JULY 2016 NEWS Above – 2016 Australian Women’S Olympic Quad Scull at Lucerne – Jen Cleary Second from Left

JULY 2016 NEWS Above – 2016 Australian Women’s Olympic Quad Scull at Lucerne – Jen Cleary second from left Mercantile at the Olympic Games Published 29th July 2016 Mercantile and Victoria have always been great contributors to Australian rowing teams. This year is no exception. David “Chipper” Colvin provides the following figures. Of a team of 29 athletes, Mercantile are providing 6 members (Cleary, Dunkley Smith, Banting, Sutherland, Albert and Morrison) and MUBC 5 (Brennan, Fosterling, Lockwood, Booth and Stephan). More than one third of the team come from the Yarra bank – 11 out of 29. Club representation in the Olympic team is as follows: Mercantile – 6 members MUBC – 5 members Sydney RC – 3 members SUBC – 3 members Well done Mercs and thank you Chipper for the analysis. Australian Women’s Eight to go to the Olympic Games Published 29th July 2016 Great news. Australia has qualified an eight for the Olympic Games and that eight contains four Mercantile members, cox Sarah Banting, Fiona Albert, Charlotte Sutherland and Jess Morrison. Above: Women’s Eight: Sarah Banting, Georgina Gotch, Megan Volker, Charlotte Sutherland, Alex Hagan, Jessica Morrison, Fiona Albert, Molly Goodman and Lucy Stephan ~ Picture: Tim Carrafa, Herald Sun It has all occurred so suddenly. Whilst the Russian drug scandal unfolded, it became apparent that the Russian rowers may be subject to sanctions. The crew began to get together on Friday 23rd July and started rowing on Saturday 24th. (See article below published on 22nd July). By Tuesday night, confirmation came through that FISA had removed a large number of Russian athletes under the new IOC entry guidelines. The Australians had been given the position vacated by the Russians. They have been able to get flights for 5th August which will get them in Rio with three days to spare before racing. A Filippi eight with Croker oars have been sourced for them and accommodation in the Olympic Village provided. Rowing Australia and the AOC have done an amazing job getting this altogether in this time frame. They will fly back with the rest of the team on the chartered AOC flights. Fiona Albert says that she is thrilled to be given the opportunity to race at the highest level in rowing. It is special to be able to do so. She added that this was “great for the development of this category. The knowledge, leadership and experience that these girls will bring back to the sport in Australia will be invaluable.” She noted that she is the second oldest at 25 years old with the oldest only one month older. Further only one girl in the crew has Olympic experience, Alex Hagan. It is clear that this crew will provide a sound base for women’s rowing for Australia. Let us back track to see how this arose. Australia tried to qualify a women’s eight at the 2015 World Championships finishing eighth and also at the qualification regatta in Lucerne in 2016 finishing third. In both cases the crew missed qualification finishing as the eighth crew with seven crews qualifying. Then the Russian drug scandal arose. The international athletics federation banned the Russian athletics team. WADA uncovered State sponsored drug testing violations and the IOC acted to protect clean athletes and set strict entry guidelines for Russian athletes. The FISA Executive Committee, due to the manipulation of the Moscow Laboratory tests, has determined to their comfortable satisfaction that only six entered Russian rowers have met the criteria of having been tested reliably and adequately in international tests. The effect of this decision was that Russia had six remaining eligible rowers – one lightweight and five open weight men – for competition in Rio 2016. Therefore, four Russian boats (LM4-, LW2x, M8+ and W8+) were withdrawn from participation in the Games and were attributed to the next placing crews at the 2016 Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, as follows: • LM4- to Greece, the Hellenic Rowing Federation • M8+ to the Italian Rowing Federation • W8+ to the Australian Rowing Federation • And in the 2016 European Continental Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, LW2x to the Italian Rowing Federation. This is a remarkable situation. Possible Russian exclusion from the Olympic Games Published 22nd July 2016 The big news this week is the McLaren report on systemic State sponsored doping breaches by Russia and yesterday the upholding of the blanket ban of Russian track and field athletes by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The possibility of all Russian athletes being banned is now real. No doubt the IOC has more than just legal issues to consider in reaching a decision. Why is the lead story on our website? The Russians have qualified a women’s eight at the Olympic Games and the Australians are the next qualified crew. If the Russians are removed, the Australian crew potentially moves into the vacant spot. The Australian crew contains crew members: Fiona Albert, Charlotte Sutherland, Jess Morrison and Sarah Banting. If this was to occur there would be significant but not insurmountable practical issues in attending the Games down to the most basic of matters such as getting flights, accommodation and equipment. And of course the longer the matter is in limbo, the tougher these become. Our thoughts and best wishes are with our club members involved in what will be a difficult time for them with the tantalising thought of being an Olympian in two weeks time. Mercantile Cocktail Party a Great Success Published 22nd July 2016 The fundraiser for our crews was a great success being a fun night and also with the auction and raffle raising over $19,000. Thank you to all the donors on the night and for the donors of goods and services which were sold. The President paid $500 for an afternoon tea with our oldest, and probably one of our most interesting members, Arthur Atkins. I wonder whether this will include a ride in Arthur’s new Jaguar. Not bad at 98 years old. Above: The scene on the night Mercantile Lighties leave this weekend Updated 24th July 2016 Best wishes to our lightweight men who leave this weekend for Canada to race at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta from 2-7th August 2016. They will race in the open lightweight eight, open lightweight eight sprint, open lightweight four and under 23 lightweight four. Good racing guys. The racing can be followed with live results and live video. Go to the regatta website http://www.henleyregatta.ca to find out how. The crew comprises: Cch: Tom Swann Cox: Alexis Hancock Str: Jackson Harrison (MUBC) 7: Conor Grace 6: Carl Tomczak 5: Jack Kelly (Banks) 4: Jayden Grey 3: Will Legge 2: Michael McNamara Bow: Josh Bell Mercantile Cocktail Party to Support our Crews Published 8th July 2016 A reminder that a fund raising cocktail party will take place at Mercantile Saturday 16th July. Please make every effort to be there. Above: Australian Men’s under 23 crew training on the Yarra Details and bookings are on the events page. Australian Men’s Under 23 Eight Published 6th July 2016 The Australian men’s under 23 eight has suffered injury problems with Queenslander Harley Moore unfortunately suffering rib injuries which has forced him to withdraw. David Fleming, back home from Harvard on his summer break, is filling in. Above the Australian men’s under 23 crew training on the Yarra Australian Under 23 Team Updated 3rd July 2016 Congratulations to Olivia Sibillin and Rachel Engel who have been selected in the Australian under 23 team eight to race at Rotterdam. Rowing Australia announced last night the following additional crews for the open and under 23 teams. The eight will be based in Melbourne and contains three Australians who are studying in US universities. The men’s four contains almost entirely US base athletes. It is great to see that the US based athletes have an opportunity to race for Australia. Above: In case you don’t know where Rotterdam is, the Australian under 23 eight happily point it out! U23 Women’s Coxed Eight Stephanie Williams (Ohio State/Tamar RC – TAS) Rachel Engel (Ohio State/Mercantile RC – VIC) Katherine Michelmore (Melbourne University BC – VIC) Fiona Ewing (Sydney University BC – NSW) Jacinta Edmunds (UC Berkeley/Commercial RC – QLD) Hedda Cooper (Melbourne University BC – VIC) Olivia Sibillin (Mercantile Rowing Club – VIC) Georgia Wheeler (Swan River RC – WA) Coxswain – Daniella Serra (Toowong RC – QLD) Coach: Annabelle Eaton (Melbourne University BC – VIC) U23 Men’s Coxed Four Henry Youl (Tamar RC – TAS) Sam Hardy (Harvard/Sydney RC – NSW) Texas Lawton (Northeastern/Toowong RC – QLD) Jack Cleary (UC Berkeley/Swan River RC – WA) Coxswain: Louis Copolov (Northeastern/VIC) Coach: Zoltan Shepherd (University of Queensland BC – QLD) Non-Olympic Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls Georgia Nesbitt (Huon RC/TIS – TAS) Coach: Paul Newbon (Huon RC – TAS) Mercantile in the US College Programs Published 3rd July 2016 Some interesting articles appeared in issue 11 of Row360 on US college rowing. Row360 is a magazine based in the UK with an international approach. Several articles and also the editorial focussed on decision some young rowers make about their future. The editor Benedict Tufnell was one of those rowers who took the opportunity to study in the US, described the opportunity as a “fantastic, life changing opportunity” that he does not regret. “The benefits of sending a rower away to a well-funded, well-equipped and professionally coached US collegiate program are obvious. The opportunity to live, study and compete in an alien culture helped both my personal and athletic development.” Above: The Harvard boatshed This is a contentious subject as some would like to keep the talent at home and it appears that many who take up this opportunity do not return to the sport – their career opportunities post their studies are significant.

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