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| Location | Wellington, New Zealand |
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| Founded | 1885 |
| Affiliations | |
| Website | wellingtonrowing |
| Notable members | |
The Wellington Rowing Club is a rowing club situated on Wellington Harbour, New Zealand. The current building, is classified as a "Category I" ("places of 'special or outstanding historical or cultural heritage significance or value'") historic place by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. [1]
The Wellington Rowing Club was first established in October 1871 as a professional club. Founded by James Stewart, a prominent sawmiller "the main reason for forming the new club was to enable ‘working men’ to take part in aquatic sports". [2]
The most famous crew of the Wellington Rowing Club was the Dolly Varden crew. Imported in 1873, the Dolly Varden became the most famous four-oared boat in colonial New Zealand. The Dolly Varden was the first boat in New Zealand with sliding seats. In this boat the crew of H Woods (stroke), J Walker (3), William Hearn (rower) (2), M Moore (bow) won the Interprovincial Championship of New Zealand in 1876, and H Woods (stroke), J Walker (3), J McGrath (2), William Hearn (rower) (bow) won in 1877.
The Dolly Varden was later sold and by 1880 the Wellington Rowing Club (professional), as then constituted, went out of existence.
The Wellington Rowing Club was later re-established as an amateur club in July 1885 by James Stewart. 2010 marked the 125th anniversary of the amateur club.
The club's colours consist of a maroon singlet with a white horizontal band. The original colours of the club when it was established in 1885 were (salmon) pink and white. The club commemorated these origins by changing back to the original colours for the 125th season (2009/10).
The WRC building has been housed in a number of locations throughout its 125-year history. The club opened its first permanent clubhouse at the bottom of Cuba Street, Wellington on 17 December 1887. Later in 1889, due to ongoing harbour reclamations, the clubhouse was moved "some little distance seaward" [3] to its site just north of Jervois Quay. This was the home for the club until 1931.
Built in 1894 to a design by Frederick de Jersey Clere, the building was built as a base for the Wellington Naval Artillery Volunteers, a response prompted by a Defence report in 1884 that recommended strengthening Wellington's harbour defences to help prevent a possible Russian invasion.
The building was never used for this purpose and in 1927 the building became the first home of the Wellington Free Ambulance. After a short stay, the Free Ambulance moved into its new purpose-built home (now St. John Heineken Hotel). At the same time the Wellington Rowing Club took over as custodian of the 'Old Navals Hall' in 1931 and remains such to this day.
The Wellington Rowing Club boasts numerous international representatives and Olympic medalists.
New Zealand's first international sculling representative was William Bridson. Bridson won the Amateur Sculling Championship of Victoria in 1891.
Tom Sullivan, along with Bridson, was a member of the famous WRC crew who won all eight Rowing New Zealand (then New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association) championship titles between 1889 and 1890. Sullivan has been recognised as “New Zealand's first sculler of international note”. [4] Sullivan left the club in 1890 to become a professional sculler. He was the first New Zealander to challenge for the World Sculling Championship. In 1893 he won the English Sculling Championship.
George Lauchlan was the manager of the famous 1925 New Zealand eight that travelled to Australia and won the New South Wales Championship.
Tris Hegglun and Owen Wares were members of the club before World War II. During the war they represented the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) which beat the Cairo River Club and an all-Egyptian representative crew to win the Freyberg Cup. Today the Sir Bernard Freyberg Cup is allocated to the champion single sculls at the New Zealand National Club Championships.
WRC's 'golden era' was without doubt the 1960s and 1970s. The club won the Champion Eight event in 1967 and 1969. The club later won the Boss Rooster in 1972.
Pete Delaney was the club's first Olympian, representing New Zealand at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
In 1967 the New Zealand "All Blacks" crew, including WRC members Pete Delaney (Bow), Graeme Shaw (2), Tom Just (3), John Hunter (5) and Alan Boykett (cox), won the first FISA North American Championships, St. Catharines, Canada, and the USRowing National Championships, Philadelphia.
In 1968 John Hunter (5) and Tom Just (2) represented New Zealand in the eight at the 1968 Summer Olympics which finished fourth.
John Hunter (5) and Simon Dickie (cox) were members of the New Zealand eight that won gold at the USRowing National Championships in 1970, the FISA European Championships, Copenhagen, Denmark, the International German Championships, Duisburg, West Germany and the International Austrian Championships, Klagenfurt, Austria in 1971.
At the 1972 Summer Olympics Dick Joyce (6), John Hunter (5) and Simon Dickie (cox) won the eight-oar event with Ross Collinge (2) winning a silver in the coxless four event.
At the 1976 Summer Olympics, Alec McLean and Simon Dickie won a bronze in the eight-oar event.
Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is divided into two disciplines: sculling and sweep rowing. In sculling, each rower holds two oars—one in each hand, while in sweep rowing each rower holds one oar with both hands. There are several boat classes in which athletes may compete, ranging from single sculls, occupied by one person, to shells with eight rowers and a coxswain, called eights. There are a wide variety of course types and formats of racing, but most elite and championship level racing is conducted on calm water courses 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long with several lanes marked using buoys.
World Rowing, also known as the World Rowing Federation, is the international governing body for rowing. Its current president is Jean-Christophe Rolland who succeeded Denis Oswald at a ceremony held in Lucerne in July 2014.
Rowing New Zealand is the sports governing body for rowing in New Zealand. Its purpose is to provide leadership and support to enable an environment of success for the New Zealand rowing community. This includes secondary schools, clubs, masters, universities and high performance.
In a rowing crew, the coxswain is the member who does not row but steers the boat and faces forward, towards the bow. The coxswain is responsible for steering the boat and coordinating the power and rhythm of the rowers. In some capacities, the coxswain is responsible for implementing the training regimen or race plan. Most coaches cannot communicate to boat/coxswain, so the coxswain is the "coach" in the boat. A coxswain is necessary in the first place because the rowers sit with their backs to the direction of travel.
David William Crawshay is an Australian former rower, an eleven-time national champion, an Olympic champion and medalist at World Championships. He represented Australia in rowing at three consecutive Olympic games from Athens 2004 to London 2012.
Caryn Davies is an American rower. She won gold medals as the stroke seat in women's eight at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics. In April 2015 Davies stroked Oxford University to victory in the first ever women's Oxford/Cambridge boat race held on the same stretch of the river Thames in London where the men's Oxford/Cambridge race has been held since 1829. She was the most highly decorated Olympian to take part in either [men's or women's] race. In 2012 Davies was ranked number 4 in the world by the International Rowing Federation. At the 2004 Olympic Games she won a silver medal in the women's eight. Davies has won more Olympic medals than any other U.S. oarswoman. The 2008 U.S. women's eight, of which she was a part, was named FISA crew of the year. Davies is from Ithaca, New York, where she graduated from Ithaca High School, and rowed with the Cascadilla Boat Club. Davies was on the Radcliffe College (Harvard) Crew Team and was a member on Radcliffe's 2003 NCAA champion Varsity 8, and overall team champion. In 2013, she was a visiting student at Pembroke College, Oxford, where she stroked the college men's eight to a victory in both Torpids and the Oxford University Summer Eights races. In 2013–14 Davies took up Polynesian outrigger canoeing in Hawaii, winning the State novice championship and placing 4th in the long-distance race na-wahine-o-ke-kai with her team from the Outrigger Canoe Club. In 2013, she was inducted into the New York Athletic Club Hall of Fame. She has served as a Vice President of the U.S. Olympians Association and as athletes' representative to the Board of USRowing.
An eight is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing (crew). It is designed for eight rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars, and is steered by a coxswain, or "cox".
Thomas Sullivan was a New Zealand amateur rowing and sculling champion who later turned professional and challenged for the World Sculling Championship title. He later became a rowing coach.
The Vesper Boat Club is an amateur rowing club located at #10 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1865 as the Washington Barge Club, the Club changed its name to Vesper Boat Club in 1870. Vesper's stated goal is "to produce Olympic champions." Most recently, that goal was achieved by Devery Karz and Kathleen Bertko in the 2016 Summer Olympics
William Hearn was a champion professional sculler of New Zealand, who emigrated to Victoria at a young age. He came to New Zealand in 1862, and had been a resident in Wellington since January 1876, nearly all the time having been employed by Messrs Greenfield and Stewart, timber merchants.
Philippa June Baker, now known by her married name Philippa Baker-Hogan, is a former New Zealand rower and politician. She was the first New Zealand woman to win a gold medal at World Rowing Championships and won gold at world championships on two more occasions. She has twice represented New Zealand at the Olympics. She has received numerous awards for her rowing success and in 2012, she and fellow double sculler Brenda Lawson were inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. A trained radiographer, she manages her husband's medical practice. She has been a Whanganui District Health Board and Wanganui District Council member since 2004 and 2006, respectively, and was a mayoral candidate in 2010. She is a member of the New Zealand Labour Party.
Karsten Forsterling is an Australian former representative rower. He was a national champion, world champion, a dual Olympian and Olympic medal winner. He represented Australia at eight senior world rowing championships between 2002 and 2019 in both sculling and sweep oared boats.
Martino Goretti is an Italian representative lightweight rower, a current (2019) world champion and a dual Olympian. He has represented at senior World Rowing Championships and World Rowing Cups consistently from 2005 to 2019. He is a four time world champion at the senior level who won three titles in Italian lightweight eights from 2005 to 2009 and then in 2019 won the lightweight single scull world title. He had previously won underage world championships as a junior and an U23.
Roderick Chisholm is a British lightweight class former rower who represented both Great Britain and Australia at world championships. He is an Australian national champion, a World Champion and a dual Olympian who competed at the world class level in both sculls and in sweep-oared boats.
Thomas Gibson is an Australian lightweight rower. He is a twelve-time Australian national champion, a world champion and a dual Olympian.
The 1972 New Zealand eight was a team of Olympic gold medallists in rowing from New Zealand, having previously won the 1971 European Rowing Championships. At the time, the eight was regarded as the blue ribbon class of rowing, and the sport still had amateur-status in New Zealand, unlike many other nations competing in rowing. After a disappointing Olympic performance at the 1968 Summer Olympics by the New Zealand eight, national selectors Rusty Robertson, Don Rowlands, and Fred Strachan were tasked with assembling a new crew. Robertson was also the team's coach. The next time a New Zealand eight competed was at the 1970 World Rowing Championships, where they came third. The team was once again significantly changed for the next rowing season, with the 1971 edition of the European Rowing Championships and other international regattas beforehand seen as the ultimate test for the 1972 Summer Olympics. The team put up an impressive performance, beat the highly favoured East German eight, and became European champion; at the time the win was regarded to hold world championship status. No further changes were made to the team, not even their seating position, for the 1972 season. Despite a shoe-string budget, financial constraints, and all rowers working part-time, the 1971 success was repeated and the team won Olympic gold in Munich. The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Avery Brundage, was a zealous advocate of amateurism; he was so impressed by the New Zealand performance that he insisted on handing out the gold medals himself. During the medal ceremony, much to almost everybody's surprise, "God Defend New Zealand" was played instead of the national anthem, "God Save the Queen". It was the impetus for a campaign to make "God Defend New Zealand" the New Zealand anthem, and in 1977 it was gazetted as having equal status to the traditional anthem.
Edward Officer Hale is an Australian former rower. He competed at the elite level over a fifteen-year period from 1970 to 1984, primarily as a sculler. He was a fourteen time Australian national champion - nine times in a single scull, four times in crewed sculling boats and once in a sweep oared pair. He won the New Zealand national single sculls championship in 1976. He represented at two World Rowing Championships and competed in the men's single sculls event at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Campbell Watts is an Australian rower. He is an Australian national champion who participated at the 2018 World Rowing Championships, where he won a silver medal.
Hamish Parry is a former Australian representative lightweight rower. He was a nine-time national champion in both sculling and sweep-oared crews and has sculled at underage and senior world championships from 2013 to 2021.
Rowena Meredith is an Australian representative rower. She is an Olympian, an Australian national champion at both U23 and senior levels, was twice a medallist at underage world championships and has won four medals at World Rowing Cups. She competed in the Australian women's quad scull at Tokyo 2021 winning a bronze medal.
Coordinates: 41°17′18″S174°46′45″E / 41.28824°S 174.77927°E