Leichhardt Rowing Club’s second regatta for the season proved to be a happy hunting ground for Jeff Paterson’s women’s squad as part of their final preparations for the Edward Trickett NSW Grade Championships at the Sydney International Regatta Centre in less than a fortnight.
The squad claimed wins in the D Grade Eight as well as divisions of the D Grade Quad Scull and D Grade Double Scull.
The eight crew of Hamina Cameron, Robyn Schremmer, Katrina Macgregor, Simone Broadfield, Geertje Ijpma, Michelle Smigielsk, Margaret Waldersee, Lucy Blakemore and coxswain Anna Bauweraerts took on Leichhardt in a match race and after trailing early finished strongly to claim the win by 1.1 seconds.
Bauweraerts, who has been out with a wrist injury for the bulk of the season, relished the chance to be back on the water competing, this time holding the rudder strings. “It was a great exciting close finish coxing the D eight to victory…so good to be back on the water even if I can't row yet due to injury!”
“The girls responded well when I called to take it up, pushing through the finish neck and neck with Leichhardt, claiming first place.”
Lucy Blakemore enjoyed the hit-out for the eight ahead of the grade-season-ending Trickett regatta, “the eight was a good fight with Leichhardt, brilliantly coxed by Anna, who pushed us all the way and edged us in front close to the finish.”
Blakemore and Smigielski claimed a comfortable three boat length win in a division of the Women’s D Grade Double Scull. The crew’s tactics of trying to minimise bad strokes in difficult conditions paid off. “Michelle and I had a controlled row in the double, in tricky conditions due to the torrential rain which attacked us from the start line to the finish”, said Blakemore.
“We mostly concentrated on not losing oars and keeping a steady rhythm in the slippery conditions, which paid off as we led from the front and retained our lead all the way, despite a good push by the Leichhardt crew in the adjacent lane.”
The two later formed the nucleus of a successful D Grade Quad Scull crew with Renate Ijpma and Hamina Cameron who went on to win by just over 6 seconds. “The quad scull was another wet race, and again it was a Leichhardt crew which put pressure on our quad all the way along the course,” said Blakemore.
“In the end, we used low rating and kept up a steady work rate to stay just ahead of the other crews and took a confident win in the end.”
Blakemore said the squad is looking forward to working on improving their combinations over the next couple of weeks. “This was a great regatta to test some crew combinations prior to Trickett, and we're looking forward to pulling together our summer training and showing what our squad can do for the big event at SIRC (Sydney International Regatta Centre).”
