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NSW State Championships has many tales to tell. First timers to a real racecourse rather than the 20cm raging tides of Jervis Bay. Rookie paddlers who have never raced a 500m race before. Expectations were smashed and A Finals were reached. Ryan managing not to snap another paddle. Vomiting ladies, dumpster diving hobos (Glasso) who slept Oscar the Grouch-style at the venue. We had it all.
Rocky Balboa joined the crews in the guise of Rufus Gordon, fresh out of his splint for coming off second best to an Irishman’s jaw. We are relieved that the tranq darts worked and we managed to keep the big fella calm and composed without any incidents.
Jen Pierson deserves the notable mention after 10 days of COVID, testing negative and dragging herself to the course to help our Mixed Bitey racing with minimum numbers. Respect babe.
Even Cher made a cameo………
Once Angie stopped humping the sweep oar she smashed out her remaining races in the high vis and is now playing with the big kids on the back of the bus. Nice one babe
And special thanks to Sally-NASCAR-Casey, recently dusted off from retirement to take the stick again and smash up the racecourse. There was nothing she couldn’t do, turning boats on a dime, reversing at top speed into pontoons slots and whipping up the crews into a frenzy. Sal, we salute you.
The most notable tale of the NSW State Titles was the presence of Mr Squiggle, who arrived at the racecourse to take charge of configs. While Chicki’s configs are usually razor sharp, finely honed and non-negotiable; there was much amusement at the venue when things started to unravel.
What began as this…….
rapidly turned into this .. ……
Oh yeah, and there was some racing. Mako was punching well above our weight. Again.
Prems Racing
The band of knuckleheads from Jervis Bay were the only regional club in NSW racing in the Premier category with 2 Mixed crews of 18, 1 x ladies and 1 x opens. All with 6 prems only, Coach Chicki’s goal was to duke it out with the best Sydney clubs and make a Minor Final. What really happened is that Mako Mixed raced up a storm to pull off A Final and end up the 6th fastest Premier Crew in NSW. The Opens crew finished 7th and ladies channelled inner beast mode to again make the A Final and pull the 5th fastest (and sexiest) crew in NSW.
Senior A
Wow, what a stellar performance by Mako in the Senior A in the esteemed company of Different Strokes, Sloths, FFB, Pittwater and every big hitter from Sydney. The crew improved every race to land in the Major Final in our now familiar and favourite Lucky Lane 6 and dust up some of the competition to again finish the 5th fastest crew in the State.
Did we expect to make A Finals? Hell no. And yet we did and represented Jervis Bay and our sponsor Club Jervis Bay with pride and outstanding performance. I think the NSW State Championships for 2023 can be summed up by three of our much-loved paddlers:
There is no way we would ever expect to perform this well against the biggest and best clubs in Sydney. It is a credit to the heart of Mako and our commitment to training. I’m so proud of us all
Angie
Captain and Sweep Oar – Humper“frothing”
Nick
Newest Paddler“There’s a lot of f*&king around back there”
Elizabeth Brown
very patient lady 🙂As the sun sets on the Regatta Centre, and weary Makos make their way back home to JB knowing they raised eyebrows, asserted themselves as a force to be reckoned with in NSW and are unknown on the racecourse no longer. Well played. #makomojo is here to stay.
Well done Mako, it’s great to see you doing so well. It’s the 20 cms tides in JB. So proud Chicki. More National members coming up.
Mark Skilling