Two of Glen Innes’ young rowers are hitting the water for The Armidale School’s team rowing in the AAGPS Head of the River Regatta in Sydney.
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Saxon Hughes and Henry Hughes are part of TAS First IV to be racing on Saturday in the 2000 metre event.
Teammate Sebastian Scott hoped it will be the atmosphere and adrenalin of the last stretch that will help push three TAS crews to their fastest times in the race.
Buoyed by good results in the King’s/PLC Regatta last month, the TAS rowing team is motivated to make its mark at regattas over the next two weekends which are the culmination of the season.
“All the crews are a mixture of nerves and excitement for the Heads of The River races,” he said.
“This is the pinnacle of rowing at TAS, and is highly regarded across the whole rowing contingent.
“All of the hard work and training over the past two terms have all been in preparation for this one, seven minute race.
“The atmosphere of the Head of The River is the most riveting part.
“A common saying before the race, is to treat it like its 1750m, as the atmosphere of the thousands of people cheering and chanting carry you home for the last 250.”
It will be the sixth time TAS has competed at the AAGPS Head of the River, growing from a single crew in 2012 to three boys’ crews.
Around 10,000 students from the nine NSW GPS schools and their families flock to the Sydney International Regatta Centre for event.
On Sunday Tom Wright will compete in the NSW Rowing Schoolboy Head of the River in a Single Scull, while the following weekend it will be the turn of the first ever TAS girls’ crew, who will row a quad scull in the NSW Schoolgirl Head of the River also over 2000m.
“The girls and I very excited for our first Head of the River, an atmosphere and competitive environment none of us have experienced to this extent,” female rower Olivia said.
“Over the past couple weeks the vigorous training and preparation has been paying off as we come together as a crew, training against the boys crews has given us stiff competition but has benefited as we pushed past our limits and really cooperate as a team.”
Rowing MIC Will Caldwell said the progress throughout the season has been amazing and all crews are primed for racing.
“The excitement is contagious and a reflection of the close bond that exists both within the crews and throughout the squad,” he said.
The four rowing crews have been training hard since November on Malpas Dam, near Black Mountain, and took part in camps and regattas at Grafton and Taree during the summer school holidays.
