Head of the Yarra, Melbourne, Australia, November 27th 2004
Report by Euan McMinn
I competed in the Head of the Yarra in Melbourne at the weekend.
Some strange sort of Head this is. No warming up on the water, get boated, proceed slowly to the start in two ranks of four abreast on the river, then a standing start at ten second intervals for each set of eight, then a five minute gap until the next eight crews sort themselves out and get going. Then you race 8.6km upstream up a windy river until you get to Hawthorn Bridge, where the finish is. The river is too narrow to allow crews to travel in opposite directions so all 139 crews get out of their boats at Hawthorn rowing club to wait for the last crew to arrive. Much beer drinking, get the results, than all pile back into your boats and row the 8.6km back to Melbourne.
Excellent ruse to increase bar profits, eh? Needless to say, the event was conceived by members of Hawthorn Rowing Club!
This year it was a beautiful, warm (30C), cloudy day, ideal for rowing. The event was won by a crew from Melbourne University BC containing Peter Antonie, that narrowly defeated the Mercantile 8 stroked by Drew Ginn.
I was in the Mercantile Vet D 8 that finished 25th, in second place in our category, fastest Victorian Vet D crew, narrowly defeated by some out-of-state pot hunters from South Australia. I also managed to pop my back with 15 strokes to go, but obviously I continued to row, I didn't want to be nicknamed Sally for the rest of my life! So now it's off to the physio and a couple of weeks off rowing.
Full results can be found at www.headoftheyarra.com.