Peta Rule

2008 Captain

Former WARC captain Peta Rule currently holds the position of Vice President after almost 10 years as a member at WARC.

Peta’s rowing career started in 1993 at the Horsham-Dimboola regatta in Victoria’s Wimmera region. She was 13 at the time and now considers herself lucky to have been part of the last generation of rowers to learn to row with wooden blades.

"Like, not just the handles… the entire oar," she said.

“I had a massive crush on a boy who was rowing at the regatta, and I was there printing t-shirts as a part-time job. In the end, I stuck with the sport and not the boy.”

The love-affair with rowing lasted throughout her school years and Peta, with four other girls, became one of few State school students to compete in Head of the River events. Peta retired after gaining entry into a journalism degree in Melbourne.

“I joined the university’s rowing club but was told in no uncertain terms I was too short to row intervarsity and figured that was pretty much the end,” she said.

A degree, 10 kilos and a move to Kalgoorlie (where Peta worked as a journalist) later, and the one-time bowsider thought rowing was a thing of the past.

In 2002, she moved to Perth after scoring a job as a journalist for the West Australian newspaper and discovered the backward bug had bitten her again.

“I joined WARC because it was the only club I called where someone picked up the phone and told me to turn up. Although 5am seemed a bit difficult after almost six years off.”

Since then, the club has gone from regularly hanging on the tail end of the RWA pennant table to pushing for prime position and in 2007 was named Club of the Year.

"Rowing at WARC has not only given me the motivation to get fit, but has also resulted in meaningful friendships and a real sense of community.

"There are few organisations I've encountered that are so welcoming in spirit for athletes of any ability. It is this side to WARC that resulted in me going from a chain-smoking sloth to competitive athlete. The sort of support and encouragement at WARC is rare and valuable."

Peta lost the 10kg, learnt to scull and has even been spotted rowing strokeside.

But only under extreme duress.