JULY 2018 NEWS Above – Mercs masters prepare for Henley with a row down the Thames News covered below: • Final day at HRR • Mercs Four makes final of the Wyfold at HRR • Gus Widdicombe makes final in the Goblets at HRR • Australian eights makes final at HRR • Mercs four starts Henley Royal Regatta very well • Alex Clarke, a late inclusion into the Australian Under 23 team • Mercs competes at Under 21 regatta • Vale Paul Harding • Mercs members race at Henley Royal Regatta • Mercs Masters cause havoc in London • The Lightweight Curse • National team members • Member Profiles • Thursday Night Social Hour Finals day at HRR Published 15th July 2018 Wow what a day! The Mercs four in the Wyfold was the second race of the day and raced superbly. Unfortunately, so did Molesey BC who won in a great race. Our crew, probably the fastest crew we have ever sent to HRR finished behind the better crew. The time was sensational and worthy of a Visitors Challenge Cup win. Our crew was: bow – Ben Canham, 2 – Jack Kelly, 3 – Mitch Hooper, stroke – Angus Maloney, coach David Pincus. All credit to the crew and coach on such a great performance. Above: Off the start Above: Approaching the finish Next was the great race of the Australian women’s eight which included Club members Kat Werry and cox James Rook. They raced well and took out the Remenham Challenge Cup from the British eight in a fine race. It was closely fought out with the British crew not conceding at any time during the race. Above James Rook advertises the result ` Above: Presentation It was great that the Australian squad was allowed to compete at this iconic event during the height of the crew members rowing careers. Next up was the men’s pair. Club member Gus Widdicombe and his partner Cam Watts took it right up to the Sinkovic brothers from Croatia, current favourites for the World Championships. Gus must have known that a scratch Australian pair was no match for the Croatians, but it did not stop him trying to do the impossible. They controlled the first half of the race before bad steering a sustained effort by the Croatians brought the dream to an end. Well done Gus and Cam. Above: Showing the lead to the Sinkovic brothers Above: Approaching the Enclosure Above: Then where did they go? The other race of interest was of course the Grand Challenge Cup where the Australian eight came up against the Romanian eight after the Australians had disposed of the British crew in the heat. The race was not as ferocious as the heat but still a mighty performance. The Romanians raced very well and to the very end, in a fine race, the Australians prevailing by one length. Above: Presentation of Grand Challenge Cup Despite the nature of the regatta and the match racing element, all the crews had great racing experiences. To finish with, some scenes from the regatta. Above: Kat Werry Above: Sean Colgan Above: The Enclosure Above: The course from the finish Above: Temple Island Mercs Four makes final of the Wyfold at HRR Published 7th July 2018 Mercantile has only ever won one event at Henley Royal Regatta, and that was back in 1988. Well 2018 may be the year to redress this situation. David Pincus’ Wyfold four have made the final and are looking good. Above: leaving for the start Above: Off the start on Saturday Gus Widdicombe makes final in the Goblets at HRR Published 7th August 2018 Gus Widdicombe combined with Cam Watts to get to the final of the Silver Goblets with a great race. They face the Sinkovic brothers tomorrow in their toughest pair oared race of their career. The Australians are having fun and will enjoy playing with the world’s best pair tomorrow. Above: The pair heading out for their heat on Saturday Australian eights make finals at HRR Published 7th July 2018 Both the men’s and women’s eights made their respective finals today with superb performances. Your correspondent thought that the men’s eight was one of the best races he has seen. The Australians raced hard and superbly. They raced displaying true ANZAC grit and relished the toughness. They went off at 48 and struggled to get below 40 anywhere down the course. You could tell that they enjoyed the race and the spectators had the privilege of seeing it. If you were the Romanians, you would have enormous respect for their prospective opponents. Go Mercs, and Australia. Mercs four starts Henley Royal Regatta very well Published 4th July 2018 The Mercs four of stroke Angus Maloney, 3 Mitchell Hooper, 2: Jack Kelly and bow Ben Canham raced superbly today to easily win their first round. They flew off the start and settled down well many, many lengths in front. Some images to set the scene for the rest of the week. Off the start At the barrier Coming past the crowd Hearing pearls of wisdom from David Pincus Alex Clarke, a late inclusion into the Australian Under 23 team Published 2nd July 2018 Rowing Australia has recently announced the selection of an under 23 Men’s Coxed Four to the U23 Australian Rowing Team set to compete at the 2018 World Rowing U23 Championships in Poznan, Poland from 25 to 29 July 2018. Alexander Clarke, Kane Grant, Fraser Pensini, Zac von Appen and coxswain, Sarah Ben-David will represent Australia and join the already selected U23 Women’s Eight, U23 Men’s Single Scull, U23 Women’s Pair, U23 Women’s Double Scull, U23 Men’s Pair, U23 Lightweight Men’s Double Scull, U23 Lightweight Women’s Double Scull and U23 Men’s Single Scull. Congratulations Alex and best wishes for the Championships. Above: Alex on the far right at the National Championships Go Mercs Mercs compete at the Under 21 Regatta Published 2nd July 2018 At the end of the first leg of the Trans Tasman Series, Australia held a slight lead over New Zealand. The two teams will compete again at Lake Karapiro to finalise the series. Australia is defending the Rusty Robertson Trophy, a point score team trophy. Your club members in the Australian team are Sky Froebel and Kirstie Green and coach Brigette Carlile. Vale Paul Harding Published 2nd July 2018 Since advising members of the death of Paul Harding the following message has been received from Paul’s family. The Club was represented at the funeral by Phil Batters. Thank you so much for attending Dad’s funeral yesterday and waving the Mercantile flag for everyone. The club was probably the greatest times of his life and over the many years we have all become well versed on what it meant to him. Could you please pass on to everyone the many thanks for all your kind word and thoughts over the past week or so and particularly to Jim Harvey. Finally, we do have a collection of Dad’s Mercantile gear and would be delighted to see it go to the right place. We will sort this out over the coming weeks and be in touch. Thank you so much again. Cam Harding The 1960 Victorian Penrith Cup crew with Paul in the stroke seat Mercantile races at Henley Royal Regatta Published 2nd July 2018 The Australian men’s and women’s eights will be racing at HRR and so will include the following members: Australian men’s eight • Gus Widdicombe • Liam Donald Australian women’s eight • Kat Werry • Addy Dunkley-Smith • James Rook (cox) Scenes from HRR In addition to our members in the Australian men’s and women’s eights, Mercantile has had accepted by the Henley Stewards an entry in the Wyfold Challenge Cup. The crew is: Angus Maloney Mitchell Hooper Ben Canham Jack Kelly The crew is coached by David Pincus. Above: Our crew training through winter at the Club The Wyfold Challenge Cup was first presented in 1847 and is an event for genuine club crews. Our crew clearly meets that criterion. The Cup has an interesting past. The old rules for Challenge Cups resulted in all challengers racing off against each other for the right to race the winner of the previous year. Originally this cup was for the winning of the challenge crews for the Grand Challenge Cup. In 1855 it was used for the four oared event. In 1995, the same rules for the Thames Challenge Cup applied to this race, namely for genuine club crews. Our crew deserves your support and many Mercantile members will travel to England to see them and our other club members race. The blazers do stand out Mercs Masters cause havoc in London Published 2nd July 2018 A group of Mercs masters joined up with some other old and bold to row down the Thames from Oxford through the city of London finishing at Greenwich. Someone forgot to tell them about seeking permission to row through the centre of London, a matter which did stop them doing it despite the protests of officialdom along the way. The eight day journey took in 38 locks and roughly 200 km of rowing. Above: your Captain having passed through Tower Bridge Your club members taking part were Bill Webster, Jeff Lawrence, Rod Edwards and Andrew Guerin. The group rowed two quad sculls, one coxed and one coxless. Above: The crew heeding the warnings not to enter Windsor Castle grounds – Bill Webster cox, Jeff Lawrence stroke and Rod Edwards in the two seat The Lightweight Curse Published 2nd July 2018 Our senior lightweight oarsmen have been bedevilled by injury this year resulting in both Red Matthews and Michael McNamara missing out on Australian selection through injury.