Awards nod for regatta innovation

THE Inaugural Ballarat Omnium Regatta is a Victorian Sport Awards finalist.

A contender in the Sports Accounting Australia Sport Initiative of the Year category, the competition was held on Lake Wendouree on Sunday, 22 November last year, coordinated by Rowing Victoria.

The multiple-race event was facilitated to boost the community and sport’s economic COVID recovery, presenting a new co-designed seven-kilometre route consisting of five legs, moving around the lake and down the traditional straight course.

Lake Wendouree supervisor, Bernard Blood and rowing course supervisor, Chris Johnson were part of the team who co-designed this new path alongside Rowing Victoria, offering innovative lake management systems, including cameras and additional buoys to monitor and control race traffic.

“The City of Ballarat made three sophisticated security and race-following cameras available to assist the event,” Mr Johnson said.

“These were located at the start, the 1000-metre mark of the two-kilometre course, and near the finish line. The cameras connected to live-streaming technology, with the ability to deliver real-time racing images to the world.

“This initiative makes Ballarat only the second rowing venue in Australia, outside of the Sydney Olympic rowing course, with such capacity.”

The dual-purpose cameras, with a magnification power of 42, now also provide all-hours CCTV vision of the lake for community and environmental safety and security.

The Ballarat Omnium Regatta is expected to run annually, and its infrastructure will be utilised throughout the year for junior, local, state, national and international-level rowing competitions.

The Victorian Sport Awards ceremony will be held at Marvel Stadium on Thursday, 3 June celebrating people, groups and organisations that promote and enrich the state’s sports and active recreation community.