Rowing Tasmania kicks off the state pennant season this weekend with the first regatta on the Huon River at Franklin.
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The recently-opened new Huon Rowing Club sheds will be put to their first use.
A feature of the weekend will be the appearance of a number of rowers who have had international exposure over the winter.
They will be led by Meaghan Volker (Buckingham) who was a last minute call up in the women’s eight for the Rio Olympics.
Henry Youl (Tamar) stroked the Australian men’s four to a bronze medal at the under-23 world championships and Alec Patterson (Bucks) and Matt Byrne (New Norfolk) were in the under-21 team that secured the Rusty Robertson Trophy from New Zealand.
Other international competitors were Georgia Nesbitt (Huon) who went to the senior world championships and Max McQueeney (Bucks) with Wilson Mure (Huon) who made the final of the double scull at the world university championships.
The regatta starts with the under-21 women’s eights on Saturday at 10am and finishes with the men’s eights on Sunday at 2.10pm.
In the men’s single scull event, Youl and Mure will face Sam Volker (Bucks) and Blair Tunevitsch (Tamar) who have been training strongly over winter with TIS head coach Brett Crow.
The women’s event has Sarah Hawe (Huon), Volker, Ciona Wilson (Tamar) and Eve Mure (Huon) in the mix.
A feature race on Saturday will be the men’s senior quad with strong crews from Tamar, Bucks, University and Huon.
On Sunday, Huon and Tamar will combine in a composite crew to take on Bucks in the men’s senior eight. Recently-retired Olympic lightweight Darren Purcell has taken up coaching the Bucks crew but Youl, Mure and the Rowan brothers in the composite crew will make his job difficult.
Para rowers Alistair Chong and Sara Waitzer (University), Nicole and Alexander McKillop (Huon) and Jesse Hall (North Esk) will take to the water again this season.
North Esk will be boating a strong men’s squad across under-23, under-21 and junior age groups. Four of their men will contest Division 1 of the under-19 single with Jack Barrett looking to build on last season and closely followed by Lars Gillingham, Angus McGlashan and Connor Ryan.
Madeleine Greenhill and Madeleine Tippett (Mersey) step up to the under-21 age group and should have a hotly-contested double scull race against Caitlyn Ketley and Christie Crow (Bucks), Chloe Barrow and Morrigan Guinane (North Esk) and Celeste Frasson and Lucy Sothcott (Friends).