BALLARAT schools might have turned heads at last week’s Sydney International Rowing Regatta, but one former master of Lake Wendouree was more than happy to fly under the radar.
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Former Ballarat Clarendon College student Katrina Werry produced the performance of the meet on her way to four national titles.
Werry took home gold in the under-23 women’s coxless pairs and fours as well as the open women’s eights.
Her efforts eventually saw Werry and pair partner Addy Dunkley-Smith selected into Victoria’s winning crew in the prestigious Queen’s Cup.
The 21-year-old Werry said the results had exceeded her expectations, despite a solid summer of training out of Melbourne’s Mercantile Rowing Club.
“We didn’t expect to do so well, but we’ve been training pretty hard on the Yarra River,” she said.
This is our third season together (with Dunkley-Smith) and we’ve really started to figure out how to get around each other, and there’s a huge amount of trust and respect in the boat.”
Werry won the Head of the Lake with Clarendon’s girls squad in 2010-11, represented Australia’s youth team in 2012 and was part of Australia’s under-21 and under-23 teams in 2013-14 respectively.
She has her sights set on an eventual Olympic Games appearance, but her short-
term goal is focused on atoning for last year’s fourth place in the under-23 world championships with Dunkley-Smith.
“I’m going to continue training for two weeks in Melbourne before we fly to Sydney on April 15 for the under-23 Australian trials,” Werry said.
“The world champs (are) in Bulgaria this year and we’re determined to at least get on the podium.
“At some stage, I would definitely love to make the Olympic team. Maybe not in Rio but certainly in Tokyo.”