The evening featured special guest speaker Jamie McDonald, an award-winning Australian rowing coach, who inspired students to focus on their development as athletes and young men. He reminded the audience that medals are only part of the story with each training session and race providing an opportunity to improve, and that discipline, organisation and technical focus were key ingredients to success in rowing and life.

Rowing Coordinator and Junior Coach Rebecca Gribble spoke with great pride about the junior program, describing rowing as 鈥渢he ultimate team sport.鈥� She praised the boys for their energy, mateship and ability to rise to the challenge at every regatta.

鈥淭here was never a dull or quiet moment when these boys were in the shed,鈥� Ms Gribble said.

鈥淭he most pleasing thing was that they were able to bring that same energy and enthusiasm into their rowing on regatta days. Medals were won, lessons were learnt and some oars were broken, but there were always smiles on their faces as they left the rowing shed.鈥�

Ms Gribble gave special mention to the College鈥檚 Year 10 Division 1 crew, whose achievements marked a historic season for the program.

鈥淥ur Year 10 Division 1 crew achieved some great things this season,鈥� she said.

鈥淭hey dominated the Ballarat Year 10 quad events, posted training times on par with national podium standards, and not only won their own year-level events but stepped up to take out the Open Division 2 quad at the Head of the Schoolboys Regatta.

鈥淭hey pushed even further, securing a bronze medal at the State Championships in the Open Division 1 quad event against senior Melbourne school crews. Their final challenge was at the Australian Rowing National Championships in Tasmania, where they placed fourth in the Under 17 quad event鈥攎aking them the fastest schoolboy crew in the country in that category. A phenomenal achievement and a first for our program.鈥�

Head Coach David O’Doherty also shared reflections on the season, emphasising that the real value of rowing lies in the personal development of each student.

“Reflecting on the season, one’s thoughts turn to the outcomes for our rowers beyond just results,” he said.

“Tony O’Connor, coach of the Kiwi Olympic gold medal eight, put it simply: ‘rowing is just a great vehicle for kids to grow up.’ And from the first session in July to now, I’ve witnessed a tremendous amount of growth in our young men.

That growth was matched by a series of strong performances across the season.

“We recorded some firsts for our program, winning four events at the Melbourne Head Regatta, dominant intermediate results at the Carrum Regatta, and several bronze medals at Head of the Schoolboys,” he said.

“At the Head of the Lake, while we narrowly missed the premiership, most crews delivered their best performances of the season.”

He summed up the spirit of the team with a single word: earnest.

“If there is one word to describe this year’s rowing squad, it is earnest. Earnest in their efforts, their commitment, and their enjoyment of the sport. That spirit is what makes the SPC boatshed such a special place to be.”

He also extended sincere thanks to the coaching team and the parent group for their unwavering support throughout the season.

The evening included the presentation of Coaches Awards and Year Level Awards:

Coaches Awards:

• Year 9 Div 5: Jake Debrincat
• Year 9 Div 4: Henry Gilbert
• Year 9 Div 3: Archer Bolt
• Year 9 Div 2: Noah Connell
• Year 9 Div 1: Nic Ward

• Year 10 Div 6: Joshua Canavan
• Year 10 Div 5: Jasper Delaney
• Year 10 Div 4: Harry Bennett
• Year 10 Div 3: Charlie Saw
• Year 10 Div 2: Lachlan Cowell
• Year 10 Div 1: Blake Roberts

• Open Div 5: Patrick Buttler
• Open Div 4: Jett Florence
• Open Div 3: Cameron Belleville
• Open Div 2: Harrison Grant
• Open Div 1: Lachlan Belleville

Year Level Awards:

• Year 9 Paul Myers Award: Jack Stringer
• Year 10 James Marburg Award: Lachlan Cameron
• Year 11 Christian Ryan Award: George Charles
• Year 12 Brian Vear Award: Henry Reinehr

The College extends its congratulations to all award winners and to every student who contributed to the rowing program this season. Their dedication, spirit, and sportsmanship continue to uphold the values of 每日大赛网址首页进入 and inspire the next generation of rowers.

It has now been exactly 30 years since the famous St Patrick’s College “drought-breakers” crew of Anthony Edwards (stroke), Daniel Hayter, Aaron McInerney, Robert Calnon and Daniel Morgan (cox) rowed to victory in stunning fashion to claim the College’s first Head of the Lake title for 29 years.

That crew was coached by Kevin O’Brien and Chris O’Brien and the joyous celebrations at the finish line were captured brilliantly in this photo captured by The Courier’s Lachlan Bence.

Their winning boat – “The Old Collegians” – now hangs in the corridor at the main entrance to the College because of the generosity of those who rowed in that boat in the Head of the Lake Regattas between 1990 and 2001.

The following excerpt from the 1990 College Annual magazine describes the emotions that crew felt upon achieving something which had eluded so many crews before them.

One of the members of that crew, Anthony Edwards, became one of the most decorated rowers in Australia’s history.

Edwards competed at a remarkable five Olympic games making his debut at Atlanta in 1996 and then representing Australia in lightweight rowing competition in Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), Beijing (2008) and London (2012).

Anthony won a bronze medal in the lightweight pairs in 1996 and silver medals in the fours in Sydney and in Athens.

In 2011 Edwards was a member of the Australian lightweight four which competed at the 2011 World Rowing Championships.

After finishing second in their heat, they had to qualify for the final through a repechage and a semi-final. In the final they rowed through the field from a fifth position at the 500m mark, to be 2nd at both the 1000 and 1500 and overtook the Italians in final run to take the gold medal with a 1.2 second margin. Edwards in the bow seat won his first senior world championship title, nineteen years after first representing Australia in green and gold.

Anthony was inducted as a Legend of St Patrick’s College in 2002 and, despite now living in Tasmania, has been a proud and passionate supporter of St Patrick’s College rowing.

In 2012, the College was delighted to be able to christen a new boat named in his honour.

This week we were able to reach out to Anthony and ask him to provide some words on encouragement for our crews this weekend.
We were thrilled when he took the time out of his busy schedule to send through the following video.

We echo Anthony’s sentiments and wish all our crews the very best for a big weekend ahead.

This will be an event not to be missed and will provide the opportunity for all our members, current and past to come together to network amongst Old Boys, sponsors and business collegues, and to hear from one of Australia’s greatest Olympic athletes – former Oarsome Foursome member Nick Green, as well as assisting the club in raising much needed funds.-

-路- – – Event: Business Coterie Luncheon

-路- – – Date: Friday the 19th June

-路- – – Start: 12.30 -鈥� 3.30pm

-路- – – Venue: RACV Club, Bourke Street, Melbourne

-路- – – Tickets: $40 for coterie members and $100 for non coterie members. Tables of 10 are available. Included in the lunch is a two-course meal and three hours of drinks

-路- – – RSVP: by Tuesday 16th of June 2015 to Christian Ryan (cryan@beulahcapital.com)

Key Auction Item: Magnum bottle of penfolds bin 389 cabernet shiraz 2003, signed by Ron Barrassi.