A taste of young talent at regatta

ONE of the state’s biggest rowing events, the Wendouree Ballarat Regatta, hosted athletes from across Victoria last weekend.

The packed two-day program on the Lake Wendouree course saw single sculls to eights push through wind and rain to make the most of competitive time on the water.

Wendouree Ballarat Rowing Club president, John King said a record number of junior and open crews entered the program from Hamilton, Warrnambool, Shepparton, Melbourne and beyond, but a wild weather forecast for Saturday caused some to scratch.

“The numbers were right down on Saturday, but the weather wasn’t too bad. Conditions were still strong,” he said.

“It’s been a good weekend of racing and Sunday was as busy as ever.”

Many sculling and pairs racers were competing for state selection and it was also an opportunity for young Ballarat rowers to be seen.

“We’ve had a little bit of a taste for the upcoming Head of the Lake,” Mr King said. “We’ve seen all crews out there rowing except for, perhaps, St Pat’s senior crew.

“We saw Loreto winning both their races against their respective competition from High School, Ballarat Grammar and College. We also saw Grammar win one race and High School win one race in the boys’ racing,” he said.

“Loreto’s looking strong again, and it’s going to be an interesting race in the boys. A toss of the coin for the boys’ races at the moment.”

Mr King said the City of Ballarat have been proactive in the lead up to the weekend.

“They’ve helped us get a big screen on site, they’ve helped us with the live stream, invested in the timing system, put infrastructure in for live broadcasts with TV cameras along the course so we can see how the races are going at each of the 500m marks,” he said.

“Council’s been fantastic in support of rowing this year.”