Head of the River

For those of you who joined us in Memorial Hall on Saturday night, forgive me for repeating myself but what a great celebration of school rowing the Head of the River is. Rumour has it that the regatta is the largest school sporting event in SA. The time and effort put in by the parents and supporters show great respect and enthusiasm for how their young rowers have been applying themselves all season.

We are fortunate with our racing format that we bring everyone together to race at the same time. We are not spread around different venues or split by age group. We make the most of the opportunity to create a festival atmosphere.

I think we would all agree the organisers made the right call to bring the event forward and shorten the whole day. Even early on we had some boys finding the sun savage. However, nothing was going to hold back our Year 8 squad. We miss Steve Perry and his wise head, but Jake and his team have stepped up in his absence. They managed to convert their whole squad of seven boats into winners – a clean sweep. They got our day off to a good start. A lone Scotch crew snuck into the back of an “All Saints” final which meant our E, F and G crews all beat another school. It did look as though one of our coxes was trying to write his name in his crew’s wake for the drone’s benefit.

A breathless D crew coach arrived beside me on the railings by the medal pontoon to announce he was going to cry. His crew had other ideas and mounted a sustained attack over the last 200m to go clean through their opponents and win. The B and C crews made it look easier. However, the A crew decided to keep us all guessing – would Jake’s squad complete their clean sweep? In the end Nicholas Cleanthous’ relentless rhythm paid off and they got their bows in front for the only stroke that matters – the last one.

The roll continued into the Year 9 races. All the schools in Adelaide couldn’t find a crew to race our E, F, G, H and I crews. The race was not without drama – Josh Bell’s stretcher slipped and had to be held in place by quick-thinking cox Cooper Drew for the rest of the race. Aiden Tan urged on the H crew to get the better of the Gs but not quite enough to catch his brother Owen in the winning E crew. The D crew have clicked, progressing in leaps and bounds over these last weeks and were imperious in their final.

Serendipity for the Cs – what goes around comes around. Having suffered two disqualifications earlier in the season they were able to return the compliment. The Bs put it all out there. They have worked hard together with their coach Callum and that work paid off as they were one of the few crews of the regatta to go faster than at SPS#4. Not quite enough to win but they have shown themselves just what they are capable of when they put their minds to it. The As put together their best race of the season so we must acknowledge we were beaten by a better crew – well done to them.

As dominant as we may be over Year 8s and 9s our red friends have the Year 10s sewn up with their own clean sweep. At one stage it did look as though our Ds and their Fs couldn’t quite decide which lane they preferred and might swap. Our Bs had a really close race with Adelaide High to finish fourth – a canvas up. The As were a creditable fifth.

Whilst the water looked reasonable where the spectators were, cameras at the start showed the headwind was making things quite awkward. The girls’ VIIIs were almost blown back across the finish line after their race. However calm as ever the John Brook came over the top of the waves and the rest of the field. Norwood’s top boat pushed hard – and had to – to hold off the Blackmore close to us in lane 1. An excellent performance from Murphy Eaton’s crew – the only second four in the first four event.

As the temperature rose so did the competition. The athletes may not have appreciated it but the wind cooled the spectators. Great work by Ed Chipperfield’s men in the Wylly – they got out and dominated the conditions and the opposition to claim the Wallman trophy. Frustrating for the Blackburn to lose their five-man the day before the regatta and then be pipped in the last race of the season. However, it has been a great season for them – just not a fairy-tale ending. The Digby made it – a tough race in that headwind but all credit to the crew and Joe Webb for his last-minute call-up.

The drone earned its keep showing us how the first 1000m of the Schoolboy VIIIs final unfolded. Scotch leapt out, buoyed by their recent successes. PAC went with them. Sandwiched between them the Don held both these fast starters to a mere half-length. The competition between the middle three lanes drew them clear of the rest of the field.

It is a little impersonal to hover with the drone above this furious action. You can only imagine the noise and effort with twenty-seven boys locked blade tip to blade tip straining every sinew. From our silent drone-eye view they are three water boatmen making their way serenely across a pond. You could just make out the inch-by-inch progress of the Don as they clawed themselves back up their opponents’ boats. Inexorably they progressed – one seat at a time. The three boats were level. Scotch cracked – they had given their all and fell away. The Don got its nose in front. But PAC rallied and attacked again. We waited for the Don’s response, but none came.

Ironically speaking to Don Sarah, he was racing for a then-record eighth win in 1954 and missed out to Scotch. The boys did us proud. I shall unashamedly plagiarise an Austrian bodybuilder and say, “We’ll be back.”

Some stats from the day:

• 1,184 athletes raced in 46 categories – 28 boys, 18 girls
• We had 26 crews racing (27 entered)
• 15 schools competed and 9 won categories
• Adelaide High School, Pembroke and Wilderness won one category each
• Unley and Loreto won two each
• Seymour won five
• SPSG won six
• PAC won ten
• SPSC won eighteen

The dinner deserves a whole write-up on its own if only to describe the immense amount of work that the Parents’ Committee put in to make it so spectacular. This is not an exclusive list of hard workers, but Georgie Hoberg might be up for beatification for her patience and creativity in shoehorning everyone into a limited space – a credit to the community that we have such demand. A great initiative to have the Year 12 mums up on stage – a fitting tribute to the dedication and support throughout their sons’ years in the club.

Shall we just say that Steph and Jonny Silcock know how to throw a party?

The season is not over yet.  We have crews off to National Rowing Championships in Tasmania a week today.  We have boys keen to race in Mannum next Saturday and the eagerly awaited Learn to Row regatta.

Throughout the season, we have been fortunate to have Joel Roosa from JRP and David Humble capture our journey in photos. I sincerely thank them for their time and expertise in bringing these moments to life. To view the full gallery, please click here 2025 Rowing Season Gallery.

Wade Hall-Craggs
Head of Rowing