A small contingent of 11 Balmain members made the trip down to picturesque Lake Barrington in Tasmania for the Australian Masters Rowing Championships. Expecting cold weather, it did not quite meet expectations for which all were glad and racing was conducted in quite good conditions for the first two and a half days while a solid headwind greeted competitors for the remainder of the regatta.
Janine Lippi was the first to take to the water in the Women’s C Double Scull with Mandy Cavill of Manning River. Entries were strong in categories C through to F for both men and women, meaning qualification was often just the first two through to the final. This was the case for Lippi and Cavill who comfortably made it through their heat and placed 5th in the final behind NSW Masters champions in this event, Elaine Bissaker and Emy Ayliffe of Canberra.
Late on Day 1, Lippi and Cavill combined with Roy Halliday and John Corbett (both Manning River) to finish third in their division of the Mixed D Quad Scull.
A fine performance on the Friday saw Lippi, Cavill, Kim Chilton (Port Macquarie) and Sandy Rourke (Leichhardt) claim a silver medal in the Women’s D Quad Scull. Racing against the Victorian Interstate Quad Scull crew who raced as Corio Bay composite, the Balmain composite crew stuck with their fancied rivals to be a second down after 500m and pushed the favourites right to the line, going down by just one-third of a boat length.
In the Women’s C Single Scull, Lippi qualified comfortably for the final where half a dozen boat lengths separated the eight boats, with the John Lee sculler placing 7th. The field for the final had an international flavour with Rebecca Caroe, UK rowing identity and product supplier, racing under the colours of her New Zealand club, Otago University.
The Balmain Men’s Eight crew of Simon Jenkins, Evan Sturrock, Matthew Davis, Marcus Hanel, Nick Smith, Joel Cape, James Armati, Saxon Lyne, Charles Done (cox) and Barclay Wade (coach) were all set to continue on their solid form that had already seen titles claimed at both the Trickett and NSW Masters Championships.
Combining with two members from Old Ignatians to form a B Eight, the two replacing Hanel and Davis, the crew had a great tussle with a composite crew made up mainly from Drummoyne and Glebe. Even the photo finish equipment was unable to separate the crews in deciding third place and both ended up with bronze medals.
Davis, Cape, Armati and Lyne came home with another bronze medal, this time in the Men’s A Coxless Four finishing just over a boat length down on the winners, Tasmania University Boat Club.
In the Men’s A Single Scull, Owen Nix placed 5th behind perennial winner, Patrick Bird of North Esk who recorded a come from behind win over local rival Mischa Tunevitsch.
The Men’s B Coxless Four was an epic tussle, with Balmain forming two composite crews. One comprised North Shore’s Philip Quick, Cape, Armati and Lyne and the other with Drummoyne’s Rob Glendenning, Davis, Hanel and Sturrock. Half a boat length separated the top 4 crews with 500 metres gone with Lindisfarne in the lead and the Saxon Lyne stroked crew back in 4th after crabbing earlier on and Evan Sturrock’s crew in fifth. The big push from Lyne’s crew came with 400 to go as the edged their bow in front, despite striking 2 points lower than their competitors. In the sprint to the line it was the crew of Quick, Cape, Armati and Lyne that got home as the top four all finished within half a length of one another while the crew of Glendenning, Davis, Hanel and Sturrock placed 5th. To give some idea of the closeness of the race, the crew were only aware of their victory after returning to the boating area. The winning crew was the only boat in the event to negative split their 500’s.
Late on Saturday, with two of the Balmain men struck down with illness, they took on a Tasmanian composite crew and Power House in the Men’s A Eight. Power House were dumped off the start and the race for the prize was left to Balmain and the Tasmanian crew to fight it out. The locals had edged out to a third of a length after 400 metres and managed to push a little further ahead, earning the win by three quarters of a boat length over Balmain who claimed the silver medal.
On the final day of racing Lippi and Rourke won a fine silver medal in the Women’s D Double Scull. Corio Bay had blasted out of the start opening up clear water with 500 metres to go in an attempt to try and put the race to bed early. The NSW Masters Champions, Black Mountain were next, followed by the Balmain/Leichhardt crew a canvas back in third position. Lippi and Rourke finished strongly, turning the tables on Black Mountain from three weeks prior, with a big push in the last half of the race to move into second place at the finish.
The final race for Lippi was in the Mixed D Double Scull with Murwillumbah’s John Ryan and the crew placed second behind Canberra Rowing Club.
