Monday 30 November
Morgan keeps his head above water
Simon White, Adelaide Advertiser, 30/11/09
SOUTH Australian rower Chris Morgan is taking a "believe it when he sees it" approach to Sports Minister Kate Ellis' midweek promise not to cut funding for the Olympic Games.
After seven days of doubts and concerns after the release of the Crawford Report, Morgan was encouraged on Wednesday when Ellis pledged to increase funding to the Olympics and Paralympics.
The Beijing Olympian, however, said it would be unrealistic to expect a cash splash.
"It was a relief to hear that but it's a case of head down, bum up and just keep working for me," Morgan said.
"I don't think we can necessarily count on an increase in funding happening.
"In three months' time circumstances could change and they could just as easily announce there will be cuts."
Morgan's personal situation – and some of the requirements of his chosen sport – provide a compelling argument for the need for government funding for elite competitors.
A boat can cost as much as $40,000 and the Australian team maintains a fleet locally and in Europe because of the costs associated with transporting the craft.
Morgan, meanwhile, works six months of the year as a software engineer and then has to rely on his employer's goodwill to compete overseas for the rest of the year.
"I take my hat off to the swimmers and other athletes who have been able to attract big sponsors and make good money from their sports," Morgan said.
"But if people think everyone who goes to the Olympics is flush with cash, it's way off the mark.
"I can't say kind enough things about my employers (BAE Systems).
"I remember when I finished uni and started looking for a job, I had plenty of places say they liked me but once they heard about the flexibility I'd need that was the end of it."
Morgan's next target is March's national championships in Victoria and a coveted national title, ahead of the 2010 world championships in New Zealand.
Friday 27 November
Rowing rivalry grows
Roger Vaughan, Adelaide Advertiser, 27/11/09
ENGLAND has Oxford-Cambridge, in the United States it's Yale-Harvard and now Australian rowing wants to tap into the rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney.
The University of Sydney will send two men's and one women's crew to the Head of the Yarra tomorrow, the largest rowing event in the country.
They will challenge the University of Melbourne in the 8.6km race for eight-oared crews along the Yarra River.
Organisers want to make this the Australian version of The Boat Race, the famous clash between Oxford and Cambridge Universities on the River Thames first held in 1829.
The Melbourne University Boat Club has won five of the last eight Head of the Yarra races, while the Sydney University Boat Club is the state champion.
Melbourne's president and 1992 Olympic gold medallist Peter Antonie made it clear there is already plenty of rivalry between two of the strongest rowing clubs in Australia.
"They're flash-in-the-pan type folks, their boat club goes into periods of hibernation from time to time," Antonie said, deadpan.
"At the moment, they seem to be having a little bit of a day in the sun, which we expect to be extinguished." Before that (happens), we've invited them down here to show us their best.
"However, when we do row for Australia, their people and our people, we're all in the same boat."
The Melbourne club was established in 1859, while Sydney formed a year later and they are the two oldest rowing clubs in the country.
Melbourne's No.1 crew will feature Cameron McKenzie-McHarg and James Marburg, who were part of the fours crew which won silver at last year's Olympics.
Dual world lightweight champion Alice McNamara and Beijing Olympians Kim Crow, Sarah Heard and Lizzy Patrick will be in Melbourne's women's crew.
The Sydney women's crew will feature Beijing Olympian Liz Kell.
But injury has hit the top Sydney men's crew, with the club website reporting Matt Ryan, another member of the fours crew in Beijing, has withdrawn with back soreness.
Sam Loch (wrist), Francis Hegerty (Achilles) and Terrence Alfred (back) are also out.
The Sydney squad will feature Nick Hudson, a silver medallist in the quad sculls at this year's world championships.
Thursday 26 November
Monypenny confirmed as Paralympian
Rob Shaw, The Examiner, 26/11/09
LAUNCESTON'S Dominic Monypenny was yesterday confirmed as Tasmania's first winter Paralympian.
The 11-strong Australian team for next year's Vancouver Games was acknowledged as one of the strongest ever assembled, and the 49-year-old father-of-three was thrilled to realise his dream of attending consecutive summer and winter Paralympics.
"This whole hugely expensive midlife crisis has been worth it because that's what I set out to do," he said.
Fifteen months ago, the former adaptive rowing world champion quit his job as an industrial research chemist with Tasmanian Alkaloids at Westbury and moved from Launceston to Vail, Colorado.
Yesterday, he was rewarded by becoming Australia's first representative in Nordic sit- skiing.
The announcement rewards an exhausting schedule that has taken the new grandfather to Canada, Alaska, Oregon and New Zealand.
The Australian team, which carries high expectations of bringing home medals, leaves for the US on Tuesday, ahead of skiing training in Austria and Italy.
Head coach Steve Graham said almost every member was a strong chance to place in the top three.
"Across the board, we have a greater number of elite skiers than we have had in the past," he said.
Heading the team's assault on the medal table will be current world champions, sit ski veteran Shannon Dallas and Cameron Rahles- Rahbula.
The team also includes two female skiers for the first time, NSW's Melissa Perrine and Victorian Jessica Gallagher.
Monypenny, who was left a paraplegic after a climbing accident in the Cataract Gorge, twice claimed world titles in rowing and also made the final of his event at last year's Beijing Paralympics.
The Vancouver Paralympic Games start on March 12, 2010.
AUSTRALIAN TEAM: Alpine skiing - Bart Bunting, Shannon Dallas, Jessica Gallagher,Mitchell Gourley, Toby Kane, Marty Mayberry, Melissa Perrine, CameronRahles-Rahbula, Nicholas Watts, (guides Eric Bickerton, Andrew Bor, Nathan Chivers). Nordic - James Millar, Dominic Monypenny.
Wednesday 25 November
Olympic sports leaders please stand up
Ron Reed, Herald Sun, 25/11/09
KLAUS Mueller and Colin Smith have just joined an exclusive club, one in which most members wield considerable influence but are mostly anonymous to sports fans.
You would struggle to find many in a pub bar to tell you who Mueller and Smith are and why they're important in the scheme of things in the buildup to the London Olympics.
Hint, they are both Victorians.
Answer: they are the two newest presidents of Olympic sports.
Last weekend Mueller was elected to the top job at Cycling Australia and Smith took over, with no vote necessary, at Rowing Australia.
They replaced Mike Victor and Pat McNamara, the first of whom had so little profile outside the inner sanctums of his sport that he was close to invisible and inaudible, and the second of whom was once a public figure – leader of the National Party.
The Australian Olympic movement has nearly 30 sports, and it's fair to say the presidents or chairmen of only two are high profile.
They would be soccer's Frank Lowy and, to a lesser degree, tennis's Geoff Pollard, and in both cases their recognition factor has nothing to do with the Olympics.
The president of Athletics Australia, Rob Fildes, may ring a bell with Collingwood supporters – he played 14 games, but that was nearly 50 years ago.
In stark contrast, the president of the Australian Olympic Committee, John Coates, is one of most prominent and best-connected heavyhitters, and continues to heighten his profile. He was recently elected to the executive board of the International Olympic Committee.
If you didn't know who he was a fortnight ago, you probably do now after his heavily publicised outbursts against the Crawford Report into sports funding.
The central thrust of the report – whether Australia should continue to spend many millions chasing a top-five spot on the Olympic medals table – is why the people who run each sport should be accountable to the public, and not invisible.
Smith brings a strong competitive background to the task.
He rowed for Australia between 1974–78, winning four world championship medals, including a gold in the lightweight four.
Now 60, he has also been a women's national selector, a state-level coach and co-chairman of the rowing centre of excellence.
Mueller, 59, a barrister, raced bikes moderately well as a junior.
With Australians doing so well, a lot of talent emerging and membership rising, this is a great time to take over.
Mueller agrees, but says cycling hasn't really capitalised on its success.
Smith says rowing has never been stronger, thanks to McNamara.
Tuesday 24 November
No sitting still for this motivated young man
Noosa News, 24/11/09
Having conquered Mount Kilimanjaro last December, graduating Year 12 student Alex Cattaneo might be excused for resting on his laurels.
But it is hardly likely for someone into triathlon, rowing and cross country who this year often preferred to ride his bike from home to Matthew Flinders Anglican College rather than take the bus.
"It's either an hour bus ride down or an hour-and-a-half taking the bike. I mostly do it when I've got a triathlon coming up," Alex said.
Having done the hard kilometres just to get to the classroom, he's been working flat out in all fields of endeavour and recently won the Pierre de Coubertin Award as a sporting all-rounder.
But he is far from just a sports jock, and has also worked up a sweat in Africa doing humanitarian work.
Now he will set out for India in December as a member of a Goda Foundation field crew.
"What we're going to do over there is mainly work with children in day care centres, helping out," Alex said.
The foundation is also designed to increase awareness of Indian culture by immersing young people in the language and local way of life.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing the Indian culture most of all. I've been to Africa before. We did one week's worth of work in the local school rooms.
"That involved teaching lessons for the Australian Youth Development Association, painting classrooms and we ran their athletics carnival."
This trip of a lifetime also involved climbing almost 6km up Africa's highest mountain and then going on safari, doing some amazing big game spotting.
When he returns from India in February, Alex is going to embark on a gap year, working and then travelling in Europe visiting family along the way.
His long-term goal is to study at QUT to be a paramedic, and to climb into a boat and go as fast and as far as he can.
Alex started rowing with the Noosa Yacht and Rowing Club about four years ago and has placed sixth in the national schoolboys single scull, but he may yet be lost to the surf.
"It's a bit hard to choose what I want to pursue. It will be either rowing on the river or something I picked up recently, surfboat rowing with the Noosa Surf Club."
But in the meantime Alex has some serious letting down of the hair to do with his mates at Schoolies Week on the Gold Coast.
Monday 23 November
Morgan makes it two in a row
Adelaide Advertiser, 23/11/09
OLYMPIAN Chris Morgan led Saturday's rowing charge at West Lakes.
The Beijing athlete won the first grade sculls race in the local regatta, topping the national selection time trials.
Morgan, from Adelaide University, raced alongside fellow Olympian James McRae in a six-boat single sculls race. He led at the halfway mark of the 2000m race, pulling away to win by 11.26 seconds in a time of 7 minutes 17.10 seconds.
McRae finished third in the race, behind Murray Bridge clubmate Sam Martin.
Eighty boats featured in a long-distance time trial of nearly 5km run by SASI for national and state team selections, with Morgan recording the fastest time.
In the school events, the Torrens club took out the boys first eights race and Seymour won the girls first eights race.
Friday 20 November
$1bn question: gold or grassroots
Travis Meyn, Sunshine Coast Daily, 20/11/09
Smaller sports to be hit hard by reduced funding
THE sporting world is divided over the recent publication of the Crawford Report and former Sunshine Coast Olympic rower Sonia Heath says there's good reason for it.
The major talking point of the report's findings was that government funding should be directed towards sports that are more popular with the Australian public.
Heath, who competed at Beijing last year in the women's double scull, said it was disappointing that the country's lesser supported sports would suffer.
"The big, popular sports receive a lot of money from sponsorship deals," Heath said yesterday.
"But a lot of the smaller sports would not receive funding under the Crawford Report's recommendations.
"Those smaller sports are some of the ones that only receive exposure during the Olympic's.
"Sports like rowing, archery and alike can produce Australian heroes but they need that government support to survive."
Australian Olympic Committee CEO John Coates said the report was an insult to the people that have helped Australia achieve Olympic supremacy over the years.
Heath said the smaller sports would be affected greatly if the government reduced its funding.
"We punch well above our weight and encourage many Australians through role models," she said. "It's highlighted at the Games with pole vaulters, water polo players and divers who go and win medals.
"I'm thoroughly disappointed as are many other elite athletes.
"These other sports purely survive on government funding. It's about achieving a balance and this is certainly not balanced."
While codes like the AFL, NRL and Super 15 have numerous identities, it's the smaller sports such as pole vault and other athletics principles which will struggle to generate enough interest to remain viable.
"The big sports will always be fine, football will never have a problem with keeping interest and getting young people to compete," Heath said.
"It's the other sports where you only have one or two key individuals which will really struggle.
"Where will they go without a medallist or someone to keep get the sport exposure is a big issue.
"It would be a huge disappointment to see some of the Olympic sports fade away."
The government will issue its official response to the report next year.
Thursday 19 November
Institutes' rivalry is ridiculous
Jim Wilson, Herald Sun, 19/11/09
James Tomkins has backed an overhaul of the relationship between the Australian Institute of Sport and state institutes.
The Crawford Report called for a merger.
"It has got to the stage where this needs urgent attention and the state institutes double up with the AIS on too many occasions," Tomkins said.
"To be honest, it's ridiculous the rivalry and competition between the state institutes and the AIS. They all withhold information from each other and there are even examples of the AIS only being available to those athletes based there.
"Every athlete should have the right to use the facilities in Canberra and how much money would be saved if we had a central body and scaled back the state institutes?"
Retired swimmer Grant Hackett said the report had obvious flaws.
"I am sorry, but saying it's OK to slip down the medal tally is just so un-Australian and a cop-out," Hackett said.
"This is not just about sport, this is about having pride in our country and giving kids something to aspire to."
Wednesday 18 November
Media Watch:
Club's waiting game over
Griffith Thomas, Satellite Newspaper, 18/11/09
WRECKED boats and stolen equipment will soon be a thing of the past for Centenary Rowing Club after the State Government announced a $390,000 funding boost to complete the first stage of the club's new rowing complex at Riverhills.
Last Friday morning Sport Minister, Phil Reeves, and State Member for Mount Ommaney, Julie Attwood, were taken on a guided tour of the club's new site at the end of Sumner Road.
The site already boasts the club's recently completed $200,000 cement pontoon – partly funded by the State Government – and a 42m x 18m slab of concrete which the first public rowing shed on the Brisbane River in nearly a century will be built.
Mr Reeves was impressed with what he saw, but it wasn't until later that morning when he got his first look at the poor conditions of the club's current home, the "Mudhole" at Jindalee, that he realised why the club was desperate to relocate.
"I came down to the Mudhole fully expecting to see just a few young rowers and half a dozen boats," he said.
"However, I discovered boats stored everywhere, including a neighbour's backyard which shows how well the local community have accepted getting children off the street and involved in sport."
Centenary Rowing Club, which has to use Jindalee Scout Group's den and are forced to store their boats under trees, operates in poor conditions with rowers required to sometimes walk through hip-high mud to launch and retrieve their boats.
At low tide it takes 16 minutes to get a boat crew in the water, while with the use of a pontoon, it takes just three minutes.
"I could easily see this morning between the new site and the old site what this grant means for the club," Mr Reeves said.
"Obviously the pontoon makes it easier for coaches, officials, but more importantly young people to participate in their sport – we're talking about a sport that needs to get up at the time of the sparrows and needs parents to get them there.
"This money ensures they can do things simpler and won't have to jump over the mudflap or the mudhole as they call it, so by the time they get in the boat they're not wondering why they get up so early to do this."
Mr Reeves said spending the morning with the club's members at the Mudhole only made the announcement that the club's Major Facilities Grant application had been successful after originally being denied – even more satisfying.
The $390,000 will be used to build stage one of what the club plans to eventually turn into a multi-purpose three-storey facility that will cater for up to 500 rowers.
The first stage incorporates building a weather-proof and secure storage shed so the club can house their dozens of boats and equipment to avoid incidents like what happened two weeks ago.
One of the club's $10,000 carbon fibre honeycomb scull boats was destroyed beyond repair after a tree branch fell and hit the boat during storms.
In the space of two years, the club has been targeted by thieves on three occasions, who stole boats, tinnies, oars, motors and damaged property.
Building of the new facility is expected to start in February next year and the club is hopeful of moving into their new premises by April.
Tuesday 17 November
Media Watch:
Grammar doubles up
Geelong Advertiser, 17/11/09
GEELONG Grammar took out two events during Rowing Victoria's schools regatta at the weekend.
Grammar saluted in the division one coxed eight and the division five coxed four, as school teams from across the state flocked to the Barwon River Regatta Course on Saturday.
Almost 1000 rowers competed at the schoolgirls regatta, which was hosted by Toorak's Loreto Mandeville Hall school.
The hosts won four events and were placed in several other finals in the first regatta of the schoolgirls season.
Marquees dotted the riverside as a further 500 spectators cheered the girls on.
Loreto rowing president Glenys Mattei said the Barwon River course was in great order.
"We had almost 1000 competitors from a wide number of schools, from Ballarat, Geelong and across Melbourne," Mattei said.
"Geelong is where the head of the schoolgirls is run ... it's kind of the traditional home of rowing."
Monday 16 November
Media Watch:
Free-wheeling Ginn
Peter Kogoy, The Australian, 16/11/09
DREW Ginn believes there comes a point in an elite athlete's life when he has to determine which role is his ambition and which is his destiny.
Ginn, a three-time Olympic rowing gold medallist and a five-time world champion, has found a new lease of life as a cyclist since he took it up as part of his rehabilitation following surgery after the Beijing Olympics.
On Friday, Ginn, 34, powered home to win the men's 40km time trial in 51 min 40 sec at the Oceania championships near Invercargill in New Zealand.
His next target is to take on triple world time trial champion Michael Rogers at the national road titles in January at Buninyong, Victoria.
"I'm keeping my sporting options open," Ginn said yesterday. "I haven't completely closed the door on my rowing career just yet. What winning the Oceania time trial title means is that my cycling door has just wedged open the door a little wider. I'll see where this now takes me.
"Michael (Rogers) has had a great career as a time triallist. This win has me feeling like a little kid again."
Ginn, under the watchful eye of Jonathan H all and with the support of Scott McGrory at the Victorian Institute of Sport, prepared for the Oceania championship by racing the Melbourne to Warrnambool one-day classic last month.
"I gradually built up my training to riding between 600km and 700km a week. As for the future, this win exceeded my expectations. I'm riding and racing pain free."
Hall, the head of the triathlon program at the VIS and Ginn's personal coach, said: "I honestly think he's capable of beating the likes of a Michael Rogers or a Nathan O'Neill, two proven time-triallists.
" I find it quit humbling coaching him. I'd hate to say how far Drew can go in the sport."
Alexis Rhodes made it a winning double for Australia, taking out the women's event by just four seconds from New Zealand champion Melissa Holt, stopping the clock in 33:39, with Victorian Bridie O'Donnell 12sec back in third place.
Canberra's Michael Matthews made it a winning trifecta for Australia in winning the under-23 title.
Elsewhere, team manager Johan Bruyneel confirmed Lance Armstrong would lead his new RadioShack team at the Tour Down Under in January.
Bruyneel named Armstrong, Gert Steegmans and Yaroslav Popovych as part of the seven-man team that will make its debut at the first ProTour event of the year, starting in Clare, South Australia, on January 17.
Thursday 12 November
Media Watch:
Brilliance abounds in Telstra awards
Claire Heaney, Herald Sun, 12/11/09
WOMEN running everything from dog behavioural classes to combat games are in the running to be named Australia's top business woman.
To be announced tonight in Melbourne, the Telstra Business Women's Awards feature women from small to large businesses as well as those enjoying great success in the public sector.
Melbourne dog trainer Tamara Jackman, who runs Underdog Training and Behaviour Consulting, is in the running for a Nokia Business Innovation Award.
Ms Jackman is only 24 but is managing director and co-owner of the business, which has more than 1000 clients and has been behind some innovative programs.
These include working with pregnant women and new mothers to ensure that babies and dogs settle in harmoniously.
In the same category, Nicole Lander is representing Queensland. With her husband, she runs Battlefield Sports, considered a world leader in combat entertainment.
What started as a hobby has grown into an innovative business.
Kellie Wilkie, of Hobart, has been short-listed in the Young Business Women's Award category.
She runs a physiotherapy business called Bodysystem.
She wanted to do something that would keep her happy and passionate about sports physiotherapy. Her dream is to go to an Olympic Games providing support for the Australian rowing team.
Stephanie Horlin-Smith, of Adelaide, is a fifth-generation hotelier.
Just 27, she is the general manager of new five-star Clarion Hotel Soho. She also is short-listed in the Young Business Women's category.
Competing in the Commonwealth Bank Business Owner category is Vicki Berry, of Garran in Canberra, who is driven to create native landscapes and protect the environment.
She launched Easycare Landscapes in 1999 and now has 20 staff with a turnover of $2.5 million.
Another finalist is Karen Cariss, chief executive of PageUp People, which helps large global corporations find the right people, develop and keep them.
Melbourne entrepreneur Monique Conheady, co-founder and chief executive of Flexicar, is short-listed in the Hudson Private and Corporate Sector Award.
Flexicar's service is described as a "cheap, green, easy alternative to personal and business car ownership". It has quickly grown to more than 2000 members and 80 cars.
Wednesday 11 November
Media Watch:
Master plan for lake: rowing course suggestion
Everard Himmelreich, Warnambool Standard, 11/11/09
A NATIONAL standard, one-kilometre, rowing course is among the improvements proposed for Lake Hamilton in a draft masterplan that will be considered by Southern Grampians Shire Council tonight.
The council will tonight consider releasing the draft master plan for the boat ramp side of the lake for public comment.
Tonight's agenda states the creation of a four-lane, one-kilometre rowing course, with the required 100 metre run offs at either end, could be achieved by removing a small island and a small amount of lake bank.
The course would allow rowing regattas of state and national significance to be staged at Lake Hamilton.
Rowing competitions could attract as many as 200 people who would spend locally and boost Hamilton's economy, the agenda said.
The draft proposes a total of $700,000 in works and has been developed after two community meetings and a meeting of council officers.
One of the points raised at those meetings focused on the proposed entry to the playground and boat ramp parking area off Mill Street.
The consultant, Wallbrink Landscape Architecture, initially floated the idea of an alternate entry to the car park via a new entry across the railway line.
After discussions with the community and council officers, however, the idea was scrapped because of the difficulty in implementing it.
Some community members also did not agree to a new entry in front of their lakeside properties.
The draft master plan keeps the entry to the car park in its current location.
There will be an entry to a permanent car park – to accommodate skiers – from Tyers Street but that car park will not have toilets.
The draft plan also suggests new barbecue facilities.
A report to tonight's meeting said the Hamilton North Rotary Club had expressed interest in contributing to a new barbecue shelter and a new swing set proposed for the playground. The draft plan also calls for significant landscaping including the creation of mounding that will serve as a play area for children and a wind buffer for families.
Other suggested improvements include a fish-cleaning bay, bench seating for the anglers on the jetty, solar lighting and a new forecourt area between the Hamilton Aquatic Club meeting room and the public toilets.
Some amendments suggested for the lake's toilet facilities include solar hot water that would be available on a "pay as you go" basis – and a new boardwalk has been proposed near the front of the rowing shed.
Tuesday 10 November
Media Watch:
Mannum rowers net bag of medals
Murray Valley Standard, 10/11/09
MANNUM'S rowers acquitted themselves well at the World Masters in Sydney last month, returning home with a bag of medals.
With nearly 3000 individual competitors it was the biggest rowing regatta held in the southern hemisphere.
Some events had 85 crews entered which meant heats, semi-finals and finals.
The regatta was marred by strong winds on Tuesday causing the race to be called off at 10am.
Wednesday, the last day of racing was similar, when at 10.30am the regatta was cancelled.
Some entrants from overseas did not even have a row, which must have been disappointing.
It was fortunate Mannum rowers John Banks, Claire Banks and Dean Mobbs had quite a few races Saturday, Sunday, Monday and some early races Tuesday and Wednesday morning before the cancellations but still missed on a number of events.
It is fortunate that entrants can combine with other clubs to give them extra races and at the same time is an advantage to have a couple of oldies in the crew to increase the average age.
John Banks medal tally was one gold in the H-J eights (70-80+) average age group, one bronze in the I single scull (75-80), one bronze in a H double scull (70-75), one bronze in a G double scull (65-70) with Dean.
Claire Banks tally was one gold in the I double scull (75-80) average age group, one gold in a H coxed four (70-75), one gold in a H-J eight crew (75-80+), one gold in a H quad four (70- 75), one bronze in the G eight (65-70).
Dean Mobbs tally was one gold in a mixed F four (60- 65), one silver in a F four (60 065), one bronze in the G double (65-70) with John.
By all it was a great experience to compete at a World Master level.
With the first regatta on October 31, the more serious members were formulating different crew combinations to try for the maximum points which go to the premiership total, bearing in mind last season Mannum lost out by only four points in the mens Masters.
The club is still interested to hear from anyone who would like to come and try rowing.
You can contact Brian Bormann 8569 1813.
Monday 9 November
Media Watch:
Building a new tradition
The Age, 9/11/09
Sydney issues challenge to Melbourne in the tradition of Oxford and Cambridge
The University of Sydney has challenged the University of Melbourne's crown at the Rowbust Head of the Yarra in a university showdown at the premiere rowing event this year.
The Melbourne University Boat Club finished first at last year's Head of the Yarra races and has won five of the past eight Head of the Yarra races. The Sydney University Boat Club meanwhile is the 2009 NSW State Rowing Champion.
This year the University of Sydney will send two men's and a women's team to Victoria to take part in the event which wil be held on the Yarra River between Princes Bridge and Hawthorn on Saturday 28 November.
The race will see some of the country's two oldest universities and leading rowers go head to head.
Beijing Olympic Silver Medalists Cam McKenzie-McHarg and James Marburg will row with the Melbourne University Boat Club, while Matt Ryan will row with the Sydney University Boat Club's first team.
In the women's teams dual World Champion in the Lightweight Division, Alice MacNamara and Beijing Olympic rowers Kim Crow, Sarah Heard and Lizzy Patrick will row for MUBC, while Liz Kell, who as well as rowing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics was the Australia Women's Double Scull world champion in 2006 will row with the SUBC.
Established in 1859 (MUBC) and 1860 (SUBC), the two clubs are the oldest rowing clubs in Australia.
The rivalry is set to become an annual event in the tradition of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, who have raced against each other every year since 1829 on the River Thames.
Coincidentally, SUBC rowers Brodie Buckland rowed for Cambridge in 2004 while Mike Valli rowed for Oxford this year.
More than 2000 competitors will take part in this year's Head of the Yarra which will be held from 11am to 3pm on Saturday 28 November.
The MUBC and SUBC crews will take to the water from 2pm.
Monday 9 November
Media Watch:
Building a new tradition
The Age, 9/11/09
Sydney issues challenge to Melbourne in the tradition of Oxford and Cambridge
The University of Sydney has challenged the University of Melbourne's crown at the Rowbust Head of the Yarra in a university showdown at the premiere rowing event this year.
The Melbourne University Boat Club finished first at last year's Head of the Yarra races and has won five of the past eight Head of the Yarra races. The Sydney University Boat Club meanwhile is the 2009 NSW State Rowing Champion.
This year the University of Sydney will send two men's and a women's team to Victoria to take part in the event which wil be held on the Yarra River between Princes Bridge and Hawthorn on Saturday 28 November.
The race will see some of the country's two oldest universities and leading rowers go head to head.
Beijing Olympic Silver Medalists Cam McKenzie-McHarg and James Marburg will row with the Melbourne University Boat Club, while Matt Ryan will row with the Sydney University Boat Club's first team.
In the women's teams dual World Champion in the Lightweight Division, Alice MacNamara and Beijing Olympic rowers Kim Crow, Sarah Heard and Lizzy Patrick will row for MUBC, while Liz Kell, who as well as rowing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics was the Australia Women's Double Scull world champion in 2006 will row with the SUBC.
Established in 1859 (MUBC) and 1860 (SUBC), the two clubs are the oldest rowing clubs in Australia.
The rivalry is set to become an annual event in the tradition of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, who have raced against each other every year since 1829 on the River Thames.
Coincidentally, SUBC rowers Brodie Buckland rowed for Cambridge in 2004 while Mike Valli rowed for Oxford this year.
More than 2000 competitors will take part in this year's Head of the Yarra which will be held from 11am to 3pm on Saturday 28 November.
The MUBC and SUBC crews will take to the water from 2pm.
Friday 6 November
Media Watch:
Jarvis named Bundaberg's best rower of the year
Bundaberg News Mail, 6/11/09
ROWING: Queensland champion Sophie Jarvis was named Bundaberg Rowing Club rower of the year at an awards ceremony at Old Bundy Tavern last week.
Former World Champion Tara Kelly presented the award to the St Luke's Anglican School student, who won gold at the Queensland Schools Rowing Regatta last month.
Shalom College teenager Rebecca Surmon was another big winner on the night, taking out the association's junior rower of the year award.
"The rowers from Bundaberg such as Rebecca and Sophie consistently show the region's strength when competing against places such as Brisbane," Kelly said.
Bundaberg Rowing Club coach Rodney Rule was given the coach of the year award for his achievements with the young rowers.
While club president Merv Slean presented Bruce McCarthy with the life membership award at the dinner.
Rod Cullen presented Peter and Jill Baxter with the Nev and Vi Cullen Memorial Trophy, recognising their ongoing support of rowing in Bundaberg.
Champion Bundaberg State High School youngster Mitchell Eichmann was given the coxswain of the year award for helping the Year 11 team become one of the best in Queensland.
Luke Lawn won the Nev Cayley award for achievement and sportsmanship by a male. And Sue Stewart won the McCarthy Family Trophy for sportsmanship and achievement by a female.
Ross Smith was given the Bundaberg Rowing Club senior member of the year award for his work with the association.
Thursday 5 November
Media Watch:
Rowing head Bourguignon heads to UK
Inner-West Weekly, 5/11/09
SYDNEY University's rowing director Phil Bourguignon is leaving his post after a successful four-year stint to take up a position with the London Rowing Club.
Mr Bourguignon joined Sydney University's Boat Club in January 2006 as a coach and became rowing director in 2007.
He started his coaching career in Brisbane after many years as a lightweight rower for Queensland.
He was selected on Australian junior teams as a coach in 2003 and 2004 as well as for the under-23 and World University Games in 2004.
In late 2004, he was the coach for the Australian Institute of Sport's rowing scholarship.
During his four years at Sydney University, the club has consolidated its position as a major development club within Australian rowing.
The club won the NSW State Championship Honours Trophy from 2006 to 2009 and was the leading club on points at the 2008 and 2009 Nationals. The club also contributed 11 of 32 athletes to the Australian senior team in 2009 and six to the under-23 team.
In 2006, Mr Bourguignon took a squad of under-23 women to the Hazewinkel in Belgium and came home with gold and bronze.
In 2007, he was appointed coach of the men's under-23 Eight.
He will leave in December.
Wednesday 4 November
Media Watch:
Multi-million dollar stroke of luck
Alicia Bridges, Armadale Examiner, 4/11/09
The Champion Lakes Regatta Centre is one step closer to becoming an accredited international facility after the City of Armadale secured $3.4 million for infrastructure.
The man-made rowing, canoeing and kayaking course is able to host some national championships with borrowed or hired equipment but the funding would allow the centre to buy its own.
Overseen by the council in conjunction with the Armadale Redevelopment Authority (ARA), upgrades would elevate Champion Lakes to become one of only two Australian regatta centres that meet international standards.
The other is in Penrith, NSW.
A finishing tower, starting pontoons, environmental works and water harvesting would be among the works made possible by the funding for stage two.
Armadale mayor Linton Reynolds said with these upgrades the facility offered an opportunity to attract national and international sporting events to Perth.
"Aside from boosting the local economy, these events will contribute to the growth and promotion of our city as a great place to live, work and visit," he said.
"It's wonderful that such a high-class recreation and sporting facility can be accessed by our community and I look forward to seeing the development of elite athletes from our district."
ARA Champion Lakes facility manager Lindsay Wiland said the venue received 700 bookings in the year prior to April 2009.
Along with its primary purpose as a rowing, kayaking and canoeing sports centre, it also hosts dragon boat racing, cycling, open water swimming and triathlons.
Mr Wiland said the upgraded venue would also have some advantages over the Penrith international facility.
"With these new infrastructure items, we will have comparable, but 10 years newer facilities," he said.
"It will put us on at least an equal footing with Sydney in terms of our ability to attract events and our location gives some variety, given we are on the same time zone as China, we are close to South-East Asia and midway between South Africa and New Zealand for any sort of tri-nations activity."
Canoeing WA executive officer Ashley Nesbit said the absence of racing infrastructure at Champion Lakes was felt when the Australian Sprint Canoe/Kayak Championships was held there in March.
On top of costs covered by national sporting bodies, the transport and hiring of equipment to meet national standards cost the organisation $20,000.
"We had to erect starting towers and finishing towers and the starting pontoons, we had to truck starting pontoons over from the river, there was no cabling run to the finishing towers," he said.
"Stage two is actually addressing all those issues."
Stage two construction would be underway from November 2.
Monday 2 November
Media Watch:
Battle of the best in rowing
Hobart Mercury, 2/11/09
AUSTRALIAN-level rowers including Deon Birtwistle and Blair Tunevitsch from Launceston and Taylor Wilczynksi from Devonport are set to battle it out in the men's senior scull today after another former Australian representative, Brendan Long, pulled out.
Lightweight women Carly Cottam, of Launceston, and Ella Flecker, of Hobart, who have both donned Australian colours this year, should have a close race in the women's senior single.
The second division of the women's senior eights will be hotly contested by Launceston school crews Grammar and St Patrick's, while the Bucks crew from Hobart has the best form for the first division of the eight.
Hutchins is again dominant in the junior men's ranks and should perform well in the men's eight as well as the junior sculling events.
St Mary's and Derwent Mercantile Collegiate, both from Hobart, also will boat young crews in the junior events to give them practice for the school season next year.
In the adaptive racing, Malcom Hall from North Esk is making a comeback to racing but he'll have to work hard to beat Ulverstone stalwarts Roger Blake and Andrew Alder, with talented Glenorchy rowers Callum Lou and Julian Amos also in contention.
There are pennant points up for grabs in each race and Bucks should maintain its stranglehold on the state pennant with large numbers of entries at this regatta.
Spectators at Lake Barrington will have to wait a bit longer to see some former Olympic rowers return to Tasmanian competition.
Sam Beltz, Kerry Hore and Anthony Edwards have returned to the sport ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games.
They were spotted on the water at a national selection time trial near Huonville last Saturday but will not compete today.
Monday 2 November
Media Watch:
Battle of the best in rowing
Hobart Mercury, 2/11/09
AUSTRALIAN-level rowers including Deon Birtwistle and Blair Tunevitsch from Launceston and Taylor Wilczynksi from Devonport are set to battle it out in the men's senior scull today after another former Australian representative, Brendan Long, pulled out.
Lightweight women Carly Cottam, of Launceston, and Ella Flecker, of Hobart, who have both donned Australian colours this year, should have a close race in the women's senior single.
The second division of the women's senior eights will be hotly contested by Launceston school crews Grammar and St Patrick's, while the Bucks crew from Hobart has the best form for the first division of the eight.
Hutchins is again dominant in the junior men's ranks and should perform well in the men's eight as well as the junior sculling events.
St Mary's and Derwent Mercantile Collegiate, both from Hobart, also will boat young crews in the junior events to give them practice for the school season next year.
In the adaptive racing, Malcom Hall from North Esk is making a comeback to racing but he'll have to work hard to beat Ulverstone stalwarts Roger Blake and Andrew Alder, with talented Glenorchy rowers Callum Lou and Julian Amos also in contention.
There are pennant points up for grabs in each race and Bucks should maintain its stranglehold on the state pennant with large numbers of entries at this regatta.
Spectators at Lake Barrington will have to wait a bit longer to see some former Olympic rowers return to Tasmanian competition.
Sam Beltz, Kerry Hore and Anthony Edwards have returned to the sport ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games.
They were spotted on the water at a national selection time trial near Huonville last Saturday but will not compete today.
