Scotch College

Inspiring Head of the River win

The 1st VIII coach Jeff Watt with the Fairbairn Cup

The first heat saw Scotch come from behind at the 1,000 metre mark to win comfortably from Carey with Caulfield third. Wesley caused an upset in the second heat winning convincingly from Haileybury and Melbourne Grammar in a slower time than the first heat.

The last time Scotch had been beaten by a Victorian school was back on 21 February when Carey took a big lead early in the race and just held off the fast finishing Scotch crew. The Head of the River final was almost a carbon copy of this race.

Carey started quickly and had a length lead after 500 metres over Haileybury with Scotch 3rd. By the 1,000 metre mark Carey had pushed the lead out to nearly 2 lengths from Haileybury and Scotch. The third 500 metres saw the Scotch crew start to make a move and take over 2nd place at the 1,500 metre mark. But, with 300 metres to go, Carey still led by nearly a length.

A sustained sprint by the Scotch crew saw them pressure Carey and Scotch took the lead with about 15 metres to go of the 2,000 metre race. They went on to win by the narrowest of margins from Carey with Haileybury well back in 3rd place.

Coach Jeff Watt described the race as 'sensational'. The last 500 metres of the race was the crew's fastest time split for the event. Jeff was left wondering what happened in the second 500 metres!

But the spectators were not left wondering about the winners as a number of boys rushed into the water to greet the winning crew. Many parents described the courageous win as "inspirational" and the race will long be remembered as an epic event.

The winning boat was named the "Bob Lachal" after Scotch's popular boatman, himself a member of the Australian VIII, together with David Boykett, at the Tokyo Olympics 40 years ago.

Our congratulations go to the crew of Matt Bernard (bow), Matt Barker (2), James Adams (3), Byron Saunders (4), George Lilley (5), Simon Booth (6), Richard McDonald (7), Sandy Machin (stroke) and Ed Kitchen (cox), coached by Jeff Watt.

The 1st VIII: 'Along the Straight they're Swinging ..."

Scotch Wins 8 out of 12 Finals

Scotch once again achieved outstanding results from all crews, scoring wins in 8 out of 12 events entered.

Besides the 1st VIII, the 3rd VIII, Year 10A VIII and Year 10B VIII were all successful in winning the A Finals. Scotch crews were successful in winning four of the five divisions of Year 9 quad scull events.

The 2nd VIII narrowly missed a place in the A final when they were just beaten into 4th position in their heat by Carey. They rowed well in the B Final to come from behind to win with Geelong Grammar in 2nd position.

The 3rd VIII continued their fine form coming into the race with an unbeaten record over the whole season. However, they were made to work hard all the way down the course before drawing away to win by about one and a half lengths from Carey and Melbourne Grammar. Coach Craig Salisbury has now coached a winning Scotch crew at each of the last four Head of the River regattas.

The 4th VIII battled hard to finish in 3rd place in the final but had been unable to match the winners, Xavier, throughout the season.

The 10A VIII scored a fine win by one and a half lengths from Melbourne Grammar. They established a length lead in the first 500 metres and were never seriously challenged and they finished off their season if fine style having won both a state and a national title. Congratulations to all the crew members and their coach Georgia Radcliffe Smith.

The 10B VIII had a hard fought battle with Melbourne Grammar and Xavier before drawing away to win by about a length. This is the third consecutive season that Bradley Wells has coached the winning crew in this division.

The 10C VIII had a good heat win and went on to finish in 3rd place in the A Final to Melbourne Grammar and Xavier. The 10D VIII, rowing in the same division, performed well to finish a close second in the B final.

Scotch Year 9 quad sculls again performed well winning the A, B, D and E divisions. Particularly pleasing was the performance in the A division where Scotch crews scored the quinella with the number 1 crew finishing in 1st position with the number 2 crew 2nd and St Kevin's College 3rd.

Congratulation to all the Coaches

Such a fine set of results could not have been achieved without the hard work and dedication of the coaches. These are headed by Director of Coaching, Steve Whittington, who has put together an outstanding panel and the program that he has developed gives as many Scotch boys as possible the opportunity of reaching their potential in this demanding sport.

The fine coaching is backed by the outstanding administrative skills of TIC Rowing, Tom Bowen, who ensures that it all happens.

We now turn our thoughts to next season and the challenges of the Sydney schools in the National Championships and the 2005 Head of the River at Nagambie.

Greg Baker
Chairman of Rowing

Perry Reiter (cox), Yanni Arsenakis, Matthew Bernard (Captain of Boats) and Aaron Braddy - medal winners at the Year 8 Regatta

2 Gold and 2 Bronze Medals at the Nationals

The 1st VIII, 2nd VIII and Year 10A VIII won a total of
2 gold medals and 2 bronze medals between them in Scotch's best-ever performance at the recent Australian Rowing Championships.

The 1st VIII split into two coxless pairs and a coxless four to compete in these under 19 events. The pairs finished 3rd and 4th in the final of the coxless pairs and 3rd in the final of the coxless four.

In the final of the Under 19 VIII, Scotch led all the way but had to hold off the fast finishing Pembroke crew to win by half a length with Scotch Adelaide in 3rd place. This is the first time the School has been successful in winning this event and the first gold medal at a national title by the 1st VIII since 1978.

The 1st VIII was the only Victorian crew to qualify for the final of the Champion Schoolboy VIII event and finished a creditable 6th in an event dominated by the Sydney schools.

The Year 10A VIII, competing with one crew change because of the age restrictions, stormed away from the field to score a convincing win from Melbourne Grammar and St Patrick's College, Tasmania, in the Champion Under 17 Schoolboy VIII. Congratulations to the crew of Will Emmett (bow), Nicholas Cathie (2), Oliver Baxter (3), David Studley (4) Will Lockwood (5), Jayson Speck (6), Michael Steele (7), Robert Njoku (stroke) and Ben Roufail (coxswain), coached by Georgia Radcliffe Smith.

Other crews to perform well were the Under 17 double scull of Matt Hildebrandt and Jonathan Day who finished 6th in the final and an Under 17 quad scull, with members drawn out of the Under 17 VIII, who finished 5th in the final.

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Photo enquiries, refer to Tom Bowen at Scotch College.