Amazingly Ballarat City posted another incredible season winning 70 races, including 5 Victorian Championships and 1 Australian Championship. With just eight men competing the club finished second on the men’s Champion Club Premiership with Corio Bay Rowing Club the premiers. We also placed third on the men’s Senior Premiership winning more Senior races this season than ever before in the history of the club. Sadly one of the legends of the club passed away this year. Otto Hauser who had contributed to the club as rower, coach, Captain, Vice-President, committee member and Life Member had indeed devoted his life to the club died. From the day he joined until the day he retired he did everything for the club. He was one of the key members who held the club together through World War 2 and was instrumental in the rebuild after the 1950 fire. He epitomized what it means to be a Ballarat City member.
The National Championships were held at Lake Wivenhoe in Queensland in idyllic conditions. Unfortunately Wivenhoe is very isolated, difficult and expensive to get to! The TIP crews, boys and girls, some attending their first National Championships interstate were very excited. It was a massive organisational task to get boats, crews and supporters to Queensland. The Taylor family,Carmel ,John and youngest son Luke, towed the boat trailer the very long haul to Queensland. Kate Elliott organised flights, accommodation and mini buses to get the rest of our contingent there. Driving from Brisbane airport with a bus load of excited junior rowers was certainly a new and challenging experience. Anthony Edwards regained his Lightweight Senior B Sculling Championship. Both the Talent Identification Program crews attending the Nationals performed well with the girls coming fourth in their final and the boys, while not making their final, rowed a personal best time. Anthony Edwards was selected to compete at the World Championships at Roudnice in the Czech Republic in the lightweight quad scull. This was the sixth consecutive year that Ballarat City had had a representative on the Australian team.
The five Victorian Championships won were all at Senior or Senior C level demonstrating the higher levels at which the club was competing and having success. The first championship went to Tim Wise and Anthony Edwards in the men’s Senior A Double Scull. Marion Taffe won the womens’ Senior C sculls and Rachel Taylor and Heather Murray with Jordan O’Keefe (cox) won the Women’s Senior C pairs. Dave Mayes and Andrew Leehane with Celeste O’Keefe were outstanding winning the men’s Senior C Pair Championship following up with the Sprint Pairs Championship at Footscray. At the Country Championships the club won eight races with Matt Taylor winning Under 16 and Novice sculls Championships.
In December 1992 at the start of the 1992-93 season, the club also had its first ever winning women’s eight winning the Intermediate eight at Wendouree/Ballarat Regatta. It was indeed a great sight for club stalwarts to see eight women racing for the club. The crew was a blend of old and new members with Kate Elliott steering them to victory. Also in December, members competed in the Indoor ergometer Championships with Anthony Edwards winning the lightweight men’s division and Rachel Taylor and Dave Mayes also winning their respective sections.
The club commenced the second intake of the Talent Identification Program with eight new recruits joining the club. From the first program, six of the original fourteen continued rowing. The second intake were Ashley Hayes, Justin Bell, Daniel Else, Jarrod Roberts, Jayne Duggan, Jenny Bourke, Melissa Faulkiner and Lora Steele.The club also undertook the formation of a development plan with the objective of spreading the workload and continuing to achieve our objectives.
The building maintenance committee constructed a new oar rack for the scull oars and the change room was converted into an ergo room/weights room moving the partition wall back and lining the ceiling with Solomit. It was all hands on deck to pull down the old canite board and disturb the dust that had built up over 40 years.
A new four was added to the fleet this year and christened the ANTHONY EDWARDS. The club also took out a loan to purchase from club member Tim Wise his double scull that had been used at the World Championships by Peter Antonie and Paul Reidy.
The club Open Day proved to be a gymnastics spectacular when president Colin Angow at the end of a race, performed a reverse oar thrust followed by a 360 cartwheel entering the water head first with a bubble entry and scoring a perfect 10 for entertainment. All who witnessed this amazing feat added it to their repertoire of great rowing stories.
The fundraising committee of Kate Elliott and Anthony Edwards drew up a 12 month plan and managed to raise approximately $350 per month except for one, contributing a total of $3850 to the clubs’ finances, an increase of $1850 on last year.
This year club legend Otto Hauser passed away in his 91st year. Otto celebrated his 90th birthday in November 1992 and the club presented him with a silver mug to mark the occasion. While Otto’s memory was gone I think the “Captain”, as his buddies in the Queen Elizabeth Home called him,understood and appreciated the gesture spending the rest of the afternoon with his trophy tightly clutched in his hand. A little bit of the club died when Otto died as there was no-one who could be all to the club as he had been.
Ballarat City Rowing Club History Blog 