ARC Update - 6th April 2026
- 6 days ago
- 7 min read
In This Issue:
President's TED Talk
It has been an epic 2 weeks for ARC in so many ways - if you've been struggling to keep up with everything that's been going on... well, that's OK, because so have I!
We saw some great results from the 2026 Australian Rowing Championships despite a monstrous headwind funnelling along Lake Barrington for much of the racing week.
Two Australian Championships were claimed by ARC rowers along several silver and bronze medals.
Gold
Alex Hill & Angus Dawson in the Open Men's Pair, re-claiming the title that they won back in 2021!
Igor Zarubin in the U21 Men's Single
Silver
Tamara Bates, U23 Women's Four
Tamara Bates & Grace Barrera, U23 Women's Eight
Bronze
Sam Stunell, PR3 Men's Single
Ella McKay, U23 Lightweight Women's Quad
Sasha Humble, U21 Women's Quad
Off the podium, there were also plenty of great efforts with several 4th places, A-finalists, semi-finalists, across a breadth of categories and age groups.
At the Interstate Regatta, Alex Hill fought all the way to the line in the President’s Cup, bringing home a hard‑earned silver for South Australia. This was followed by a fierce three‑way contest in the King’s Cup, where the SA crew — again featuring Alex, Angus Dawson & Mitch Reinhard (the fast Mitch!) — delivered a very competitive third place.
Congrats to all for giving it your best shot and persevering despite several days of truly awful conditions! You should be proud of your efforts, whatever the outcome. The result sheets can only tell part of the story for any regatta & overlook the human elements of sport - overcoming adversity, the hard-luck stories, the improvements gained, and the friendships formed or strengthened.
A special shout-out to Josh Lasscock & Belle Townsend, who—once their racing was done—stuck around to hold boats at the start line in the foul conditions. It might sound like a small thing given the scale of such a massive event, but it’s exactly the attitude that makes our Club what it is. No fuss, no spotlight—just good intent and a willingness to help where needed. Great stuff, legends 👏
On the home-front, our Clubroom's have a fresh look after a mammoth effort to paint the match-stick ceiling. Just with a few (ok, many) licks of paint, the room looks & feels different in a bright, fresh & uplifting way which stays true to the history & age of the building—the dark timber trusses & clinker four stand out wonderfully as feature elements. But I'm not going to post any photos here - you'll just have to swing by & check it out for yourself!!!
It was a massive team effort from a lot of people over two weeks - 17 people chipped in to some extent, many on multiple occasions!!! A sincere thank you for your time & efforts.
I'd also like to recognise Wattyl Australia who donated all the paint, worth almost $1,000.
As the first step in our Clubroom renovation project (made possible by Greg Taylor's generous donation last year), this is just the beginning and we'll hope to have more to share on the project in coming weeks.
So with those done & dusted, what's next for ARC?
Our next Learn to Row programme starts this Sunday—almost another sell-out, with 1 spot left! (If you know someone who is interested, refer them to our website!)
Local regattas kick in again from this Saturday with plenty of opportunities for Master's & Sprint racing
Boat maintenance working bees on the 12th (West Lakes) & 19th (Torrens)
The 2026 Australian Rowing Team Selection Regatta will be held from 15 - 19th April at SIRC, Penrith, with 8 ARC members invited to trial for national representation this year:
Senior Women - Ella Bramwell
Senior Men - Alex Hill, Angus Dawson, Mitch Reinhard, Oscar McGuinness
Para Men - Sam Stunell
U23 Women Sweep - Grace Barrera, Tamara Bates
With the Torrens open again, Thursday Night Socials are back on from 5:45pm. Great to see new faces coming along for some social rowing & choosing to get onboard as ARC members.
Crows Central functions—including the opening game of Gather Round between Crows vs Carlton on Thursday night. The Club will be open from 4:10pm & ARC members are welcome to join the fanatics for a feed. Just be aware that any Carlton supporters should expect a tough time and that parking at the Club will be constrained.
Our Winter programme is looking full and busy, and it's rapidly approaching. We've put on some more spots for Year 8/9 rowers to cater for overwhelming demand - spread the word through your networks. If you're interested in helping with the programme as a coach, please reach out to Josh Lasscock or myself (honorariums available).
Tickets for the ARC Annual Dinner on Saturday 9th May are now on sale - you get yours here.
Let's keep getting after it ARC!
Mitch
Welcome's & Thank You's
Welcome to our newest Members - it's great to have you on Team ARC!
Jed Watson
Lali Marjara
Thanks to some of our amazing volunteers & contributors for their efforts behind the scenes!
Tom Merrigan - Refurbing the Franklin double scull
Jono McKay, Ren Anderson, Alex Lee, Nick Miteloudis, Igor Zarubin, Carmine Pianredosi & Tim Santin - bar functions
Josh Lasscock & Belle Townsend - boat-holding at Nationals
All of the ceiling painters from the last 2 weeks
Trent Collins
Damian & Isaac Carlson
Adam Pope
Kevin McCall
Sam Williams
Alex Silz
Adam Salleh
Mieka Webb
Van Hardman
Tanja Klotz
Chris Greening
Marcus Gibson
Henry Norton
Josh Lasscock
Zoe Tiffen
Mitch Oliver
April Boat Working Bees
We need your help to keep the fleet in shape, with two working bees planned over the next 2 weeks:
Sunday 12th April - West Lakes, time TBC
Sunday 19th April - Torrens, 9am, focusing on boats for Master's & Social rowers
I'Zingari XVIII (8+)
Adelaide III (4-)
Tarlow (2x)
Planned Power Outages at the Torrens
SAPN are doing some work around the Torrens over the next few weeks which will cause power to be isolated to the Torrens Shed. At this stage, we expect full day outages on:
Tuesday 7th April
Monday 13th April
Monday 20th April
We'll provide updates as best we can with the info we receive.
Torrens vs Full Active Membership - It's in the Name!
With the Torren Lake re-opening, we remind our Torrens Active members that use of boats at West Lakes is not included within their membership package.
Please refrain from rowing at West Lakes if you are a 'Torrens Active' member - even if you happen to be invited to do so by another member. Similarly, Full Active members should not invite or encourage Torrens Active members to row at West Lakes
Exemptions may only be permitted with agreement of the Captain. "Making up a full crew" is not considered sufficient reason.
To ensure a fair environment, persistent breaches will result in an invoice for Full Active membership being raised to you.
If you are unsure which category of membership you have or wish to upgrade to Full Active membership, please email membership@adelaiderowingclub.com.au. Updated membership lists are posted in both sheds each month.
End of Daylight Savings - Get Your Lights On!
It's getting dark in the early mornings, and soon evenings will also start to shorten - it's essential that all boats are clearly visible on the water in low-light/low-visibility conditions.
Boat lights must be visible from 360 degrees at a distance of 1km
It is the crew's responsibility to provide their own lights.
Strictly, no lights = no rowing!
At West Lakes:
Lights must be used when the red light on the judge's tower is on.
No rowing before 6am Mon - Sat, or before 7am Sundays & public holidays.
As a Senior Club, ARC always want to be leading from the front and setting a good example for the rest of the rowing community. To facilitate, the Committee has agreed to stock safety lights for ARC Member's to purchase, via the ARC website.
By purchasing in bulk, we hope this will keep the costs as low as possible for members.
Each ARC boat will be fitted with dual-lock mounting points on the bow and stern canvas to attach these lights.
Boatshed Security - Lock It Up If In Doubt
We continue to see ongoing instances of the West Lakes shed being left unlocked and wide open. With the new keypad access, you can't lock out other crews who are out on the water, so if you are in doubt as to whether there's a crew out, please lock up the shed. To keep everyone's personal belongings secure, we ask Members to close & lock the shed before going out on the water.
If you're the last person to leave our sheds, it is always your responsibility to do a quick sweep to make sure the shed is secured with doors locked and latched before you head off!
Members Facebook Groups & Squad Chats
Are you keeping up with the latest happenings at ARC? Check out the invite links below to ensure you are informed about who is doing what at ARC!
The 2026 Australian Rowing Championships are underway at Lake Barrington, with 18 ARC members in action over 7 days of racing!
You can follow ARC in action:
LIVESTREAM in HD (Free account required)
Rowing Manger
JRNs coverage
ARC Socials - where you can get behind the team with messages of support!
To cap off what is always a massive week of racing, we'll see 13 ARC rowers put on the South Australian zooty at the Interstate Regatta on Sunday!
Nell Slater Trophy | Women's Single Scull | Ella Bramwell |
President's Cup | Men's Single Scull | Mitch Reinhard |
Bicentennial Cup | Women's Youth Eight | Grace Barrera Tamara Bates Sasha Humble |
Noel Wilkinson Trophy | Men's Youth Eight | Ren Anderson Alex Lee Tom O'Mahony Sam Stunell Igor Zarubin Tom Merrigan (a/coach) |
Victoria Cup | Lightweight Women's Coxless Quad | Ella McKay |
King's Cup | Men's Eight | Alex Hill Angus Dawson Mitch Reinhard |
What's Coming Up at ARC?
New Merch Arrivals
Check out this new ARC merch which is available for purchase!
