The Regatta Report: Mettams Head Race 2022

Mettams 2022

Darryl ‘D-Pres’ Salisbury (with notes by Nemo)

It was fantastic to see 7 Westies crews represent the club and the great history of the Mettams Head Race this year. This race is of great historical value as it honours Gunner George Mettam of the West Australian Rowing Club, the 7th man of the victorious AIF No 1 crew that won the King’s Cup at the Henley Peace Regatta In 1919.  Read a more detailed history here if you’re interested.

Great conditions on the morning set up wins in the sculls to one of our newest members Freya Walsh by 0.96 sec over Uni, and our evergreen legend big Al backing up his Master’s State Championship and Pennant #2 wins, to make it a three-peat.  In other results – Wests were 2nd in both open 8s with a strong showing by men’s B8 also, an experimental mix of youth and experience. A solid 3rd by WO4X and a row-over win to the Men’s Open Coxed Quad (you have to be in it to win it!).  

Coxswain George Warner steered a competitive line in the B8 to produce some great side-by-side racing, with Swans and 2 Wests men’s crews battling it out under Mt Henry bridge. Words were flung between crews which revved up the rivalry, but luckily all crews emerged unscathed. A little later in the race, a couple of the crews chose the same line and mistakenly thought they were in a British “Bumps race”.

The pictures from Tyler “Paparazzi” Clement tell the rest of the story of a somewhat chilly, but awesome head race.

Footnote - “Nemo” was ghostwriter for the West Australian in the late 1800s, and was brutal in critique of oarsmen and their style. One of his articles is included below for your reading pleasure.

How Rowing Works: Oar fees.

Hello and welcome to today's edition of How Rowing Works. 

Hear at HRW we've fielded a few questions of late on how rowing fees in Western Australia work, so we thought we'd answer a few FAQs to help the newbies out there (and some of the seasoned players who perhaps just don't pay attention) understand:

• how oar fees are generated

• When you need to pay them

• how much it costs to race

• what you need to budget

• what the cash pays for

How oar fees are generated:

Entries to regattas are submitted the Sunday before the upcoming regatta weekend. They're entered into a system called rowing manager. When your name is entered into rowing manager, an invoice for an oar fee is generated under your name and allocated to your club - in this case, WARC.

You will then be invoiced for your oar fees by  WARC - importantly, not from Rowing WA. Essentially, the club acts as debt collectors for the State - the club invoices you, the Association invoices the club.

I should note the Association doesn't see it that way, rather the official position is that the club enters the race and is thus liable for the fee. 

When you need to pay them:

The club will keep track of these oar fees and will send you an invoice, probably twice during a season to pay your bill - once after the second Bunbury regatta when your racing score is set, and once after State Championships*. 

This helps keep both our and your administrative overheads to a minimum.

Some clubs include a portion of oar fees in their membership fee. We've opted to scrap that practice as it was just too confusing.

*invoicing date subject to change as we're all volunteers but we'll keep you in the loop!

How much does a racing cost?

Rowing WA has a helpful table in its regatta information which outlines oar fees:

2016 oar fee rates

Now, if you're a masters rower you might be wondering why masters races are $9.90 for 1000m racing with divisions rather than heats, since the setup more closely resemble D and E grade racing.

The answer is the overheads associated with regattas. There are fixed overheads like rental of Champion Lakes - yes, the Association has to pay the State Government for the right to row on a specially-designed rowing facility - that are not reduced despite the fact it is a much smaller regatta. We have approached RWA to renegotiate this agreement with Venues West so we perhaps get a discount if we don't use the upstairs facilities but the issue didn't get progressed.

Thus masters regattas generally lose money. The the oar fees do not cover the overheads associated with the regatta. 

What do you need to budget?

The short answer is, it's complicated.

In a perfect world, everyone would row every head race and then three races on every available racing day. If that was the case, it looks like this for a whole season:

• Headraces: $39.6

• D-E three races per regatta: $115.5

• A-B three races per regatta: $148.5

• Masters three races per regatta: $89.1

• States: $79.2

Thus the most anyone should spend is A-C grade rowers who are also masters, and that is $356.40 in total. Most athletes will fall well short of that and D-E grade rowers are probably looking under the $200 mark, possibly even less given we've missed a bit of racing this season.

What does all this cash pay for?

The oar fees generate about $100K and it is pretty much all allocated to regatta operations including:

• Hiring venues west

• Trophies

• Security

• Depreciation of boats

• Fuel, maintenance and trailfers

• Software and computer stuff

• Equipment like radios, bow numbers etc

From a regatta perspective, Dan Tackenberg tells me its more or less a break-even enterprise. 

So, I hope that explains How Oar Fees Work. Next time on How Rowing Works, we'll tackle the big questions, like: Who is Sam and why do we ask him things anyway?

And.... we're done!

The deck crew 

It's finished. A once-in-a-generation upgrade to the facilities at WARC.

All the elbow-grease, sweat, more than 400 days and seven Government departments in approvals, setbacks and contractors and it's finally there.

This isn't the official thank you note. This is just the start of them. There will be emails, celebrations, recognition of all the people who carried stuff, moved stuff, cut bits of white plastic, spent days in the water, donated money and time, or did all the crazy auxiliary things which cropped up from time to time.

First coxswain to ever be able to launch in an eight straight off the deck. Hoorah!

It's a huge year for our little club. An Olympic year (more on that later) with what looks like a strong WARC contingent heading to Rio, a new set of school programs that is kicking us along, and now this new game-changer of a deck.

It's a good time to be a Westie.

Be the boss (sort of)

If you're wondering, in the context of RWA governance, clubs are the "owners", just in the way members are the "owner" of the club management committee.

The Rowing WA Annual General Meeting is coming up, and whilst the letters "AGM" probably bore you to tears, this one is worth paying a bit of attention to.

Rowing WA has FIVE positions up for election at the upcoming AGM. As part of the Association, it is in WARC's interest that the State body gets some seriously talented people to help guide them, and it just happens we reckon the talent pool at WARC runs pretty deep.

The positions up for election include: 

• Finance
• Sport and industry development
• Marketing
• Asset Management

If you are interested in starting a "board" career, or believe you can contribute to the smooth running of our beloved sport in WA, please contact Rowing WA President David Rose on 0411 439 044 or president@rowingwa.asn.au to discuss standing for a position.

From WARC's perspective, we support our members wishing to stand on the State board and believe this is a great opportunity for individuals looking to branch into the not-for-profit board environment.

At this point, I'd like to acknowledge the nine years of service sentenced-to-life-at-WARCer  Catriona Walker served on the RWA Board, most recently as Director of Club Development. Triona has a capacity for work difficult to replicate and achieved much during her tenure. 

Pedal to the medal

Big news out of RWA: The glasses are gone! If you haven't won your collective 10 glasses to make a full set, the jig might be up. (personally I'm hopeful they will become collectors items...)

RWA will this year be trialling medals at presentations rather than the glasses that have been handed out for decades as mementos of races won.

For those of us who have rowed for a while, this is possibly good news as it may alleviate a little bit of pantry space. For the newbies, you are a new generation of athletes whose accolates will more appropriately be recognised by something that is not a vessel for transporting alcohol.

Stay tuned for more news: RWA has a job going as a development officer, the 2016 Regatta fixtures are out (more on that later) and there are five positions on the Association Board up for grabs at the upcoming AGM. 

In the meantime, row well.

Q: What do snowmen wear on their heads?

A: AN ICE CAP.

Bella has been enjoying a puntastic Christmas this year with some spectacular groan-worthy jokes, and we could argue grown-worthy clothing - check out the jumper to the left. The good news is, it was all part of the new, rebranded and revamped Reindeer Regatta (formerly the Chook Cup, we've changed to a more festive form of fauna).

Reports from the front was the weather didn't play nicely with the occasional white caps thanks to a fair 20-knot breeze which adding a level of complexity to the scratch racing that was possibly not desirable. Of course, the Grumpies and Originals are perfect for such conditions so there was no swamping-related dramas.

Winners are in the picture above, if you are wondering at the order, the great D-Train (you may recall him from such blog posts as the recent boat naming) playing stringy for the team and was thus no doubt primarily responsible for the victory. The editor has dismissed rumours of a fair racing after learning of the line-up.

Meanwhile, bacon and eggs were order of the day on fluffy buns - clearly the best kind, but even the bacon was overshadowed by the unexpected arrival of Denika Kelsall, most recently seen galavanting around North America.

Congrats to the newbies who participated. We will teach you more thoroughly in the coming year the art of Reindeer racing, which by and large means starting well before the official call (this racing technique is known in broader rowing circles as "cheating.")

And thanks to Bella - firstly for the puns and the jumper, but mostly for organising - and Janet for sorting a pretty epic silver sparkly antler head for our perpetual Reindeer Regatta trophy. Well played.

WEST AUSSIES SHINE IN PARA-ROWING TRIALS

MEDIA RELEASE

• Half an Australian para-rowing squad from the West Australian Rowing Club
• Three WARC athletes will head to Sydney from January 26 to 31 for an elite training camp
• Will be joined by another three WARC members for national selection trials ahead of Rio2016

Three of the six athletes set to compete for a spot in the coveted Leg, Trunk and Arms crew for the Rio 2016 Paralympics are from Western Australia.

Athletes Davinia Lefroy, Brock Ingram and Kevin Wall have been training at the West Australian Rowing Club in Perth under the guidance of coach Catriona Walker to prepare for selections.

“This is the first time the WA Rowing Club has had an adaptive rowing squad, and to have all our athletes make it to this part of the selection process is testament to their work and determination,” Walker said.

The three athletes have another round of individual rowing machine testing next month, and will then compete in New South Wales State Championships, then National Team Trials in February, ahead of the September 7 Games.

Club captain Nick Wakeford said the team from the club would be rounded out three by senior athletes who will be looking to secure a berth in an Olympic crew: Men’s scullers Matthew Cochran and Rhys Grant, and Olympic veteran Hannah Vermeersch in the women’s sweep boats.

Veermeersch was bowman in the high-profile “Motley Crew” women’s eight which qualified against the odds to make the start line for London2012.

She was the youngest rower in the team at the time.

“Many Western Australian rowers face additional logistical challenges to get to selection camps and trials, which are all held in Sydney,” Wakeford said.

“As a club, we support them in every way we can to lessen the financial and emotional burden of training in WA and then having to perform quite often after long flights in equipment they are perhaps not familiar with.”

FACT FILE

• There is one Olympic event for “LTA” – or Leg, Trunk and Arms athletes at Rio2016: A coxed four with two female and two male rowers.
• For the full list of athletes to compete in the next round of selections, visit rowingaustralia.com.au
• The West Australian Rowing Club is on Riverside Drive, about 150m east of Barrack Square and is housed in a heritage-listed building. For more, visit warowingclub.org

 Media contact: Peta Rule, 0428 923 661 or petabreerule@gmail.com

Red goes faster

6am, this Sunday

RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1648295172110433/ 

The story goes there was once a man named Chook. He was a good man - nay, a great man.

Chook hadn't rowed a race one season and to celebrate this remarkable achievement of having trained all season without taking a stroke in anger, a great tradition was born.

One sunny Sunday morning, shortly before Christmas, the inaugural Chook Cup was held, and crews got together for a ridiculous round of scratch racing. The first event was won by the formidable Dutch tank Jorien Leidekker in stroke seat, who possibly just terrified everyone into submission.

Subsequent years resulted in young Matt Cochran winning the event - but only from the cox seat. Jellyfish wars became the norm. Sometimes there's firefighters. Sometimes there's inappropriate commentary.

There is always hilarity.

So please come down and prepare to participate in the fourth... fifth? maybe sixth? Third? Who knows, I'm not counting... recently RENAMED AND REBRANDED Reindeer Cup. Although we liked Sally's suggestion of renaming the Chook Cup to another nomenclature for male chickens, we've decided to go with something altogether more PC in deference to the great man himself.

For newbies, if you didn't know Chook, or Jorien, or anyone else, this is the time to force scripture of your name in the historic annals of WARC. This is the day to create your legend.

For everyone else, there will be bacon.