NSW Masters Championships - 20 & 21 May 2023

​​A full squad of 22 Endeavour rowers attended the NSW Masters Championships at SIRC. Although the weather was clear, the wind played havoc, resulting in the abandonment of the held starts on Sunday afternoon and the cancellation of small boat races. Rosie Furness went to the start of her single sculls event just as the wind was building. One of the scullers failed to arrive, 3 were blown over in the marshalling area and only 2 stayed upright. Rosie nearly took a swim but recovered to stay dry. With the race cancelled, she was grateful to the BRO who escorted her back down the course in case she needed assistance. 

From 25 starts our squad recorded 1 win, 3 seconds and 3 thirds - earning 5 state medals. Chris Brennan excelled with a gold and 2 silver medals while 8 of our women came home with hardware. Six of our crews lost races due to the cancellations with at least one near-certain medal lost and maybe more. 

​Di McShane had been entered in 7 events but with her mother very ill, she decided to race in only 2 which allowed her some time with her mother before driving to Penrith on Saturday. Di’s mother passed away on Saturday night and she resolved to take her mother’s spirit with her when she raced the Womens G Quad on Sunday morning with Lindy Nisbett and Chris Brennan plus Anne Campbell from Lake Macquarie. Peter Bond asked the girls to also take the spirit of his father who had passed a month before. The Lake Macquarie/Endeavour girls and their 2 passengers led all the way, holding off a late challenge.

​Our F quad of Lindy, Chris, Rosie and Di raced against younger crews in the Womens E Quad for second place, beaten by a composite crew hand-picked from 4 clubs. All crews started on “go” but if the standard handicaps had been applied, our girls would have won by 1.10 seconds.

Another notable performance came in the Womens E Double where Diana Trescott had substituted in place of Di.  Diana and Rosie had never rowed together in a double and they struggled to make the final, just scraping into 4th place in their heat. But what a difference in the final! Coming into the last 100 metres, 3 crews were fighting for 2nd place and they all hit the line together. The margins were 0.28 and 0.38 – our crew missed a silver medal by just 0.66 second – and they were the fastest non-composite crew in the event.

​Endeavour had 5 quads competing at the regatta which also re-grouped into smaller boats and mixed crews. Although some of the smaller boats were off the pace, all 5 of our crews competed well and they are all psyched up and raring to go for the Australian Championships in a fortnight’s time.

Medal winners:
Gold – WMG Qx: Di McShane, Chris Brennan, Lindy Nisbett + composite.
Silver – WME Qx: Lindy Nisbett, Chris Brennan, Rosie Furness, Di McShane.
Silver – WMG 1x: Chris Brennan.
Silver – WMG 8+: Katrina Whiteley + composite.
Bronze – WMB Qx: Natalie Williamson, Sarah Barnes, Rosie Furness, Diana Trescott.

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