Head of the Tweed Half-Marathon Rowing Regatta

Written by Esther Fink, Year 10 student

A 30-minute drive to Chinderah, Tweed Shire, and we were ready. However, we started to feel apprehensive at the thought of a half-marathon race. From 80-year-olds to 13-year-olds, we were racing people from every age group. After a quick briefing and an intense warm-up, we hopped on the water and lined up to race.

The first to start was the double, who, although they didn’t have anyone in their category, were set off with the masters and gave it their all. Then the quads were the next to race, the boys and the girls racing each other fiercely, as well as a few other Varsity mixed quads. After the usual race start and ten strokes on, we dropped our rate dramatically, knowing we had a lot to go.

The boys' double and quad started strongly, and got into the lead early, whereas the girls' quad decided to pull a ‘boys in the boat’, and pick off their opponents one by one. Some say the first two kilometres felt the fastest, others say they felt the slowest, but we got through them regardless. The music was playing, and we lined up our strokes to the beat, taking our minds off the pain. As we approached the boats in front, we picked up the rate and overtook.

Halfway in, with 10.5km down, we were feeling the pain, but in a good way. The fatigue was getting to us and each crew came up with a different strategy to combat it. The boys double, Ethan and Ed, had a lead so great, they decided to both stop for a water break, for about 2 minutes. Whereas the boys’ quad, comprising Byron, Marcus, Luke, Will, and their cox, Elijah, stopped individually, but not for too long, to ensure their lead remained strong. The girls on the other hand, Tamar, Alanja, Brooke, our cox Zoe, and I, stopped in pairs for 10 strokes each.

Finally, we reached the last stretch of the race, and the decision was to either continue to row long and strong, or give it all we’ve got. We decided on the latter, and we pushed for the last 1 km. Our legs were sore, we could barely stand, as we hopped off the water, and we packed up. After a quick, 2-hour snack break, the results were in. The boys' double came first in their division and 15th overall. The boys' quad placed first in the under-19 men’s category and 6th overall. The girls' quad, smashing our goal by 10 minutes, came first in the under-19 women’s category and 13th overall.

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