Opinion: Forget the crocs, the Fitzroy River beats Long Beach

A lot has been said about rowing on Rockhampton’s Fitzroy River this week, mostly by people who have never been near it, writes Matt Canavan.

Every year Rockhampton welcomes schoolchildren from all over Queensland for the state rowing championships.

This week the Queensland government announced that the Fitzroy River at Rockhampton will also host the Olympic rowing in 2032.

A lot has been said about rowing on the Fitzroy this week, mostly by people who have never been near it.

There is nothing like a headline about crocodiles to get people talking.

But few seemed to have asked the obvious question, if crocodiles on the Fitzroy River are such an issue, why do we allow 700 of our children to row on it at the state championships every year?

I have skin in this game too. My son happily rows on the Fitzroy three to four times a week.

The truth is no one has ever been killed by a crocodile in the Rockhampton region.

This is why none of the rowing sporting authorities have raised crocodiles as an issue because they train and compete there all the time. As the Australian men’s rowing coach, Andrew Randell, said a few years ago about the Rockhampton rowing course, “It’s very rare to find an eight-lane, buoyed course which is so well mapped out anywhere in the world. So this is really a piece of gold for us to train on.”

Rowing authorities, who wanted the rowing held elsewhere, have raised the issue of the streamflow of the Fitzroy river, but this question has locals scratching their heads as much as the crocodile hype has.

The Fitzroy River in Rockhampton will host rowing at the 2032 Olympics.

The Olympic Games are due to be held in winter, and Rockhampton gets barely any rain then.

A recent hydrological study of the Fitzroy concluded that the river falls to almost zero flow in the winter months.

World rowing rules state that courses should have no significant current, which is generally interpreted as a streamflow velocity of 0.1m per second or less to ensure fairness across lanes.

Data from the Fitzroy River shows that in July and August (when the Games will occur) flow rates are below this threshold 99.9 per cent of the time.

Indeed, the average flow rate at this time of year is half the recommended threshold.

And this data is from a gauge upstream of a weir.

The flow rates at the rowing course will be even lower than this.

World rowing authorities have also been flexible on these rules for the Los Angeles games in 2028.

The rowing in LA will occur at the Marine Stadium at Long Beach.

This rowing course is connected to the ocean and affected by tides.

Flow rates in the waters surrounding the course have been measured at up to 0.2m per second, double the recommended threshold.

Marine Stadium has been approved despite this.

And the rowing course in LA will be the shortest in Olympic history at just 1500m, rather than the standard 2000m.

LA's Olympic rowing will be at Long Beach

Unlike LA, the Fitzroy River is not impacted by tides because barrages control flows from the ocean.

And, unlike LA, neither the streamflow rules nor the length of the course will need to be compromised to hold Olympic rowing at Rockhampton.

The Rockhampton rowing course is set on a pristine, gumtree-lined river which will sell the beauty of Australia’s bush to the world.

Coastal rowing (which is likely to be confirmed as an event for 2032) has been earmarked for Emu Park, just 40 minutes from Rockhampton. The Capricorn Coast would provide a stunning backdrop, among the Keppel Islands, to market the Great Barrier Reef to the world.

The new LNP Government has done a remarkable job to develop a plan that will sell all of Queensland to all of the world.

When the LNP came to office, Labor left us a plan that had just a few football games being played outside the southeast corner. Even the Paris Olympics held six sports (across 10 cities) at least 200km from Paris.

Now we have events from Toowoomba to Cairns to best use all of our assets, minimising the cost and involving all Queenslanders.

Now we have a Games that all Queenslanders can get behind.

It has been a rocky road to get here but now is the time to get behind the plan and deliver the best Games ever for all of Queensland.

Matt Canavan is an LNP senator for Queensland

Originally published as Opinion: Forget the crocs, the Fitzroy River beats Long Beach