St Joseph's Nudgee College

October 19, 2009

St Joseph's Nudgee College Director of Rowing Mr Christian Oneto reports on the recent Barralong regatta and how participants are assisting the College’s Big Brekky program. 

On Sunday 11 October, Nudgee College Rowing hosted a corporate regatta to raise funds for the ability to purchase new boats for the club and, more importantly, to help raise funds for Community and Mission. Earlier this year Chris Ryan (Dean of Community and Mission) set a challenge to the College community to try to integrate their fundraising capabilities with Community and Mission projects.

The Rowing Parent Support group has taken this opportunity to align the Barralong regatta with the Big Brekky initiative. Proceeds from the regatta totalled $5,000 which was also coupled with pledges from many organisations to help with the purchasing of a purpose built van.

The day itself had a carnival type atmosphere with all crews participating in 3-4 races, and some great results from crews that had only learnt to row just a few short weeks earlier. All races had exciting finishes with crews showing some fantastic improvement over the season. Special mention must go to the Ostwald Bros., an engineering firm, who not only showed impressive abilities on the water but also as the major sponsors for the event.

Many thanks need to go to Gary Mark and Colin Stewart as well as all the parents who worked tirelessly to put together this event. It was wonderful to see so many staff there participating alongside the corporate rowers. Thank you to Nicolette Scanlon, Jeff Campbell, Michael Flynn, Kevin O’Connor, Nicola Bone, Yvonne O’Neill, Ken Mitchell, and Graham Leddie. Special mention goes to Claire Juratowitch who helped behind the scenes with coordinating the event as well as being a participant.

In addition, a particular mention goes to the students who helped coach and cox for the regatta. Their help has been invaluable to the success of the event. For some, particularly the Year 11s, this meant that, with their own training, they were at the shed at 5.30am, six mornings a week. It was a true indication of their commitment to the rowing program that they were able to do this and still be enthusiastic and professional with the corporate crews.

Christian Oneto
Director of Rowing

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