By Colin MacGillivray

Nearly 200 rowers braved chilly conditions to compete in the 135th Dimboola Regatta and Head of the Wimmera races at the weekend.

Dimboola Rowing Club regatta secretary Mick Salter said the club was ‘very pleased’ with the events on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

“Weather-wise it was a little bit daunting and cold, especially in the morning, but it didn’t detract from the standard of rowing, which was extremely high,” he said.

“The regatta went really well and all the rowers who attended seemed to be really happy with the day. 

“It was the same on Sunday with the head race.

“We’ve had some positive feedback for both Saturday and Sunday, so we’ll try to work in a few small changes to improve both days but overall I think all the competitors, officials and Dimboola club members were very happy with how it went.”

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Salter said while entries were slightly lower than at last year’s regatta, the club was pleased with the overall standard of racing.

“We had some local crews that did well, but none won any of their events,” he said.

“The club from Essendon brought a lot of rowers and they won the main events – they won the sprint four title on Saturday and the head race on Sunday.

“We had 189 athletes who entered 206 events, so we had a lot of entries for Saturday. We started at 8am and went right through to 5.15pm, so it was a full-on day of rowing.

“We were happy with the entries and we were certainly happy with the standard of the rowing.”

Salter said a market and food-vendor area near the race finish had also been well received.

“I’ve spoken to a couple of people briefly about the market and they said they felt the market went well,” he said.

“I think the weather would have had some impact. If it was a really fine night I think there would have been a lot more people out and about.”

Salter said the inherent charm of the Wimmera River setting had remained as strong as ever.

“One of the advantages we’ve got at Dimboola is that you can walk the river and walk from the start to the finish and watch any particular part of the rowing you like,” he said.

“It’s not like at Lake Wendouree in Ballarat where you can either be at the start or the finish and you don’t see much of the middle of the race – you can walk the full length of the course and there’s really good spectator viewing all the way along.

“When you’re cheering, the rowers can well and truly hear you, which is great.” 

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