2016 Schools rowing

[Johnny come lately]

Yep, game, set and match for HOTR. Sport is very predictable like that.

 

[Major Rennie]

This a very good Shore crew. Time says it all though anything can happen on any given race day.

I thought Melbourne Grammar would be too strong though after the heats could see they had their measure and just coasted in the last 500m. In the Finals they rowed very well for a schoolboys VIII.

Fours are looking a lot closer.

MR

 

[stern-bow]

I don't want to sound like an annoyed parent here. But i am, in the 2nd and 1st iv divisions its fairly clear that kings has given up on winning 1st iv, and instead turned their focus to 2nd iV, with a solid win, however the 2nd IV kings crew did manage to beat their own 1st IV's time by 25seconds, this is the 2nd week in a row this has happened, and a crew beating another crew by such a strong time as that is very clear that stacking is definitely occuring. Also 2nd IV joey's beat their 1st IV time by more then 10 seconds, now i do believe joey's are too good for stacking and they are just trying combinations out but this is the 2nd week that its occured and id love to see some change so we can get some fair competition in the 2nd IV race.

 

[behindtheshed]

5:48.. Shore look very long in the last 250m.. Almost effortless as they tapped it along. Joeys struggled at the last 500m.. 8 sec margin between Shore and Joeys. Game, set and match for the HOTR??
Heard KT is sending out for spare parts for the chamber..

KT will be spare parts himself by the end of this season.

 

[Kings2IVaintstacked]

Now i don't want to sound like

I don't want to sound like an annoyed parent here. But i am, in the 2nd and 1st iv divisions its fairly clear that kings has given up on winning 1st iv, and instead turned their focus to 2nd iV, with a solid win, however the 2nd IV kings crew did manage to beat their own 1st IV's time by 25seconds, this is the 2nd week in a row this has happened, and a crew beating another crew by such a strong time as that is very clear that stacking is definitely occuring. Also 2nd IV joey's beat their 1st IV time by more then 10 seconds, now i do believe joey's are too good for stacking and they are just trying combinations out but this is the 2nd week that its occured and id love to see some change so we can get some fair competition in the 2nd IV race.

Now i don't want to sound like a bias viewer but there is in no way shape or form that the Kings 2nd IV is stacked. The selection process for the crews are purely determined by there ergometer results and there sculling times. Clearly in this situation the combination of the 1st IV crew has not surpassed the 2nd IV times as of late. This is a new combination that is newly formed. Now i think its unfair for you too automatically assume that stacking is occurring after two races. Both 2nd IV and 1st IV Kings crews are working hard to win fairly.

 

[AlterEgotist]

I don't want to sound like an annoyed parent here. But i am, in the 2nd and 1st iv divisions its fairly clear that kings has given up on winning 1st iv, and instead turned their focus to 2nd iV, with a solid win, however the 2nd IV kings crew did manage to beat their own 1st IV's time by 25seconds, this is the 2nd week in a row this has happened, and a crew beating another crew by such a strong time as that is very clear that stacking is definitely occuring. Also 2nd IV joey's beat their 1st IV time by more then 10 seconds, now i do believe joey's are too good for stacking and they are just trying combinations out but this is the 2nd week that its occured and id love to see some change so we can get some fair competition in the 2nd IV race.

Unfortunately, my dear fellow, an annoyed parent is exactly what you sound like. However, in reply to your palpable critique, I must answer with a suitably assiduous riposte. The King's Crews are not selected vis-a-vis arbitrary measurements, or designed for the express purpose of stacking. Having thoroughly immersed themselves amidst the work ethic of the great Tom Courtney, who once encouraged the lads "to enjoy the erg" and "see it as a challenge", the Kings crews of the modern age submit themselves to arduous sculling and erg testing, relying on them to accurately predict their rowing calibre. Small changes are made throughout the season according to each rower's personal strengths, but to propose such a malicious assertion that Kings stacks their crews would be a direct affront to the school's motto of "Fortiter et Fideliter". Thus, I must challenge your suggestion. To sup from the cup of loss is bitter indeed, but as the great orator Martin Luther King Jr. once argued, "we must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope". And to quote Steve Jobs, another great mind of the last century, "stay hungry, stay foolish", the latter part of my directive of course relevant to the utterly ludicrous suggestion that you could dismantle King's hegemony over the GPS competition.
Perhaps, however, if your son's school put in effort from "stern-to-bow", they'd have a better shot at taking out the title?

 

[ColonelM]

This recent string of messages is rather petty indeed. Maybe the boys should spend more time training and less time accusing others of stacking based off times...

Races are won through hard work and nothing else as we all know. When race day comes, ergs/sculling/combination doesn't matter, its whoever wants it more on the day. That's what got shore past MG and Scotch today...

It would have been good to see Kings do better in the schoolboy race based on last weeks performance, but it looks like they were rowed through in the last 500m. Back to the drawing board for Scots as well.

Last thing is a bit of a gripe about SIRC officials - we need the 500 and 1000m splits working! 4 and a half minutes of suspense on the live results is a bit too much for some of us...

-M

 

[behindtheshed]

Unfortunately, my dear fellow, an annoyed parent is exactly what you sound like. However, in reply to your palpable critique, I must answer with a suitably assiduous riposte. The King's Crews are not selected vis-a-vis arbitrary measurements, or designed for the express purpose of stacking. Having thoroughly immersed themselves amidst the work ethic of the great Tom Courtney, who once encouraged the lads "to enjoy the erg" and "see it as a challenge", the Kings crews of the modern age submit themselves to arduous sculling and erg testing, relying on them to accurately predict their rowing calibre. Small changes are made throughout the season according to each rower's personal strengths, but to propose such a malicious assertion that Kings stacks their crews would be a direct affront to the school's motto of "Fortiter et Fideliter". Thus, I must challenge your suggestion. To sup from the cup of loss is bitter indeed, but as the great orator Martin Luther King Jr. once argued, "we must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope". And to quote Steve Jobs, another great mind of the last century, "stay hungry, stay foolish", the latter part of my directive of course relevant to the utterly ludicrous suggestion that you could dismantle King's hegemony over the GPS competition.
Perhaps, however, if your son's school put in effort from "stern-to-bow", they'd have a better shot at taking out the title?

Alter Egotist can you please meet Kings2IVaintstacked in the library after dinner? He needs some HSC English coaching and you need a more constructive outlet for your talents.

 

[TBA]

Comments about trophies moving down south look premature. Shore are hot

Clearly I was WR (World Rugby)..WR (World Rugby)..wrong.
Congratulations Shore.
Barring mishap - expect this crew to go through undefeated and represent Australia (if they want to go).

 

[Tricia H.]

what happened to the head of rowing at newington?

 

[SBrow]

I don't want to sound like an annoyed parent here. But i am, in the 2nd and 1st iv divisions its fairly clear that kings has given up on winning 1st iv, and instead turned their focus to 2nd iV, with a solid win, however the 2nd IV kings crew did manage to beat their own 1st IV's time by 25seconds, this is the 2nd week in a row this has happened, and a crew beating another crew by such a strong time as that is very clear that stacking is definitely occuring. Also 2nd IV joey's beat their 1st IV time by more then 10 seconds, now i do believe joey's are too good for stacking and they are just trying combinations out but this is the 2nd week that its occured and id love to see some change so we can get some fair competition in the 2nd IV race.

There appears to have been some late changes this week in the King's crew as evidenced by the draw, I don't feel like dropping two second eight rowers in the first four, while leaving the second four unchanged, amounts to stacking, rather, a recipe for a few weeks of recovering from such a late change, as the transition from eights to fours (and visa versa) can be tough, and looks like may be making things tough.
As for Joeys, I believe they may have been doing some seat racing this weekend, which explains the abstract results in the U19 fours.
Highlight crew of the day (apart from a 5:48, almost a GPS record) would be the MGS second eight, a very fast crew looking very intimidating, I feel glad for our GPS second eights that they do not have to race them!

 

[behindtheshed]

what happened to the head of rowing at newington?

can you elaborate?

 

[behindtheshed]

Regarding stacking, I loathe it as much as the next person because of the message it sends to young athletes that the whole process is about winning regardless of the quality of competition. I feel in a way, however, that as long as schools like Cranbrook and Kinross are allowed to enter ONE eight at a regatta, AND to enter that eight as a "Third Eight" and win by miles, then no-one can take the high moral ground about higher crews being run in lower divisions. I couldn't make it to SIRC this weekend but even watching the live results it's blatantly obvious. Yet schools like Grammar and High just plug away and never take the easy way to what is essentially a hollow victory. It seems that apart from GPS regattas (where you are obliged to enter a 1st VIII first and others in immediately descending order) it's just a free-for-all medal grab unless enough clubs or school agitate for an explicit rule (as in IGSSA)

Of greater concern is the swapping in and out between heats and finals. I've heard nothing from my sources so perhaps being NSW champs the usual offenders were more cautious than before?

And can someone who was there paint the picture of what happened to the Scots VIII? which seemingly rowed down a pond of its own, largely filled with KT's tears.

One last point of interest from Colonel M about the agony of waiting in the stands when no splits are up on the board - I agree it's excruciating. Many school regattas have volunteers doing those jobs, not officials. I've heard rumblings and grumblings about RNSW being desperate for BROs and other help lately. Maybe the huts were empty.

 

[SBrow]

And can someone who was there paint the picture of what happened to the Scots VIII? which seemingly rowed down a pond of its own, largely filled with KT's tears.

I heard the scots stroke seat passed out on Friday night after the MU19 single, pulled from saturday, as well as their 7 seat having to seat race between their two races

 

[behindtheshed]

I heard the scots stroke seat passed out on Friday night after the MU19 single, pulled from saturday, as well as their 7 seat having to seat race between their two races

so win-win for #therowingacademy

 

[fpiglet]

what happened to the head of rowing at newington?

Went back to QLD.... Saw the writing on the wall.
New have to build their program back up from the bottom, I hear. Griffindor have to circumvent the mums and dads who don't want to get up early and see it as an impost on little Bingham's study efforts.

 

[fpiglet]

Regarding stacking, I loathe it as much as the next person because of the message it sends to young athletes that the whole process is about winning regardless of the quality of competition. I feel in a way, however, that as long as schools like Cranbrook and Kinross are allowed to enter ONE eight at a regatta, AND to enter that eight as a "Third Eight" and win by miles, then no-one can take the high moral ground about higher crews being run in lower divisions. I couldn't make it to SIRC this weekend but even watching the live results it's blatantly obvious. Yet schools like Grammar and High just plug away and never take the easy way to what is essentially a hollow victory. It seems that apart from GPS regattas (where you are obliged to enter a 1st VIII first and others in immediately descending order) it's just a free-for-all medal grab unless enough clubs or school agitate for an explicit rule (as in IGSSA)

And can someone who was there paint the picture of what happened to the Scots VIII? which seemingly rowed down a pond of its own, largely filled with KT's tears.

One last point of interest from Colonel M about the agony of waiting in the stands when no splits are up on the board - I agree it's excruciating. Many school regattas have volunteers doing those jobs, not officials. I've heard rumblings and grumblings about RNSW being desperate for BROs and other help lately. Maybe the huts were empty.

Regards the first point about 3rd Schoolboy VIII, I've been banging on about that over several years in this forum. It's more galling when KWS start posting newsletter reports about beating GPS crews. Completely out of whack. I've seen KM at Joeys shake his head but encourage his boys to put it in perspective for the big one. That's why I also respect SBHS for doing what they do, which is maintain the GPS spirit by putting your best up against the best (I get the rugby issues...)

I heard the BROs had heard a whirring sound over revving inside the loom of a Rowing Academy oar, opened it up and discovered a little motor in there. If you noticed they weren't actually rowing down lane 0 but motoring along. Maybe Van der Driessche has been hired as part of the #RowingAcademy?

Though I did hear from a reliable source, KT starting punching his helmet when they had to motor over to the cruiser lane.

Regarding the splits... It takes volunteers to man them. If peoplewAnt to see splits you need three per box. Put your hand up every now and then and do it. Stop expecting the same people having to do it all the time. I've done it... It's a good way to be involved in the race. They'll give you a hamper to take with you. Like most times, check the Rowing NSW website and don't wait for a gold embossed invitation letter to arrive appealing to your generosity!

 

[behindtheshed]

Regards the first point about 3rd Schoolboy VIII, I've been banging on about that over several years in this forum. It's more galling when KWS start posting newsletter reports about beating GPS crews. Completely out of whack. I've seen KM at Joeys shake his head but encourage his boys to put it in perspective for the big one. That's why I also respect SBHS for doing what they do, which is maintain the GPS spirit by putting your best up against the best (I get the rugby issues.)

I heard the BROs had heard a whirring sound over revving inside the loom of a Rowing Academy oar, opened it up and discovered a little motor in there. If you noticed they weren't actually rowing down lane 0 but motoring along. Maybe Van der Driessche has been hired as part of the Rowing Academy?

Though I did hear from a reliable source, KT starting punching his helmet when they had to motor over to the cruiser lane.

Regarding the splits. It takes volunteers to man them. If peoplewAnt to see splits you need three per box. Put your hand up every now and then and do it. Stop expecting the same people having to do it all the time. I've done it. It's a good way to be involved in the race. They'll give you a hamper to take with you. Like most times, check the Rowing NSW website and don't wait for a gold embossed invitation letter to arrive appealing to your generosity!

Good call on all points, fpiglet. Surely a simple matter for each school/club to be obliged to provide volunteers for those jobs when submitting entries - a quota according to number of competitors.

And don't get me started on Kinross. Just as well I wasn't there to hear the ubiquitous congratulations of KWR for travelling to Sydney to collect trophies. Makes me nauseous just thinking about it.

 

[Tricia H.]

Went back to QLD.. Saw the writing on the wall.
New have to build their program back up from the bottom, I hear. Griffindor have to circumvent the mums and dads who don't want to get up early and see it as an impost on little Bingham's study efforts.

Thought he was the one supposed to build up the program - no results, no job I guess.

 

[Tricia H.]

can you elaborate?

Thought he was supposed to be the messiah of rowing - bringing the flock out of the wilderness, so to speak.