LOCAL rowers converged on Lake Wendouree last weekend for the 2024 Wendouree Ballarat Regatta. 

The Hamilton and Alexandra College (THAC) competed among 650 of the state’s best, as well Olympic gold medallists, Lucy Stephan and Kat Werry.  

Opening the THAC regatta campaign was the Male B Grade coxed quad scull crew of Hugo Dabernig, Ben Walker, Harry Dorahy, Henry Russell and Cox: Jake Alexander, who finished first in their 1000m event in 3:35.16, 1.93 seconds ahead of hometown hopeful, Wendouree Ballarat, and Richmond, Essendon and Ballarat High finishing out the line. 

Stepping it up a notch, THAC crew divided to race doubles and mixed quads later in the day, but were unable to secure additional medals, finishing fifth in the B double and mixed quad.

In the Female B Quad Scull, the crew of Georgina Russell, Molly Walker, Annabelle Walker, and Isobel Mecham, coxed by Jake Alexander, performed well to finish fifth in the first and final on Sunday.

Other results

HAMILTON Rowing Club (HRC) members continued their ride to state championships with the Masters mixed double collecting more silverware.

Masters’ rower Josh Frichot teamed up with Ballarat City local, Ebony Ebenwaldner, with a 22-second handicap; the duo placed first, 34.85 seconds ahead of Mildura, and further back to Footscray City and Horsham.

Frichot backed his doubles with a gold in the Male Masters Single Scull Division 2 event, taking line honours in a margin of 0.22 seconds.

Pushing the well-formed crew of Alan Clarence (HRC) and Nestle's sculler Aaron Skinner to the line, the double held off Footscray High School in 4:07 to progress to the final of the C grade Double Scull, before scratching from the final.

Clarence continued his strong efforts in the Male Masters Single Scull division three, securing bronze.

As we travel to the pointy end of the season, both Hamilton clubs will be training hard ahead of school regattas this weekend, State Championships on the first weekend of March and the Head of Schoolgirls next month.