Eighteen members of the Endeavour racing squad attended the CDRA Championship regatta at Taree with the other third of the squad unavailable due to work commitments, family commitments, covid and one lucky traveller in Egypt. Although the weather was fine on both days, racing conditions lived up to the Manning’s reputation with calm water in the mornings and wind and waves in the afternoons, particularly Sunday afternoon when there were many withdrawals due to the rough water.

Endeavour crews competed well with half of our entries in either first or second place, although we need a bit more fitness to convert many of our seconds into wins. Endeavour had 40 starts for 6 wins, 14 seconds and 6 thirds. Multiple winners were Rosie Furness with 3 firsts including a championship and Di McShane and Chris Bonomini with 2 wins each.

Endeavour’s most notable result was the second place of our Womens Masters Eight who nearly caused an upset in their event. Starting with an 8 second handicap, they came home fast to miss catching the North Shore crew by 1.79 seconds. North Shore regularly trains in their racing combination and I’m told that they only row sweep while our girls had only 2 training sessions in the eight. What could they achieve with regular sweep sessions?

Winning crews:

Championship Womens Masters H Single Scull: Lindy Nisbett.

Championship Womens Masters A-D Double Scull: Rosie Furness + composite.

Mens Seeded 1000m Single Scull: Chris Bonomini.

Womens G4 Double Sculls: Gillian Weatherall + composite.

Womens D Grade Double Sculls: Rosie Furness, Di McShane.

Mixed Quad Scull: Chris Bonomini, Rosie Furness, Di McShane, Prentice Bond.