Introduction
What a phenomenal weekend the 2023 Melbourne Head Regatta was. All the ingredients of a great regatta day were present, with sun, no wind, flat water and an exceptional level of rowing on display. The 3.5km course in the centre of Melbourne is always a great draw-card and this year proved no exception, with the head race providing a great example of how to run a very heavily-entered event smoothly. The bar has been set high for subsequent Victorian regattas to follow.
Review
Open Small Boat Events
Melbourne University will come away from the weekend feeling very happy with themselves, especially with performances in the open small boat events. They secured wins in the male open pair (composite with Mercantile), male open lightweight single, female open pair, and female open single, not to mention a significant number of second and third place finishes in these events as well. Mercantile will be pleased with wins in the male open pair (composite with MUBC) and male open single, but will perhaps be concerned at the level of depth showcased from just up Boathouse Drive. Most of the events had relatively large margins of victory, however the female lightweight single came down to 1.41 seconds with Laing of Loreto Maryatville edging out De Gleria Cade of MUBC and in the male open single, the margin was 3.7 seconds for Frederico of Mercantile over Wolf of Sydney (also formally of Mercantile).
Male School Coxed Eight Division 1
What a corker of a race this ended up being. Flagged in the preview article as one to watch, especially given all APS schools had entered, a clear divide has emerged in this early season hit out, with Scotch, St Kevin’s and Brighton Grammar being separated by just 1.55 seconds at the top of the timesheet, followed by a near enough 14 second gap to fourth placed Wesley. 1.55 seconds over 3.5kms is a tiny margin, so things are delicately poised heading into the Christmas break. We will potentially see some of these schools at the Barwon regatta in January, which represents our first look at some side-by-side action. From Wesley in fourth to Geelong Grammar in ninth, the crews were covered by only six seconds – competition in the chasing pack is fierce and it will be exciting to watch who can emerge from this pack as a genuine contender to the top three.
Male School Coxed Eight Year 9 Division 1
A storming win for the boys in green, blue and gold, as St Kevin’s dominated to triumph by close to 11 seconds from a Trinity Crew in second and Xavier College in third. Results at the Year 9 level are never as clear cut later in the season due to crew inconsistencies and the rapid rate of technical and physical change, but St Kevin’s will certainly be pleased to be leading the chasing pack by so much. The most notable result in this division is the performance of the Trinity crew. Director of Rowing Jackson Harrison has now been in place long enough to see his ideas and philosophies trickle down his program, and this result surely shows them heading in the right direction. Normally a sculling school, will the Kew outfit be tempted by a run in the eight this season?
Female School Coxed Eight Open Division 1
One of the most fiercely contested events on the water due to rivalries off it, this year saw a commanding win for Loreto Toorak of 11 seconds over Melbourne Girls Grammar School and Wesley College. This sets the girls in blue up nicely for a tilt at a second Head of The Schoolgirls title in two years, but potentially without their fiercest rivals of the past two seasons – St Catherine’s – who finished 30 seconds back in tenth place. This year’s biggest challenge looks set to come from Melbourne Girls Grammar School, with Wesley and Firbank potentially rounding out the final two spots in the HOSG A final. The girls from Loreto will no doubt be pleased to maintain their standing at the top after what was a tumultuous end to the 2022-2023 season.
Male Under 21 Coxed Eight
A win for Brighton Grammar was not something that was predicted in our Melbourne Head Preview. The tonners won by a relatively comfortable margin of eight seconds over Melbourne University’s U21 crew, which will give them significant confidence heading into the remainder of the regatta season that they can emerge on top of the APS schools. MUBC will likely be disappointed with the result, especially given their pedigree racing in the eight. With no Mercantile youth eight entered at Melbourne Head, MUBC will no doubt be keen to start getting work into their Year 12 leavers to overhaul the schoolboys by Barwon Regatta in January. As for Brighton, new coach Tom Creber is clearly having a positive impact and building on the work Mitch Nelson is doing as head of rowing.
Female Under 21 Coxed Eight
Unlike the male version of this event, the female version proceeded to script with a solid win for the women from Melbourne University Boat Club over Loreto Toorak. MUBC will be pleased with this result, especially given Loreto’s win in the Open Schoolgirl Eight in the morning. After these two crews there was a significant gap to third-placed Wesley college, leaving MUBC in the position of potentially having to look further afield for competition to push them onwards.
Male and Female Club Eight
Whilst Melbourne University had the better going in the Under 21 events, Mercantile came out on top in both the men’s and women’s club eights with a resounding 45-second margin to second place in the women’s race and a solid ten second margin in the men’s race. The depth in the men’s race in particular is encouraging for club rowing in Victoria, and Mercantile will be keen to ensure they keep a stranglehold over both men’s and women’s events for the duration of the season. Outside of Melbourne University and Richmond, it is hard to see where competition will come from to prevent them doing so.
Male Schoolboy Coxed Quad Scull
If anyone was going to topple the Saltwater Classic second place crew of Melbourne High School it was going to be someone from Ballarat and that proved to be the case, with Ballarat Grammar winning this event by 14 seconds from St Patrick’s College (also based in Ballarat). With what is a young crew, the performance from BG was impressive and bodes well for the Ballarat Head of the Lake later in the season, especially in their clinching of a win over rivals St Pat’s. Traditional quad sculling schools Trinity, Melbourne High and Gippsland Grammar will have to go back to the drawing board and look at what they can do to attempt to overhaul BG’s initial early season dominance.
Female Schoolgirl Coxed Quad Scull
Gippsland Gramar won this event with a solid performance – beating out Ballarat Grammar by 11 seconds and tipped favourites Melbourne Girls College by 17 seconds. The crew from southeastern Victoria will be thrilled with the win, building on the third place they secured at the Head of the Schoolgirls in 2023. Having said that, two of the potentially strongest opposition in this category were not present, with the former Kardinia outfit rowing out of Barwon not in attendance at the Melbourne Head and perennial schoolgirl champions Ruyton opting to race the eight instead. This event remains one to watch, with more twists expected as the season continues.
Male and Female Open Eights
Building on their earlier small boat dominance, Melbourne University secured first place as predicted in both of these events. However unlike the large margin of victory in the women’s event (30 seconds), the men’s event came down to less than two seconds, giving Mercantile hope that as the season proceeds, they may be able to overhaul MUBC. For the MUBC women, much like their U21 crew, they will have their sights set on interstate competition to drive them forwards.
Male School Single Scull
The top three in the male single scull featured two of our predictions, with winner Ragg (St Kevin’s) and third-placed Davey (Essendon) sandwiching second-placed Heath from Ballarat Grammar. With large margins between these placings and then also between third and fourth, Ragg appears to be clear out on his own at the top of the schoolboy tree. Whether he features again in the single this season remains to be seen, as school first eight duties will keep him tied up until the end of March, potentially opening the door for Heath or Davey to secure bragging rights at future regattas.
Female School Single Scull
All three predicted scullers featured in the top five of this race, with Antonie winning from McNeil in second, Laing in third, Harridge in fourth and McCarthy in fifth. Antonie and McNeil however were comfortably clear of the chasing pack. Antonie will potentially have her eye on a trialling boat in the summer, and McNeil may well not be far behind, despite still being an U17 sculler. This event featured one notable absentee in Gippsland Grammar’s Ella Gerrand, who is likely to return to racing in the single later in the season and potentially sets this event up as an exciting one to watch.
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