Shepparton Rowing Club kicked off the season with smiles at the MRA Rutherglen Regatta last weekend.
Racing over the two-day event took place at the picturesque Lake Moodemere, with limited crowds due to COVID-19 protocols in place.
A number of members from the Shepparton Rowing Club enjoyed memorable outings at the first event of the delayed season.
Toolamba’s Lydia Todd smashed her heat on the 800m course and qualified for the final of the B-grade single scull.
The youngster managed to finish third in the heat.
However, Todd was unable to keep the pace in the sprint event on Sunday, missing out on a place in the final by a boat length.
Todd stroked the double scull with teammate Emily Waller, making the finals on Saturday after they lost the lead, hitting a buoy with 200m to go; lucky for them the crew that passed them then hit the next buoy and fell out of their boat, providing time for the Shepparton crew to win.
Junior sculler Tom Nalder, a Year 8 student from St Anne’s College, showed enormous potential.
Nalder reached the finals in his first ever regatta from his heat in the under-15 single scull.
Nalder had a great start in the final until he came into some trouble halfway down the course, but he didn’t give up and continued pushing towards the finish line.
Nalder crossed the line second, only two strokes behind the sculler from Corio Bay.
Robert Gordon raced in the masters single scull for Shepparton and joined a composite crew from Richmond to battle it out in the masters eight.
Emily Belcher provided a standout performance and won her heat in the women’s C-grade single.
Up against stiff opposition, Belcher performed strongly and finished third in the final.
Belcher then teamed with new rower Olivia Anderson in the double scull.
The talent guided and supported Anderson through her first race.
The pair showed improvement on day two, placing third in the heat and will continue to train together in preparation for upcoming events.
To provide a high level of competition Rowing Victoria is trialling new rules and grading changes to the regattas this season and is sorting rowers into three grades from the previous four.
It’s hoped the changes will improve the depth of the event fields and the quality of racing.