Ballarat Grammar School have made it four-consecutive titles in the boys' open division one Head of the Lake.
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The crew, consisting of Hugh Bond, Will Clarke, George Follett, Charles Savage and Jess Norton, finished off Sunday's regatta at Lake Wendouree in strong fashion, pushing away from St Patrick's College in second and Ballarat Clarendon College in third.
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The win was certainly not a sure thing after the first 1000 metres, with Clarendon holding a solid lead over the rest of the field.
Coach Paul Commons praised his crew for its fight back in the second 1000 metres to take out the title in a time of 6:42.39.
"Very excited, it was just an incredible race," he said.
"We thought we were good enough to win, but (Clarendon) College was well out in front at halfway.
"We had a race plan that thought it might have College going out fast, but to be honest, as a coach, it's pretty nerve-wracking to have your crew that far down at halfway."
From that point, Grammar put the foot down and rowed through Clarendon for a fourth-straight win.
It is the first time Grammar has achieved a four-peat in the boys' race since 1977-1980.
The last time the girls achieved it was during a dominant 1990's era, where they claimed 10-straight titles between 1992-2001.
Grammar now joins an elite group of boys crews to win four-straight, which includes Ballarat College (1949-1952), Ballarat and Clarendon College (1972-1976), Grammar (1977-1980) and St Patrick's College (2007-2010).
Stroke Hugh Bond, a member of last year's winning crew alongside Will Clarke, struggled to put what the win meant into words.
"Pretty overwhelmed," he said.
"It was a great race, I didn't think we had it at the half but stuck in there and got through to the end.
"I could see them (Clarendon) in the corner of my eye and just made a call and just rowed through them.
"It's pretty amazing just to get a seat at a time and then just finished it off."
The crew's preparation was interrupted due to COVID-19, a problem a lot of schools faced throughout the lead up to Head of the Lake.
Despite Follett being forced to isolate for seven days and re-joining the crew six days out from race day, the crew made do with what it had.
"We then went into small boats, we rowed pairs ... and single sculls. I suppose it's a testament to our program, we do a lot of that now," Commons said.
"We were all holding our breath, probably everyone was like that, hoping someone doesn't have to isolate in the last week.
"Luckily George was the only one ... we got it back together eventually, they were feeling good for this."
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