In St Catherine’s most successful rowing season to date, we saw the St Catherine’s 120 win the Melbourne Head Regatta, Barwon Regatta, Firbank Regatta and the Australian Henley Regatta. The St Catherine’s 120 was just one of three teams to win regattas this season, with Genazzano taking out the Goulburn Regatta and Methodist Ladies College taking out the remaining regatta titles. This demonstrates how tough the competition is in the Senior Div 1 8s, and it’s a full credit to the students that through hard work, they put themselves in a position to compete. We are greatly looking forward to seeing what our returning Year 11 rowers can do as they continue to learn and develop through the coming 2017-2018 season.

The Geraldine Ilott shared many historical moments this year, being the first St Catherine’s School Second 8+ to win a regatta title (Firbank Regatta and Australian Henley), make the A Final of the Head of the Schoolgirl Regatta and then culminate their season with a National Championship in the Sprint event. All of these achievements were firsts for St Catherine’s School Rowing and it was a privilege to watch these students grow as a crew.

At the Australian National Rowing Championships, the students of the Geraldine Ilott demonstrated their capabilities through winning the ‘Schoolgirl 8+ Sprint’ event which was raced over 500m on the Saturday. This was an ambition of this crew following the silver medal performance from the 2016 students of the Boynton, some of whom represented in ‘The Gez’ this year. These students were thoroughly deserving of their gold medal performance, with students, parents and staff enjoying their success.

After a highly successful racing season for our Senior rowers, Nationals, this year had a mixture of fortunes for our Senior Rowers with neither Senior 8 progressing through to the A Final of the Schoolgirl 8s, in a very tight field. However, we can not forget that this was, without a doubt, a fantastic season that saw us experience our most successful rowing season in the history of St Catherine’s School.

A massive thanks goes to Rachel Robertson and the St Catherine’s School Senior Parents for their support at the event. Also to Mrs Michelle Carroll, Mrs Jeanette Gunn and Mr Lloyd Knight for coming to Sydney to support our rowers at the Australian National Rowing Championships.

This past period has been a time of reflection for staff, and a full review of the 2016-2017 Rowing Season has been taking place. We are constantly learning and seeking new ways to develop the program so our students have a fun and fulfilling experience. Our aim is to develop our staff, our systems and continue to evolve this program so our students can put their best foot forward when representing our School.

One final thanks goes to St Catherine’s School. The depth of our students and our coaches was fantastic this year. It’s a true honour and privilege to be a part of this School and the St Catherine’s School Community.

Bring on 2018!