CDRA Spring Regatta – 7th November 2020

Under the restrictions due to the corona virus, the 2020 CDRA annual general meeting in May was held virtually via ‘Zoom’. The meeting proposed a full season of local regattas consistent with the regatta program of recent years. In light of Covid-19 restrictions, each host club was given the option of deciding whether to proceed with their regatta, postpone or cancel. 

The regatta season was to open with the double regatta weekend: Endeavour’s Henley-on-Hunter and NUBC’s Pre-IV regatta scheduled for 26th and 27th September.  As these regattas fell within a period of restricted competition in which the mixing of participants from different regions was banned, Endeavour and NUBC decided to cancel the events.

This ban was lifted at the end of September before the next scheduled regatta, the Lake Macquarie Derby on 11th October. Lake Macquarie decided to cancel. Similarly, HVGS and NUBC decided not to host their regattas on 24th and 25th October. 

The sixth local event was to be the Newcastle Grammar School regatta on 7th November, however the school indicated that they would neither host nor participate in the regatta. At this point, the CDRA committee stepped in, deciding that the association would take on the running of the regatta to give local rowers the chance to compete. As all 3 local schools had indicated that their students would not participate, a reduced program of events was set including masters, seeded and mixed events with no junior races. The regatta was renamed the CDRA Spring Regatta.

We had dodged several bullets with the first five cancellations. The wind in September had been gale force and neither regatta could have run, while it rained continually on both days at the end of October and racing would have been cold and miserable. In comparison, the day for the season’s first regatta was absolutely perfect – the weather was mild with sunny skies and the water was smooth.

17 Endeavour crews started for 3 firsts, 3 seconds and 6 thirds. The club had three debutants in their first starts and it was pleasing to hear their positive reports on how much they enjoyed the day. 


Winning crews:

Mens Masters Single Sculls: Sean Donza.
Mens Seeded Double Sculls: Mitchell Scales, Robert Weatherall.
Mixed Double Sculls: Diana Trescott, Dave Percival.