THIS was the first time Ballarat Clarendon College put the Kat Werry to the test in Boat Race, like their boat's namesake, the crew claimed the Girls' Head of the Lake title.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Victory for Teja Kirsanovs (stroke), Annabelle Moloney (three-seat), Mackenzie Kopke-Veldhuis (two-seat), Phoebe Maher (bow) and Cooper Nolle (coxswain) marks College's fourth consecutive win to capture Ballarat Associated School's Patterson Shield.
And they did so, in an Olympic year with Werry - a College 2010 and 2011 Head of the Lake winner - vying to row in Paris.
College Captain of Boats Mackenzie Kopke-Veldhuis said it was a surreal experience to be in such a special, new boat for the school and up against Grammar with a boat named Lucy Stephan, after the Tokyo Olympic gold medallist in the women's four and 2009 Head of the Lake winner.
College crossed the finish in the 2000-metre race clocking a time of eight minutes and 86 seconds with a strong and clear 6.62-second margin on nearest rival Loreto. Ballarat High School was a further 2.18 seconds back in third.
An emotional College crew was largely new to the regatta's marquee race with Teja Kirsanovs the only returning crew member from 2023's win.
College's preparations have been hampered with injury, including one member undergoing finger surgery, and they had seen little to nothing of their rivals, especially Loreto which they powered past.
Staying clam and strong was the College mantra.
"We knew it would be tough. We hadn't raced Loreto all season so we wanted to stay internal. We kept in our boat. We knew if we rowed calm and well, we could do anything we wanted," Kopke-Veldhuis said.
"So we headed out there, we backed into the start blocks, we stayed calm.
"We put all of it into the start.
"We were behind in maybe the first 500 [metres] then from then on, it was just a slog.
"We stayed calm and then once we got ahead, we knew it was time and we had to keep it steady on the lake, more an more. Once we hit the spit, we just heard the College spit crew all the way."
College had trained for those final deafening moments, knowing they would be close to their spit crew and that it would be unlikely they would hear cox Cooper Nolle's calls.
College girls' firsts coach Nicki Plucinski said this had been one of the toughest seasons coaching, due to crew injuries, but she knew their best race was enough to win.
There is no rest for the champions. College has state championships next weekend before Head of the Schoolgirls in Geelong from where they will head straight to the airport for nationals in Sydney.
