CDRA Sprints - Newcastle Regatta 11/11/2018

By Peter Bond.


What a beautiful day! What great results!!

The weather for the CDRA Sprint Championships regatta was perfect – the sun shone, the rain and wind stayed away and the tide was benign. The only hiccup was the BRO imported from Sydney who didn’t know how to use his red flag. 126 races were conducted at 2½ minute intervals with the regatta running to time despite two double scull crews (not Endeavour) who went swimming but failed to delay the regatta by more than 5 minutes that were quickly caught up both times.​

Fourteen Endeavour rowers attended the regatta with twelve taking home medals. In 15 starts our squad had 8 wins, 2 seconds and 2 thirds, possibly the first regatta we have ever attended with a better than 50% win rate. Sean Donza had 4 wins from 4 starts including 3 championships while Luke Budworth and Dave Percival each won 3. Luke will be moving to Lake Cargelligo in the centre of NSW next month and the boys wanted to send him out on a high note – they did!


Championship Winners:

• Mens Masters [B-F] Single Sculls: Sean Donza.
• Mens Masters [A-F] Double Sculls: Dave Percival, Luke Budworth.
• Mens Masters Quad Sculls: Luke Budworth, Greg Cook, Dave Percival, Sean Donza.
• Womens Masters [E] Quad Sculls:  Katrina Whiteley, Sue Edwards, Tracey Wooderson, Diana Trescott.
• Womens Masters [F] Quad Sculls: Di McShane + Lake Macquarie.

Non-championship winners:

• Mens C Grade Single Sculls: Sean Donza.
• Mens D Grade Quad Sculls: Roger Young, Roger Farquhar, Greg Cook, Owen Redhead.
• Mens C Grade Quad Sculls: Luke Budworth, Dave Percival, Sean Donza, + NUBC.