Brad along with his Dad and coach Dinga travelled down to Geelong last weekend to participate in training in the quad that he will be part of for his National campaign next month. 

They had a training session on Saturday afternoon and then again early Sunday morning, with the boat moving along really nicely.

More details on what all the kids are rowing at the Nationals will be posted as soon as we know for sure.

This weekend sees the club head back to Ballarat for the State Championships - everyone should start praying now for NO WIND!!!!
We have got quite a good number of rowers going down to represent the club with the club having 30 entries.
We are being represented in a mixture of races from U17 singles to B Grade singles as well as crew boats - D grade female quad and C grade male quad.

I will post all updates next week. 

Ken Wilson organised a fantastic curry night down at the club on Thursday 13th February.

Thanks to the cooks - Ken, Lisa, Sally, Kelly and Stacey. 
Great food + Great Company = A Great Night.


Next catered dinner is going to be a TACO night on 20th MARCH!!! This will be
boat loading for Essendon/Footscray regatta as well.

We had three rowers represent our club and their schools at this regatta.
Paige Cooper - Year 8 Galen Catholic College
Megan Vogel - Year 10 Corowa High School
Amy Underwood - Year 11 Geelong Grammar
Events were from year 9 to open grade over 1000 metres. 
Paige begin the day competing in the year 9 division - She won her heat by 3 lengths and then won the Silver medal in the final.
Megan and Paige then both competed in Year 10 division, Megan won her heat with a convincing win and Paige also went on to win her heat with a confidence building win over much older girls.   In the final Megan recorded a great win with Paige coming in third to receive the Bronze medal.
Megan and Amy both then competed in the open division.  Megan had a very tough heat coming up against the Australian Junior Representative from the World Championships, but did very well and still came in 2nd place getting her a place in the B final, whilst Amy also drew a tough draw against some very high standard rowers and finished in 4th position missing out on a final bout.  Megan then rowed the B final for the open division and came 2nd.
Great effort by all the girls.

Not such a great effort by the vehicles!  Emergency vehicles had to be sent down to rescue 2 of the rowers & parents & coach after a vehicle malfunction.  Made it an extra long day to be sure.
Below is the photo of the Year 10 medal presentation with Nick Gall (Rowing Victoria CEO)

We travelled down to Ballarat for a 2 day regatta featuring both School and club events.
The club had 3 National bound entries in the open school female and male sculling events on the Saturday afternoon:
Brad Pearsall won the first and final against some great competition, showing great ability to lead from the start and finish the race off.
Megan Vogel & Sara Williams both won their respective heats to come up against each other in the open division final.   Megan lead from the start and had a great win, with Sara coming in 3rd place.
Both Brad & Megan rowed above their age group which makes their wins even more impressive!!!

Sunday seen the weather turn nasty with a typical Ballarat wind ripping through the course.  The early events were raced with both Georgina Pearsall and Paige Cooper both competing in the D grade single scull - in trying conditions Georgina recorded a great 2nd place with Paige coming in 5th.  Next was Andrew MacDonald and Josh Cooper in a D grade double scull in even worse conditions with the racing not a true indication.  After this event the regatta was cancelled due to the weather, unfortunate for all the other rowers that did not even get to make it on the water.

I will post some photos later...

Corowa Rowing Clubs School Girl rowers competed in their 1000m sculling events held on the Barwon river at Geelong. The club had an entry in all the single scull events from year 9 to the Open division.

Megan Vogel a Corowa High student started the day off in the year 10 single with 2 heats first 2 qualified for the final. Megan got out to an early lead and showed her class to take out the heat and qualify for the final.  The next event was the open division with Megan backing up she was joined by club mate Amy Underwood from Geelong Grammar as Corowa had an entry in 2 divisions. First up was Megan and she continued her great form to take the lead and was too strong to record a convincing win. Amy's division allowed for 1st and 2nd from the heats to qualify for the final as she rowed a controlled race to come 2nd and make the final. 
Megan had to go straight back to the start for her year 10 final.  The final went to plan as Megan took control early and lead the field down the course to record a great win.  The open sculls final were up next with Megan up against year 12 girls she dominated the race as she took her usual
early lead and was too good recording her 2nd win of the regatta.  Amy was in for a tough race as she stayed with the early leader but was in a tight battle down the course rowing well to finish a close 3rd.

Paige Cooper was our year 9 sculler after lunch, Paige is a year 8 student at Galen College.  Her work at training has seen her times improve as she aims to compete in the year 9 events at the school regattas.  Paige was in the first heat and showed her strength into the head wind to
win and make the final.  The final was a real battle early with the Nagambie sculler holding on before Paige powered away to record a great win.

The regatta was a great success with the scullers aiming for the School State Champs and the Head of the Schoolgirls held on the Barwon river in late Feb and mid March.