An article by RNSW Sports Journalism Scholarship holder Annie Murphy

Rough weather couldn’t hinder the success of the annual Taree Summer Regatta, co-hosted by Port Macquarie Rowing Club and Manning River Rowing Club along the Manning River from January 13-15. The Taree Summer Regatta has been running since 2010, when the Port Macquarie and Manning River Rowing Clubs combined their regattas over one large weekend.

Tony Beeton, President of Manning River Rowing Club for 13 years and a rower of more than 25 years experience, has been pleased with the regattas organisation over the past three years. “It’s been a successful regatta every time we have it,” Mr Beeton said.  “Every year it has grown bigger and bigger. I think it was last year, or the year before, we had to extend it out to the third day to try and fit everything in.”

None of the 524 athletes (who competed in 92 events and 208 races) were deterred by Saturday’s north-easterly winds or Sunday’s drizzling rain. With athletes travelling from far and wide, Mr Beeton says that there is a range of talent on display. “(They’re) pretty competitive clubs. You’ve got them all competing and it’s pretty tough conditions.”

Sixteen races had to be cancelled on Saturday for safety reasons. 

Boat Racing Official Greg Weir described the Saturday afternoon’s water conditions as a real burden. “Saturday was really choppy, and with the tide running out it really got messy,” Mr Weir said.  “That made it very hard for the rowers, especially to get up to the start in the afternoon. We had to make a decision part way through the afternoon to call it off. Just because of the conditions for the singles going up, and sometimes the doubles or the pairs. The larger boats were handling it pretty well, but it got to be a real burden … and so then we said no. It was purely for safety.”

Despite the rough conditions, Mr Weir said the regatta was excellent.“This is always a terrific regatta because it has such a mixture, and it gets good competition from Sydney to give our central districts a real go. Everything here is run very well from the Manning and the Port Macquarie clubs.

“I think this is probably the best organised regatta, because they know it is so big, so they do it pretty well and the people who run this club have been in both the clubs for a long time, and they haven’t had a change over of personnel, and they really know from one year to the next what they need to do.

“It’s really tops”

Read more about the RNSW Sports Journalism Scholarship here