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Courtney Left the Iron On and other adventures

As the mercury climbed, the nerves were palpable, as Mako prepared to race their first ever 500m regatta for the season. For some their first ever. Were we fit enough? Was our technique going to hold up over the distance? What on earth should we expect?

These questions were well and truly answered by the end of the regatta. But I digress, let me start from the beginning.

Annie the Amazing

All eyes were on our very own fluorescent banana Annie, finalising her sweeping accreditation. Not content with a conventional straight-line approach, Annie took strategic sweeping to new levels with her ‘Pinball’ magic. Other crews have booked out the chiropractors of Canberra with neck injuries, trying to keep track of her Mako crews whipping left, right, in and out of lanes and back in the blink of an eye. Masterful stuff Annie. The strip-tease at the conclusion of racing was a sight to behold. Seriously though honey, you absolutely smashed it and we salute you. What a brilliant performance.

Courtney left the Iron On

While our experienced Mako absolutely nail paddling, stroking, sweeping and drumming, sometimes they are human too. Our very own Court seemed a little distracted in her first race and turns out she spent the whole regatta wondering if she forgot to turn the iron off. Will we ever know the answer? Only time will tell.

The Girl with the Whale Shark Tattoo

Our very own legend Georgia “G” stepped up to the plate to help reach minimum numbers for the regatta. While she clearly is gifted at computer hacking and assisting Swedish journalists with investigations, what we didn’t know is how talented this lady is wielding a paddle and not a mouse. With just 2 paddles under her belt, G paddled without a break in women’s and opens categories to take out two GOLDS in her very first regatta and 3rd paddle ever. Well played G, well played.

Hat Trick

On 26 January 1946, Alex Kaleta walked into Sammy Taft’s famous hat shop on Spadina Avenue in Toronto and told the gregarious Taft that he wanted to buy a fedoras – but could not afford one. Legend has it that Taft, always looking for a way to promote his hat shop, told Kaleta that he would give him a hat if he scored three goals that night against the Maple Leafs. Taft did just that.

And so today Mako turned their hats around (honouring the absent Chicki’s mandate), buckled down, implemented their technique and produced magic on the water. Again, and again, and again. Making history, Mako pulled off the upset of the season to win the hat trick, GOLD for women, opens and mixed.

Captain’s Wrap

Hobo Glasso: “As the Mako Mojo storm blew into Canberra on friday night it blew down trees and blew away the predicted heat. A calm balmy overcast day emerged on Saturday as the racers started to roll in. Mako arrived in their cleanest whites ready to race, well except a fluro green beacon of light who swept her pants off, not literally! Without our coach to organise the masses it was a tough start to the day, chickens and cats calling themselves Mako walked aimlessly in circles until a pair of Sea Captains took the reigns and steered them to marshalling. But once in the boats the Mako turned to sharks, remembering their training and with the constant Marge Simpson-esque nagging of mother Chick ringing in their ears, the most amazing day of racing happened. Mako crossed the line first again and again, and then again in the major final for Opens, Womens and Mixed teams. The crowd was speechless, Chicki was home in tears and Papa Bearo was nodding with pride saying “I told you they would be fine”

Hobo Glasso

Captain
1st in 3 finals?? WTF? This is not something Mako are used to. Was it the heatstroke, or the sweeping prowess of our newly graduated L3 sweep Annie? Or was it our late entry Georgia Barden: the girl that came out of nowhere, the girl that just fitted right in despite a borrowed shirt, paddle and only 2 training sessions?  Or was it #makomojo,  the crew that bonded together, gave their all for their team mates, supported each other, made our jobs easy & pushed through the heat and the pain for each other?
 
 While today’s performance was a combo of all of the above, I think we also know the bottom line is Mako has put in the hard work. We had the discipline and the fitness to keep strong, keep good technique and finish hard. So thankyou to our coach for focussing so heavily on technique, for our fitness training. We missed you – but you were there in all of us – in our heads anyway. Well done Mako crew. 3 firsts. #herewecome
 

Angie Bangie Wawangie Babangie PoopooHead

Captain

As the cold lagers are poured, the tales are embellished and the butt sores taped, Mako pause and take stock of the little club from the coast that can do extraordinary things with heart, trust, commitment and #makomojo. The love is real.