Rowing and Paddling Club Championships

WORDS: ABI WATT AND BILL CHALMERS | IMAGES: JOCELYNN CHU

The rowing and paddling community at RHKYC held its annual Club Championships on Saturday 26 June, during which more than 120 rowers and paddlers competed in head-to-head races for the coveted title of Champion. Although the morning started with a downpour, the weather cooperated sufficiently for the rest of the day, with overcast skies in the morning, sunny breaks in the afternoon, and a modest squall rolling in conveniently at lunch time to keep the afternoon races cool.

Rowing

This year, the rowing events expanded to include coxed quads, which proved to be one of the most popular events in the Open category. Nine events were contested, including the Junior Women’s 1x, Junior Men’s 1x, Women’s 1x, Men’s 1x, Women’s 2x, Men’s 2x, Mixed 2x, Women’s 4x+ and Open 4x+.

The rowers’ morning opened with the singles. Representing the juniors, Sophia Peterson and Sam Wong raced through three rounds to claim the championship titles in their respective events. Meanwhile, Aleksey Mironenko won over Wan Ng in the Men’s 1x to secure his name on the Single Sculls Champion Trophy. In the Women’s 1x, Jocelynn Chu clinched the title from Michele Lam for the Shirley Boyde Memorial Trophy. The excitement of head-to-head racing began ramping up as the schedule progressed to the crew events. The closest finish of the day came in the semi-final of the Men’s 2x between Wan Ng and Nathan Ho vs Guy Parsonage and Aleksey Mironenko. Word from the finish tower was that a late surge from Guy and Aleksey was enough to secure passage to the final, where they were beaten by the new champions Hamish King and Jamie Cahill, who will see their names engraved onto the Open Pairs Challenge Cup.

In another thrilling finish, Isa Scheunpflug and Anna Fisher narrowly beat Alex Bidlake and Irene Lo to secure the title in the Women’s 2x. Later in the day, Isa once again stormed down the course with Calvin Tang in the Mixed 2x, edging out Claire Burley and Liam Baker in the final to be crowned champion a second time.

For a third and final victory, Isa rowed in the Women’s 4x+ alongside Alex Bidlake, Irene Lo, Anna Fisher and Abi Watt, prevailing over Melissa Russell, Michelle Farrell, Georgia Corones, Katty Demeleunerre and Tom Watson to win the Drake Trophy.

Ten crews contested the Open 4x+ event. After some exciting semi-finals, Calvin Tang, Kelvin Chu, Matthew Lai, Chris Knollman and Abi Watt ultimately triumphed over Thuan Tran, Michael Johnson, Hamish King, Sebastian Wiehe and Stephanie Chan to win the Croucher Challenge Cup.

Outrigger Canoe

On the outrigger canoe side, a total of 48 paddlers (16 women and 32 men) competed head-to-head on the 500m course in the Middle Island channel. A new crop of paddlers had their first crack at glory this year and all found themselves running neck-and-neck with the veterans and club superstars, at least at the start line.

Dave Smith did a formidable job of seeding and organizing the outrigger canoe draws and coordinating with the rowers to maximise the number of races. His time investment and patience with impatient racers are to be acknowledged.

Three categories were contested: Women’s OC1, Men’s OC1, and OC2 Mixed. In the men’s draw, the usual suspects made their way unrelentingly towards the semi-finals, leaving behind them a wake of defeated but resolute paddlers. As expected, Dave Smith and Ryan Lopes met in the final, and Lopes took the win by a slim margin. Daniele Ferraretto established himself as the thirdranked male paddler, with a win over Julien Stump. Congratulations, gentlemen!

The OC2 Mixed category saw Dave Smith and Erin Juhl up against Ryan Lopes and Martina Redaelli, with Dave and Erin securing the win. In the Women’s OC1, the 16 paddlers were whittled down to a final between Sarah Burke and Erin Juhl. Sarah took the victory, fittingly perhaps, as this was her last race and last day of paddling at RHKYC before her move to Singapore. Congratulations to Sarah and deep gratitude for her contributions to the outrigger community over the years. She will be missed!

As always, the event could not have happened without the help of our eager volunteers, whose efforts to record results and manage crews on the slipway and in the water keep these races running smoothly. Now many of these same volunteers have been spotted helping out in the new rowing and paddling Sunset Series!

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