Director of Sport | Mr Damian Wright

Rowing | Head of the River

This Saturday is the culmination of the season for the Terrace Rowing Community. The Head of the River for the Senior shed will take place at Wyaralong Dam. Crews will represent the College in the Year 10 Quads, the Year 11 and Open Eights.  

The Rowing program, as described by Dr Carroll at College Assembly, is the most time and effort taxing activity at the College that any boy can undertake. Yet from the significant demands, it is also one of the most rewarding for the boys – the saying “six months for six minutes” reflects the exceptional commitment that is asked for such a short time period of opportunity. As with all Championship events – the performance on the day, under pressure, is what counts.

All lead up form will count for nothing if the athletes that will represent Terrace at the Head of the River, don’t perform to the best of their ability when called upon.

In Rowing there are two opportunities to be Championship winners:

  1.  “The Old Boys’ Cup” represents the overall point score program Championship winner with points allocated for placings in Year 10 Quads and Year 11 and Open Eights. This Championship premiership rewards all boys and is the same as the Swimming, Cross Country, Gymnastics and the Track and Field Championship event structure. Every boy counts and every boy’s performance and placings count towards the overall premiership. 
  2.  “The O’Connor Cup” is the trophy awarded to the winning Open 1st VIII, specifically only the Open 1st VIII. It is also unique in its nature as it is the only GPS trophy that from 1918 has all the names of the winning crews and those young men who won the race in these crews - individually engraved on it. It is a remarkable piece of GPS sporting history.

The rowers have done the work and will be rewarded by their performance on the weekend. No athlete that has prepared correctly for an event should ever need luck, simply the supporters best wishes for performing at their best when it matters. Good rowing to the Terrace boys on Saturday.

Student support buses depart the college at 7am and will return after lunch on Saturday – traffic and weather dependant. White shirt and Akubra is expected school uniform. I strongly suggest boys bring a water bottle.  

Parents and caregivers who will be looking to support are reminded that wet weather parking conditions have been imposed.  Car parking will be 15kms from the dam, $5 per vehicle (this will include a program and the return shuttle bus).  Parents and caregivers should allow an extra 30 minutes travel time to account for parking and to ensure that you don't miss any racing.

Swimming

The performance of the Terrace Swimmers on Friday was nothing short of phenomenal, with outstanding performances being delivered from the younger members of the College in the Under 10,11 and 12 age levels all the way through to the Senior boys up to the Open age level.

The morning Junior GPS was a wonderful event to be at and witness so many boys making their best effort to bring Terrace home in first place. The newly created “Junior GPS” has taken over from “CIC” competition and it is the first win for the Junior Swimming program in Junior GPS in the five years that it has been running. History also reaches back to the year 2000, when Terrace last won the CIC competition, so Friday morning's effort is remarkable and significant. It was truly a great expose of depth and commitment from so many young men and was a delight to the full stand of supporters who witnessed the success of Terrace Swimming.

The Senior boys did remarkably well in the afternoon to record fourth place in a competition that is equal, if not greater in its quality of athletes, to a state or national swimming carnival. The intensity and the noise is out of the ordinary – the chanting, the screaming and the support was incredible. Thank you to all the boys that came and carried the young men in Red and Black to the performances that were produced.

So many boys produced their best efforts and therefore their best results for the College, and several boys stepped out of their comfort zone and swam events that might not have been their favourite events – but did so for the team. That is always a difficult selection decision but thank you to those boys. There were many outstanding results. From the College perspective all boys who swam and gave their all, should be congratulated.

With the end of the Championship events for Term 1 2018 concluding officially this weekend with the Swimming Dinner on Friday evening and the Rowing Dinner on Saturday evening, it is appropriate and right to thank and congratulate the two Support Groups behind these two activities who work so tirelessly behind the scenes supporting the boys at many varied events. From simply getting up so early to dropping the boys at the pool or the shed, to cooking breakfasts – endless bacon and egg rolls - thank you for your generous help. Sincere thanks to the bodies – the Swimming Support Group and the Rowing Support Group (Terrow), thank you for everything that you do.

After Saturday evening both groups can turn their attention towards the 2019 season and what lies ahead.