Meet our Rowers

“It was a great experience getting to compete against rowers around Asia in real time, in a virtual environment. Whilst I may have narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2k event by a burn out in the last 500m, I’m still so pleased to have placed 3rd in Asia, and then still managed to muster up the energy to come 4th place in the 500m race only a few hours later.” Claire said.

“It’s incredible to compete with rowers in other Asian Countries in this virtual environment. It’s so great to be able to qualify to race in the World Rowing Indoor Championship next month! I will try my best to beat my PB that I set 28 years ago during at university!” Wan said. Wan and other 8 Hong Kong Rowers have their ticket to the Worlds Final in the bag. Claire has ‘recycled’ her scores in both race categories, by which she would aim for qualification through the Open Pathway. Our youth rower, Kirra Cameron, has also submitted her time in the Women’s Under 19 2000m, and currently ranked 8th. They will secure their tickets to the Worlds if no one knocks them off the top 10 list in the respective categories by the deadline on 7 February. The full results and race replay of the Asian Continental Qualifier can be found at http://www.rowing.org.hk/ We are looking forward to seeing RHKYC rowers shine at the 2021 World Rowing Indoor Championship from 23 to 27 February!

CONTACTS

Rowing Manager rowingmanager@rhkyc.org.hk Coastal Rowing coastalrowing@rhkyc.org.hk Shatin Men’s Racing shatinrowingmen@rhkyc.org. hk Shatin Women’s Racing shatinrowingladies@rhkyc.org.hk

Meet our Rowers – Guy Parsonage

ur rowing captain, Guy is originally from the UK, via Australia. Guy began rowing at Liverpool University in the UK. Guy says ‘I first joined for the fact that we practiced out of town on a lake in a safari park, it was beautiful. We used to strap the boats to the trailer and travel all around England participating in regattas. I was the social sec so managed all the off water activities and there were a lot. After this I rowed for Bedford, Aberdeen and Liege’

After a 16 year hiatus, Guy returned to the water in Hong Kong, initially at Middle Island, later progressing to Sha Tin rowing, all the while supported by coaches Johnny Cantwell, Toby Dankbaar and Sean Hall.

Guy’s rowing highlights include the annual Toda Regatta and the World Coastal Rowing Championships, held in Hong Kong in 2019. Topping the pile however was winning the 2020 Rowing Around the Island Race in a quad with Mark Hughes, Chris Knollman, Liam Baker and Coxswain Chris.

In future years, Guy would love to compete in the World Rowing Masters Championships and also take the club to Henley Regatta, the most famous regatta in the world.

For Guy, the history of the club, and the stories that are told, both past and recent, are one of the main appeals of RHKYC. The broad range of members, sports, club activities, and time on the water, are a unique aspect of Hong Kong life.