suitable for young people to get involved with. It also supports rowers with a disability.

The grant would allow the Club to undertake restoration and facilities upgrade of the Club, including to raise and restore the rowing shed (one of only two remaining on Sydney Harbour), and to provide clearance from inundation. Upgrading the facility would provide better boat storage for the club as well as water access and club amenities (including toilets, change rooms and a gymnasium).

If you live in the Balmain electorate, please register to vote and give BRC the support it needs to continue to provide open access to this fantastic sport for the whole Balmain community - we are a grassroots community club and have always accepted anyone who wanted to give the sport a go - and we need your help now to keep that up!

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
To give your support, please register to vote at the community partnerships website below, and vote for Balmain!

As BRC is acommunity club, and is not supported by any large organisations or schools, we really need your help to pass this on to your friends and neighbours - we are by nature a small club, and our voice may not be not easily heard above some of the larger organisations without your support!

http://communitypartnerships.verityfirth.com/Project/Details/balmain-rowing-club

BRC Master's Cruise - come on in!

2009-09-29T00:44:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone!
Are you coming down to Australia for the world master's games? We have a lot of members competing, and nothing would be better than relaxing after a tough and competitive regatta, and soaking in some of Sydney's best sights. Balmain is running a cruise just for you to enjoy with some of our club members - read on for details!

You are invited to “frock up” and enjoy a beautiful harbour cruise with all food and drinks included. Come along and celebrate competing and hopefully winning at the World Masters Games. Please see the attached invite for more details.

Its Getting Busy at BRC

2008-11-03T04:48:00.000-08:00

Over the last weekend, more than 30 boats left the BRC pontoon, from singles, doubles, pairs, quads and fours - the eight was booked but only just missed being taken out, and no doubt felt quite lonely in the back of the shed!
With the Men’s and Women’s novice squads now increasing their workload, and the learn to row reaching its final stages, BRC is getting ready for a really positive season, and starting to lay the foundations for a fantastic 2009.

Beginning with a possible training camp in Taree, Balmain will be competing at many of the Club and open grade regattas, though we are focusing our energy on developing our novice and junior programs this season. Combined with the new learn to row graduates, this will make for quite a squad!
We are also very excited to see our more experienced members back in training, and would welcome any new or ex-rowers who wanted to pick up an oar again to come down, train, and race for BRC!

BRC Regatta Success

2008-10-16T04:22:00.000-07:00

Overall, we had 4 wins, 6 seconds, and 7 thirds, from a total of 26 crews entered - notably, James Waldersee took home 4 medals, being involved in every first place BRC achieved, while Matthew Braithwaite-Young took home 3 medals from 3 events also. It was also fantastic to see both a men's and women's D 8+ on the water - the women's 8+ finishing a close second, while the men's finished a close first to take home the medals. Congratulations to all rowers involved - the overall club effort was great and it took every rower working together to make it so.

Thanks particularly to all the volunteers who helped out during the day: to (in no particular order) Patrick Holmes, Hugo Kirk, Bernard Kenny, Jack Burton, Brigit Kirk, Tracey Atchison, George Neilson, David Longhurst, Owen Nix, Robyn Schremmer, Chris Hajos, Carol Stanley, Hannah Stanley, the BRO's: Allen Turner, Barbara Ramjan, Brian Guthrie, Greg Smith, Greg James and Tim Wainman, plus all the great volunteers from Drummoyne Rowing Club too! I think it's very important to realise the amount of effort on the part of so many people that goes into running a regatta each year, and if there's anyone who volunteered who I have forgotten, please let me know and I'll amend the list.

Rowers Wanted: What were your colours?

2008-09-26T21:55:00.000-07:00

Calling all Tigers! UPDATED

2008-09-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

BALMAIN TIGERS SPORTS GATHERING
Saturday 11th October
Dicks Hotel
7:00pm-late
Wear: What else but a decent splash of Black and Gold.

A few mystery guests will appear during the night, and we'll raise a little money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation with a good old fashioned Balmain meat tray raffle!

Balmain Rowing Club is your host and also warmly invites all members and friends of:
Balmain Cricket Club
Balmain & District Football Club (Soccer)
Balmain Rugby Union Football Club
Balmain Swimming Club
Balmain Water Polo Club
Balmain Sailing Club
And all other Balmain Sports Clubs fighting in the black and gold of the Tigers!

Update:on the night a huge number of people carried the BRC tiger spirit down to Dick's Hotel for a meetup with other Balmain clubs - it was a fantastic time, and I'm only sorry I wasn't there for the whole night - the day had really taken its toll! Matt Braithwaite-Young has kindly shared a few photos of the night - they are attached in a collage (thanks Matt!). I'm sure the next night out for BRC will be just as big!

Want to Row? Come on in!

2008-09-13T06:15:00.000-07:00

We run a very open rowing program at Balmain, and we allow both experienced and brand new rowers of all ages to join up and give this great sport a go. For those new to rowing, we run a fantastic learn-to-row course twice a year, where applicants are taught by both rowers and coaches the basic technique of the sport. We run an eight week course, with training every Sunday, and for those who want more, there is a well defined progression from the learn to row program into some of our regular squads. For more info, or to apply for the learn to row course (there is often a waiting list for the next course, so don’t delay!), simply head over to our learn to row page.

For those who already have some rowing experience, we’d love to get you moving in one of our squads as soon as possible - but if you are not looking for competitive rowing, Balmain has a vibrant recreational community of rowers who simply enjoy getting out for a paddle on the water. Either way, sign up for membership today, and get in ahead of the Summer rush!

BRC's New Site

2008-09-11T23:20:00.000-07:00

Following on the success of the past iterations of the site, this version (version 4!) will introduce additional member’s features as well as providing detailed information to visitors to the site. If you’d like to see something special on the site, or have a suggestion about how we can improve this resource for you, please let us know in the comments or the forums!