Over 80 single scullers took to the 5km course at the Head of the Nepean on Saturday. Raced over the traditional time-trial layout from the narrows to the end of the old championship course, it was the first of a number of longer distance events on the Rowing NSW program for the season.

Balmain Rowing Club fielded 5 scullers for the second running of this event. Vice Captain, James Waldersee was delighted with the turnout from the club. “It was really good to have more than just one or two around racing and hopefully we see more juniors competing at the later time trials.”

Waldersee contested the Men’s Under 23 Lightweight Single Scull and took out his division by almost 17 seconds ahead of training partner Will Clark of Mosman. In doing so, he recorded the 7th fastest prognostic time of all the entrants in National Selection categories and acknowledged that there are still some areas to improve upon. “It was a solid first hit out, but still some work to do,” said Waldersee.

Peter Waldersee placed 3rd in the Men’s Under 17 Single Scull event behind Mosman’s talented junior, Robin Molen-Grigull. The Balmain junior edged out Scott Wotherspoon from the host club for third place by just over a second.

Lucy Blakemore overcame illness midweek to place 5th in the Women’s Lightweight Single Scull category, while Alex Bentley finished in 4th place in the Men’s Under 23 Lightweight Single Scull.

Chris Nelson raced in the Men’s Masters Single Scull which was time-adjusted across all age groups and finished in 18th overall and was the fastest in his individual category.

“As a club we are quite happy with the results, it’s definitely promising given the time of the season,” said James Waldersee.