27 The Great Eastern Mail MARCH 2018 ROWING clubs and schools from around the state have always been attracted to the Mitchell River for training camps. It has relatively long, calm stretches of water, well sheltered from prevailing winds by the high banks that are well vegetated and offer a tranquil and picturesque setting. Over the summer holiday period, there is up to eight training camps being held along the length and breadth of the Mitchell River from Bairnsdale down to Eagle Point, which provides for a lot of activity and viewing of various boat classes being rowed on the river. Once, this spectacle was only periodically sighted of the visitors. Now, with the continued development of the Bairnsdale Rowing Club (BRC), there is becoming a healthy number of local community members engaging in the activity of rowing and the wonderful waterway environment, that is literally on our doorstep. The BRC is a historically old club. Established in 1872, the original Boatshed was located on the riverbank at what is now known as the Port of Bairnsdale. BRC, by the turn of the early 1900s, had become the premier sporting club in the district. Famed poet Henry Lawson, was friends with some members. And so in 1907 penned a poem of the clubs successes and the importance of upholding its winning tradition. Prior to WW1 BRC had a peak membership of 195, which when you consider the towns population was around 3000, it was extremely well patronised. BRC also allowed women to row – whilst they were not official members, recorded documents show their hiring fees of boats. The earliest known photograph of women rowing in Australia is of a BRC women’s Eight on the Mitchell River in 1894. The impact of WW1 on BRC was immense. Of the 69 members enlisted, 23 were killedandwelloverhalfreturned wounded. A War Memorial was erected to honor these men in later years, and it is now located adjacent to the current Boatshed at Howitt Park. The club continued to compete with moderate success over the next few decades, until through dwindling membership it went into recess in the 1960s. In 1986 a small group of rowing enthusiates banded together and in 1987 the BRC was once again affiliated with Rowing Victoria. The club was predominantly a social rowing group with limited finances and resources in those early reforming years. The greater rowing community is a wonderful support network and gradually theclubaccruedenoughdonated equipment to start running ‘Learn2Row’ on a regular basis on Sunday mornings. From fledging beginnings the club really started to become proactive in 2011, due in part to an influx of new members keen to become involved and realise the vision to build the club into what it is today at Howitt Park. BRC has received great support from the East Gippsland Shire in assisting with upgrading the launching landing and a grant to extend the Boatshed. This most obvious change, the doubling in size of the Boatshed – which now contains a fleet of boats that can cater for each different class of rowing, plus an indoor training area also now exists with a good range of equipment for technique and fitness workouts – is a testament to the committee to have grown both the junior and adult membership base that is now sustainable and having its needs met. The recent appointment of Caspar Hammond as Head Coach has been the masterstroke the club longed for. He has been quite simply awesome at the helm. A competent coach to complement enthused personnel wishing to learn to row well. The primary objective of the club is foremost to engage members of the community to enjoy the activity of rowing on the Mitchell River. As a past president stated way back in 2011, “What is the point of having the equivalent venue of the MCG and no home team to play on it.” The saying, nothing ventured nothing gained, rang true for a recently joined member. She honestly said, “Rowing was never on my to do list, but after my daughter decided she wanted to give it a go, I thought I would give it a go too. I am so pleased I did. I was hooked from the very first time I got on the water and felt the connection of the oar to the water being able to propel and glide the boat across the water an exhilarating feeling. “BRC were so welcoming and I made new friends instantly. A really great mix of people who are always willing to offer their experience and encouragement,” she said. “I love the fitness side of it as well, because you are caught up in each stroke, you really don’t even realise how hard you are working. I have been to a few regattas now, which I can’t actually believe. Head of the Yarra was my highlight and I can’t wait until my next one. I never thought I would be saying that”, she added. Rowing is such a self paced, low impact and physically rewarding sport. So, if you are contemplating trying a new sport or outdoor activity that enables you to meetnewpeopleandstrengthen physically and mentally, enhancing your health and general wellbeing, call into the Bairnsdale Rowing Club and give it a try to see if rowing on such an an amazing and under utilised asset – the Mitchell River – is to your liking. Contact can also be made online through facebook and instagram. Lifeislikeadreamasrowerstakeadvantageof oneofEastGippsland’sgreatestassets