WORLD Rowing Masters Regatta volunteer and physiotherapy student Rachael Maher has fortunately not needed to use her healing powers on the rowers at Lake Wendouree, but her Japanese skills have come in handy.
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“I speak a bit of Japanese, so I’ve been having a great time with the Japanese tourists,” she said.
“They’re really friendly, they’ve given quite a few of us gifts.”
Ms Maher, 22, is also a part-time rowing coach at Ballarat Clarendon College, which she said helped with her work bringing boats in on the pontoons after races.
“Having a bit of a background in rowing is helpful, just so you know when you pull them in you don’t lift the oars up and they fall in. That’s happened before,” she said.
It became harder for the rowers to safely get back in on Friday, when the weather picked up, but Ms Maher said they managed to keep everyone relatively dry.
“It was really cold, windy, and choppy. It was a bit hard to get the boats, just because the wind was blowing them everywhere, so we had to give them more of a hand than usual,” she said.
More than 200 volunteers helped with the regatta, and celebrated the end of racing on Sunday with a race against FISA officials.
Ms Maher rowed in the eights race, after she said the older rowers inspired to get back onto the water.
“I’m only 22, so if these 86-year-olds can do it, surely I can get back out there and do it,” she said.
alex.hamer@fairfaxmedia.com.au