Lake Macquarie Derby 7 April 2019

Peter Bond

A regatta with a difference. Teams of eight (4 men and 4 women) with all rowers competing over 400 metres in single sex quad, single sex double, mixed quad and mixed double – four races for each rower – twelve races for the team. Lake Macquarie supplied the boats and blades for all crews. Points were given for each race with the top pointscoring team getting $400, the second team $200 and the third team $100. 


Endeavour entered the team of Di McShane, Jill Carlstrom, Diana Trescott, June Lacey, Sean Donza, Owen Redhead, Roger Farquhar and Matt Patton. The Newcastle Grammar team made up of their rowing coaches and the Lake Macquarie No.3 team finished equal first and divided first and second prizes to get $300 each. Endeavour finished in a three way tie for third place with each of the three teams getting $50.


Endeavour had four wins: M2x (Owen, Sean), W2x (Jill, Diana), Mixed 2x (Di, Sean), Mixed Qx (Jill, Matt, Roger, Diana). Lake Macquarie and Newcastle Grammar knew the course, took the inside lane whenever they could and hugged the bank for the best water and shortest course. Crews unfamiliar with the course rowed off at an angle enabling slower crews to cross the line first – this was the situation for several Endeavour crews. Our mens' quad got a big early lead only to have a rigger come loose and the resulting crab and detached rigger put the crew out of the race. One Endeavour double rolled out on the way to the start (silly buggers!). The helpful person who did up their gate after helping them right the boat was not as helpful as they should have been with the gate popping open during the race. Next time we’ll take our own boats.


Despite the advantages to the local rowers, the visitors enjoyed the format and, with a little refining, this regatta will be a good one to come back to next year.