Season 2017 / 2018

ADELAIDE ROWING CLUB INC . (Founded in 1882 as I'Zingari Rowing Club) T H 135 ANNUAL REPORT Season 2017 / 2018 O FFICE BEARERS Ex Officio Patron...................... The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of Adelaide Mr Martin Haese Senior Vice Patron…. Don Sarah Vice Patrons…………. Phil Mangelsdorf, Grant Duncan, Patrick Hill, Geoff Hill, Dick Turnbull, Jock Jamieson, Brain Sawley, David Hislop, Jim Eglinton, Brian Dalton, Tas Binder, Edward Suttell, Tony Matthews, John Osborne, John Jarvis, Tony Roberts, Neil Sarah President.................. Chris Greening Vice Presidents......... John Absolon, Joanne Howski, Rob Greening, Tim Dunstone, Trent Collins, Daryl Bosch, Tim Hennessey, Tom Guthrie, Patrick Winter, Danny Barrera, Stuart Masson, David Cropley, Mitch Oliver, Adam Salleh Honorary Solicitor….. Ted Guthrie Honorary Auditor.….. Patrick Winter Honorary Architect…. Chris Greening Public Officer………… Mitch Oliver Committee Captain..................... Jessica McRae Vice Captain............ Tim Santin Bryn Coudraye Secretary………......... Erica Webb Treasurer.................. Vicki Brown Bar Manager............. Portia Capoccia (ex officio) General Members...... Donna Webb Andrew Cropley Tyson Beachamp Tom Shelton Trent Collins Amy Hobbs Daren Potts 2 PRESIDENT 'S REPOR T I am happy to report that the season 2017/18 was a sensational one for the Adelaide Rowing Club both on and off the water. Your Club’s Committee worked hard all year, running functions, hosting regattas, and also worked hard in competing in and winning races at regattas inside and outside of South Australia. A special mention goes to Portia and Angela Capoccia for their tireless efforts in and behind the bar. We again ran and organised the Henley on Torrens regatta, focussing on the opportunity to raise much needed funds for boat acquisitions. This important regular event shines a light on the activation that rowing as a sport brings to the City of Adelaide. The environment of the Torrens continues to require ongoing conversations and engagement in riverbank politics, in order to continue the club’s long held position as activator and custodian. Outside of the Club’s Committee the work of the I’Zingari foundation continues. Earnings from the invested capital will one day help to provide ongoing acquisitions. I thank those current and founding members for their work in this regard including current Chair Ted Guthrie and would recommend that all current and resting members invest in foundation membership. On the water the Club continued its previous year’s strong showing with dominant performances in the First and Second Grade State Championships, winning both eight races for the fourth time running. We were well represented in the Nationals Regatta again finishing as SA’s highest ranking club. Alex Hill, Olympia Aldersey, Molly Goodman and Jack Kelly were chosen to represent the senior Australian Rowing Team in the international season. In addition to winning gold in the fours at world cups 2 and 3; Molly and Alex went on to Stroke the Australian Eights at Henley Royal Regatta to win the Remenham and Grand Challenge Cups respectively. The latter setting a new course record of 5:53. Unprecedented. Ella Bramwell has been selected to represent Australia in the U21 Trans- Tasman Team. Verayna Zilm and Kane Grant have been selected to represent Australia in the U23 World Championships in Poznan Poland. Plenty of Green and Gold at the Club at the moment. Our Club’s professionalism and standards continue to improve with our on water management excelling this year under the leadership of Captain Jessica McRae. Jessica has brought high levels of organisational and professional management to the role, to complement our coaching team of 3 Ron Mobbs, Daren Potts, Daniel Ralph, Catherine McDougall, Jarrad Schar, Tom Fraser and Donna Webb. Into the future, the Committee and I will be bringing a renewed vigour to the realm of fundraising. With the club’s day to day finances in reasonable order, we now turn our focus to fleet turnover and clubhouse upgrades – if you hear the call; put up your hand! In recent times, prior to EOFY 2017/18 we raised over $4,000 in a week! Chris Greening President 4 C APTA IN ’S RE POR T As Adelaide finally begins to shake off its “large country town” persona, our little historic clubhouse has been gaining some mighty neighbours over the last few years with multi-million (and billion) dollar redevelopments at the Adelaide Oval, the Adelaide Convention Centre, the New Royal Adelaide Hospital, SAHMRI, and most recently, the Festival Centre. As we have always known, ARC sits with the best views in Adelaide, and it is becoming increasingly important for the Club to be able to assert its position not only as a competitive club but also as a significant contributor to the Riverbank Precinct and the rowing community. Along with a successful season on the water which shows our strength and depth in the sport, the Club has also been developing programs which ensure we are contributing to the wider community and demonstrating the value which we provide to the development of the sport. As outlined in the President’s Report, we have had unprecedented success this season locally, interstate, and overseas. You will be able to see full results elsewhere in this report but I will touch on a few of the overall figures. Over the First Grade State Championships weekend, the club took home 19 wins and collected the Men’s and Women’s Premierships along the way. Notably, we were the only club to field a crew in every open heavy weight event. Over in Penrith, at the Interstate Regatta, we had 14 ARC athletes representing South Australia, as well as 3 coaches (and another 2 who have joined us for the winter season), and 3 men in the Masters State Team who competed in Barrington, Tasmania. Then of course, we currently have four ARC athletes based at the National Training Centres and competing to great success in the Senior Australian Team (Alexander Hill, Olympia Aldersey, Molly Goodman, and Jack Kelly) and another 3 new additions to the underage teams (Verayna Zilm, Kane Grant, and Ella Bramwell). Whilst we quite rightly celebrate in the success of our top end athletes, there is increased national focus on “grass roots” programs and we as a Club are also constantly striving to improve our development programs. After a couple of seasons of ARC running a low key School Winter Rowing Program, this season it took off with over 80 rowers participating in the program ranging from year 8s through to year 12s. This program is aimed at school age students and school leavers, to provide an opportunity to row at the club through the winter months when most schools are off the water, and to give clear pathways for students to continue their rowing career after school. Over the coming seasons it is expected many of these athletes will continue 5 on their rowing pathways through the Club, going on the represent South Australia and potentially Australia. Alongside of our Learn-To-Row program, these initiatives allow us to capture a wide demographic of athletes to ensure that we are increasing participation at all levels of the sport. We are undoubtedly going through a period of great success as a club. One of my side projects this season was looking at how we can use our strong position to increase participation of other clubs at regattas. Too often this season we had to scratch races as we were the only entry. Supporting clubs around us to train and compete can only benefit us by providing more opportunities to race, preparing us for tougher competition interstate, and makes for much better spectator sport! This season you may have seen ARC athletes filling crews with Renmark, Port Pirie, and Murray Bridge, enabling these smaller country clubs to field crew boats making the journey to a regatta more worthwhile. Alongside of this, we endeavour to ensure that there is always a representation of ARC at regattas and events. This season you might have spotted our iconic black, red, and gold hoops competing outside of the city at Murray Bridge, Mannum, Renmark, Port Adelaide, Head of the Yarra, NSW State Championships, and the Australian National Championships and Interstate Regatta in Penrith. This can be our full squad out in force as we saw at the Renmark regatta or any selection of our seniors, juniors, masters, or social rowers. Each of our squads has shown great development over the past season. The success of our senior squad is shown in our results. Our Masters Men have increased in numbers and are certainly the most regular attendees at regattas which is reflected in their admirable second spot in the Masters Men Premiership, given their relatively young age. Finally, our social rowers (gained primarily through our Learn-To-Row program and often parents of school age rowers) have developed from rowers who are happy to not fall in during training, to athletes training and racing regularly at regattas. The most unexpected (but certainly enjoyed) aspect of coming in as Captain, has been the number and variety of enquiries the club receives. On a monthly basis we have rowers from interstate and overseas requesting to come out for a guest paddle (which we are more than happy to accommodate where we can). We have acquired a selection of items, which were donated back to the club including a trophy from 1893 Spring SARA Regatta and a scrap book of rowing memorabilia from the 1920s. But my personal favourite by far was a request from Ian Moncrieff, a member of the Club in the 50s who is now aged in his 90s. Ian had built a timber Derwent Skiff that he launched in front of the club with friends and family in attendance 6 followed by drinks upstairs at the bar.

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