𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 – 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝟯 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮

As the clock struck 5am, the shed was choc-a-block with ambitious Westies rowers ready to take on boat loading. The boats began to flood the trailers as the Swan River laid flat and peaceful, with not a single ripple afar. Off went the trailers, followed by devoted Westies members whom were yet to discover the sensational conditions that the lovely Champion Lakes had been brewing all week. 

30 minutes later, arrivals to Woop-Woop were greeted with dark grey clouds, rolling waves and the growling sounds of thunder…or maybe it was just Simon Cox. Nevertheless, the show went on!

Kicking off proceedings was Joely Patterson clearing up the Women’s A scull in a whopper third place despite catching a crab mid race. This was quickly followed by the almighty Sinead Reading, who absolutely obliterated her opponents to claim gold in her scull race and fourth overall in the Women’s A/B scull. 

The gritty efforts of the Westies rowers did not stop there, with Captain Sam Toland putting on a show in the Mens A/B scull taking out 2nd position in his division. Special mention to Alexander Baroni who raced his last 2km scull race for Wests, placing 4th overall in the Men’s A/B division just 2.38 seconds off first. We wish him well as he embarks off to row with foreigners! To top off the first events of the day, our marvellous Maddi Ford powered against the rough conditions straight into first place. 

Last but not least, amazing effort from our superstar Sophie Gillies who cleaned up the gold and her competitors in the Women’s D grade single scull, beating 2nd place by a whole 34 seconds!

As the sculls docked back onto the pontoon, trestles began to flap as the wind picked up. Following Stefano’s orders, hands were holding boats as Wests rowers swiftly scrambled to tie down the hulls using Simon’s complicated yet effective tying technique. The wind was now howling, but that did not stop the cracking efforts from Tyler and Kieran in the Men’s C Pair as they pushed through to the line in second place, with no one behind them in sight.

As the pair racing continued, we saw stunner efforts from Aquilla and Tanika taking out the Women’s B pair while beating the Men’s A pair time by whole 22 seconds, stroked by Dejan Bouwhuis and backed up by boyfriend Joey Dawson. Better luck next time boys!

It began to pour down, but that did not stop the eager Westies rowers from standing by their boats…despite the Swannies tent being the only cover in sight!

Next came brilliant efforts from the Women’s D grade coxed four of Izzie, Beth, Mia, Clare and Jasmin, earning second place, closely followed by a smashing job from Liz and Tamsin in their C grade pair as they fought against UWA all the way to the finish, coming in first by 0.08 of a second. Next, Westies schoolgirls and Clubbies showed up in full force as three C grade coxed fours charged through the rain to take 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

Moving up in the boat classes, representing the red and yellow the Men’s A grade four put on a show as they swept their way to silver, swinging back in the wind despite the tough conditions. This was quickly followed by a battle against the best for the Westies Women’s A grade four as they fought their way into top position against their toughest competition yet, themselves. 

The Eights racing commenced with a ripper of a race from the Westies Men’s B Eight, flying through the finish line to secure the bag, coached by the one and only Jack O’Dea. Huge congratulations to all our new and returning schoolgirls who claimed the glorious gold in the Women’s C grade Eight, backed up by our experienced Women’s squad members, flying past five other crews.

Now, what do you call a boat that comes in second place?

The Rudder-up’s!! ….in this case it was the Men’s and Women’s A Eights securing second place as they battled with SRRC in the unforgiving head wind.

Overall, a successfully day for Pennant 3 with the WARC medal count totalled at 21: 8 Gold, 8 Silver, 5 Bronze.

To say we all left wet would be an understatement, but a big congrats to our OARSOME rowers and coaches for braving the wild weather. Bring on Pennant 4!