Bundaberg hosts Qld Schools Championship Regatta

Bundaberg athletes row their way to a podium finish at this year's Queensland Schools Championship Regatta.

Foggy mornings and rainy afternoons did little to dampen the excitement at this year’s Queensland Schools Championship Regatta.

More than 770 students from Townsville to the Gold Coast arrived at the Bundaberg Rowing Club’s Bucca Weir site on Saturday, September 17 to compete.

Over the weekend and throughout Monday, student competed in some of 248 races, battling it out for the championship title.

Monday September, 19 was the third and final day of competition with finalists from the previous day’s heats vying for the medals.

Bundaberg schools including Shalom College and St Lukes Anglican College had more than 40 students combined at the event, with athletes like Sam Klotz and Zachary Freeman competing and placing in the finals.

“This has been the toughest competition in the four years I have been rowing,” said young Freeman on Monday.

Zachary Freeman took the gold in his Year 12 doubles event.

“Bundaberg has been winning a good number of medals,” said Rowing Qld CEO Ian Holzberger. They have an exceptionally well, very strong homegrown team.”

Shalom College support committee member Megan Evans said it had been a great weekend of competition.

“It’s been a tough competition, but everyone has rowed really well,” she said.

Several of Shalom Colleges athletes made the finals in their respective events, including Year 8 Sophie Evans in the singles event, Year 9 Ryan Steinhardt in the singles event and Year 8 Henry Jansen also in the singles event.

Mr Holzberger said no one team was standing out among the competitors, with regional teams holding their own against the bigger city teams.

Bundaberg boy Sam Klotz (far right) placed third in the Open Boys Singles Championships for Year 12.

“The really good thing for us as organisers is that all the schools have been winning something,” he said.

Successful athletes from this year's State Championships will head off to Perth in early 2023 for the National Championships, with Mr Holzberger saying more than a few of the competitors at the state level had what it took to perform well.

“The 16-18 year old age group are also at the right age to go right through to the 2032 Olympics, this event is one of the first steps in a really exciting potential pathway for those who have the skill to get there,” he said.

Athletes at the event came up through their respective school’s rowing programs, with the championships challenging those from Year 8 and higher.

More than 770 students competed in the 2022 Queensland Schools Championship Regatta.

“We don’t bring rowers in younger than that,” said Mr Holzberger, “we need to make sure they have the physicality to handle the toughness of the sport.”

Winners at the championships also take bragging rights back to their schoolyards, with some Brisbane based rowing programs catering to over 100 rowing athletes.

Mr Holzberger said the event and it’s success was due to the hard working volunteers behind the scenes that ensured the even ran on time and smoothly, even with heavy fog delaying morning starts by over an hour.

“There are probably over 100 people behind the scenes making this event happen,” he said.

Originally published as Bundaberg hosts Qld Schools Championship Regatta