Lake Macquarie and Endeavour Regattas – 20 & 21 February 2021

In previous times, the new year of racing has started with the Taree Summer Regatta in January but a combination of COVID-19 and the limitations of a construction site resulted in the cancellation of that regatta for 2021.  Furthermore, the Endeavour regatta had been conducted on the first weekend of February before the NSW Championships but, to avoid the hot weather experienced over the past few years, it was decided that the 2021 regatta would be pushed back to the end of the month. As a consequence, racing in 2021 began 6 weeks later than in previous years.


Another consequence of COVID-19 was the limitation of regatta entries to CDRA crews only. At least one of the local schools had indicated that if crews from Sydney entered, the school would not allow their rowers to compete. The local association decided in favour of local crews over Sydney crews. As a result, racing in 2021 went from 8.00am to 2.30pm compared to the first draw in 2020 that went until after 6.00pm although the subsequent redraws were shorted after all schools pulled out due to the predicted heat wave.


The weather forecast for the weekend was for rain to be followed by more rain but Saturday was relatively dry and Sunday had scattered showers, which weren’t a problem. The water was calm for most of the weekend although it did get rough when the wind came up after lunch on Sunday. However, after the continuous rain of the past weeks, the flow of the river was rapid with some fast times recorded.


Over the two days, 50 Endeavour crews started for 10 firsts, 14 seconds and 16 thirds. Our new recruit Lindy Nisbett led the way with 4 wins followed by Gillian Weatherall, Rosalie Furness, Chris Brennan and Sean Donza with 3 wins each. Sean raced with the composite crew preparing for the selection race in a fortnight to decide the mens masters quad scull to represent NSW at the Australian Masters Championships in May.


Winning crews:


Mixed Masters Quad Sculls: Roger Young, Rosalie Furness, Gillian Weatherall, Al Atkins (both days).
Womens Masters Quad Sculls: Chris Brennan, Rosalie Furness, Gillian Weatherall, Di McShane.
Mens Masters Quad Sculls: Sean Donza + composite.
Mens C Grade Quad Sculls: Sean Donza + composite.
Mens Seeded Quad Sculls: Sean Donza + composite.
Womens Masters Double Sculls: Chris Brennan, Lindy Nisbett (both days).
Womens Masters Single Sculls: Lindy Nisbett (both days).
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