On Sunday September 29, a small group of Lower Clarence Rowing Club (LCRC) members travelled north to compete at the annual NRRA Murwillumbah Rowing Club regatta. With favourable conditions early, both juniors and masters capitalised with placings achieved in 11 out of the 16 races that were held on the day.

The first race of the day saw Amanda Steele maintain her handicap to take out the Women’s Masters Handicap scull, with Keryn Saunders close behind in second place.

In the Women’s Masters Handicap quad, the LCRC crew of Joanne Meehan, Amanda Steel, Keryn Saunders & Clare Millist gained on a 6 second handicap to Murwillumbah, narrowly finishing second by 1.22s. With minimal break, Clare Millist and Amanda Steele then stepped into their next crew event, where they maintained their lead to win the Women’s Masters Handicap double.

Racing over 2km, we had competitors in both the women’s and men’s open single scull. In the women’s event Clara Samms placed second, with Ashley Luland finishing strong in third position. Lachlan Maxwell stepped up into the open category, finishing in an impressive second place. Maxwell also teamed up with Aimee Jeffrey and in an exciting finish, pipped Murwillumbah by 2.04s to take out the mixed double scull. In the Women’s Under 17 single scull, our young ones performed extremely well, with Luland and Jeffrey taking out first and second place respectively.

The men and women’s handicap sculls saw handicaps changed at the start line. All rowers showed great flexibility under these conditions, especially those who were given additional handicaps! Clara Samms placed second in the women’s handicap single scull and Joanne Meehan also took out second place in the Masters Women’s handicap pair. With a 10 second handicap Jessica Dawes and Kylie Duff showed their compatibility, taking the lead early to win the Women’s Handicap double scull.

Although another small regatta, the atmosphere was great and club members worked very well together. Well done to all! Thank you to those who volunteered their time, such as the BRO’s and other race officials, without you our regattas wouldn’t happen. A big thankyou also to all our sponsors, including our major sponsors; Maclean Services Club and Mareeba Aged Care.

The next NRRA regatta will be the Lismore RC regatta at Coraki on Sunday October 27.

Kylie Duff