Competitions

There is no record of the success or otherwise of the 1905 crew in the Clarke Shield, but since that time many crews at all age levels and in all categories of rowing and sculling have enjoyed success in the various club, school and independent school rowing competitions entered.

Open Boys Fours  racing started in 1905 and the first Tasmanian Head of the River for Eights was rowed in 1959.

Girls entered competitions rowing in fours for the first time in 1981, and commenced rowing in eights in 1986.

Undoubtedly the keenest competition has been the Independent Schools “Head of the River” competition. The commitment this competition engenders is well summed up in a note in the June 1927 Echoes from E Reynolds:

“School rowing for this year was a failure, the Head of the River Race being declared no race for 1927. The race was held on the Derwent on Saturday April 30. Friends’ took the lead early and were two lengths ahead, when the three northern crews fouled, and the race was stopped. At the restart Friends’ and St Patricks’ College fouled. The crews concerned in the second foul were disqualified. Grammar and Friends’ lodged a protest against the decision of the judges, and all except the official winners, Hutchins, upheld the appeals. After several meetings the Headmasters’ Association decided to declare no race for 1927.”

There then follows an anonymous “Note by Onlooker”:

“Many who watched this unsatisfactory race are of the opinion that our crew had an excellent chance of winning, as they gained such a fine lead at the start, and their style and form were most favourably commented upon by experts in the art of rowing.”

Boys’ Head of the River wins in fours occurred in 1932, 1933, 1939, 1949, 1950 and 1958. In some years there was a Northern and Southern competition and Friends’ won in 1940 and 1941 and 1945. The Head of the River was rowed in eights from 1959, with Friends’ successful form 1959 to 1962, in 1968 and 1969, 1975. It was some 26 years later that the latest back to back wins in both girls and boys’ rowing in 2001 and 2002 occurred.