Tasmania

TASMANIA (TAS)

I was proud to be a member of the Australian rowing community on that Wednesday morning of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games when our rowers won two Gold and two Bronze Medals. Definitely one of the best moments in rowing for Australia, congratulations to our rowers, not only in those crews, but to the whole representative team. Congratulations to Sarah Hawe from the Huon Rowing Club who rowed in the Women’s Eight and to Ciona Wilson from the Tamar Rowing Club who was selected as a travelling reserve. Congratulations to all our own rowers who competed at our home regattas the 2021 Aon Australian Rowing Championships (ARC) and Australian Masters Rowing Championships (AMRC). Their achievements and highlights are detailed in the Annual Report. At this time last year, we were living with the uncertainty of what our rowing season for 2021 would be like, under the restraints of COVID-19. I am happy to report that with the co-operation of the whole rowing community, we were able to conduct one of our largest competitive seasons ever held. The last twelve months have been one of the busiest for all those involved in rowing, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board and all our rowing volunteers who have contributed to our success. It was disappointing in the previous season that we missed out hosting the AMRC, but we were able to proceed with the ARC incorporating the King’s & Queen’s Cup, in March 2021. Once again, due to restrictions of COVID-19 the go ahead to conduct the Championships was given at a late date. The Championships were conducted under the new model which included a working partnership of Rowing Australia and Rowing Tasmania. The outcome was evident from the success of the event and the experience of working with a professional event’s organiser was a satisfying experience. The organising group was made up of Rowing Australia and Ted & Co staff and a small group of Tasmanian volunteers who communicated on Zoom over a six-month period and only had the opportunity to come face to face twice prior to the event. Thank you to all those who volunteered to be part of this hard-working group. If it was not for their dedication to our sport, the event would not have gone ahead. During the actual competition the number of volunteers grew enormously, and I would like to thank all those members of our community who came forward to fill those positions. Once again, so many oarsmen from around Australia got the opportunity to compete at Lake Barrington International Rowing Course. It was a pleasure to welcome old and new faces to what was described as the “Friendly Games”. Thank you to Rowing Australia for taking the initiative to approach Events Tasmania to conduct these competitions in our state. We have now been allocated the AMRC in 2024 to replace 2020, and again in 2028. Negotiations have also opened in regard to future ARC incorporating the King’s & Queen’s Cup. The operations of Rowing Tasmania is made possible by a small number of staff, I would like to take the opportunity to thank these individuals, especially for the amount of work that our Executive Officer Rob Prescott has put in during the season. The restraints put on us by COVID-19 added to what was a full workload. Unfortunately, at the end of the season, our State Development & Pathway Officer, Grant Pryor retired. This was a new position originally taken up by Grant, which he has developed over the years; this has been an amazing contribution to Rowing in Tasmania. His vast experiences in rowing over many years have been a great asset to our sport. We wish Grant all the best in his part retirement. We are so lucky, as a rowing community to have a course like we have at Lake Barrington. Over a number of years, the Board has carried out several projects to upgrade this facility. A special thank you to Steve May our groundsman, who assisted on the major project and maintained our grounds, which are a showcase for us and all our visitors. The endless work put in by Mick Goodger, George Homer and John Oakley, both on and off water does not go unnoticed or unappreciated. A successful regatta season can only take place with a large number of volunteers, there is endless work that takes place behinds the scenes during the week and then there are those volunteers who turn up for every weekend regatta. The sport of rowing in Tasmania would not be in the strong position it is in if not for all our volunteers and staff who contribute numerous hours to our sport. Thank you very much for your passion of our sport; it would not be what it is without all your combined efforts. Every member is important to the sport, whether your contribution is at School, Club, or State level, Rower, Coach, Administrator, Volunteer, or Staff.

JAMES S GIBSON OAM

President - Rowing Tasmania