Beach Sprint is a head-to-head elimination style of racing, with a short sprint along the beach, a 250m slalom row, and a 180-degree turn before rowing back 250m to the beach and sprinting to the finish line. Competitions are structured such that athletes who progress further are required to race multiple times within a short time window. This discipline of rowing tests your power and strength, as well as coastal navigation skills and performance under fatigue.
To this end the Oceania Youth Athletes Development training camp delivered by World Rowing in Sydney was designed to introduce the camp participants to each of the disciplines involved in beach sprint. This included a running session delivered by Michael Kember, Manly SLS Running Coach, as well as a surfing/sea orientation session by renown surfer Amee Donohoe owner and coach of the Central Coast Surf Academy/ Surfing Australia.
As the camp athletes were new to beach sprints and only started their on-water training during the 5 day camp, rowing techniques were demonstrated by Australian Olympian’s Spencer Turrin OAM, Georgie Rowe, and Vanuatu National Team beach sprint rower, Ben Pechan guided by Laryssa Biesenthal OLY, World Rowing Development Technical Lead Expert for Oceania
Young Oceania athletes had the chance to race on water for the first time during the first Oceania Youth Development Beach Sprints Championships endorsed by Oceania Rowing Confederation (ORCON), taking place on October 4th and 5th 2024 at Station Beach – Palm Beach. The Championships included U17 girls and boys time trial and U17 girls and boys solo races.
The Oceania Youth Development Beach Sprints Championship offered a different set of challenges and excitement. These beach sprints combined running, rowing and navigation, testing the athletes’ versatility and adaptability. The on-water training sessions at Narrabeen in the controlled environment were crucial in preparing the athletes for these competitions, ensuring they were confident and competent in their rowing skills. The championships were organised and delivered by Rowing New South Wales (RNSW) as a value in kind contribution to the training camp. RNSW transported the equipment, assisted the World Rowing Experts in demonstrating and teaching the participants coaches how to lay the beach sprint course, and RNSW ran the regatta. The championships and training camp were also endorsed by Rowing Australia, who also assisted in the local transportation and air transfer of the camp participants.
The Olympic Values of Excellence, Respect and Friendship were showcased by all the participating athletes and coaches. A young Aussi athlete, Ewan Humphreys, who participated in the under 17 category as part of the RNSW races organisation ranked first both on the time trials and the U17 solos. However, as Ewan started rowing for over 3 years, and his performance level was much higher than the other athletes, who only started their rowing journey 3 months ago, and were oriented to using rowing boats and rowing on water only for the 5 days camp, Ewan decided to hand over his medal to Tonga’s Siaosi Takayawa ranking second giving him the chance to top the rank as Oceania U17 gold medallist, showing sportsmanship and compassion. There was also a great spirit of friendship amongst all the athletes, who, although competing against each other, kept cheered for one another and extending support to each other rising above their competitive spirits showcased throughout the week in a healthy and positive way.
The last day of races was also attended by Rowing Australia President Stephen Donnelley, who commended the athletes for their efforts and supported the emerging young talents as they were starting their rowing journey.
The World Rowing Oceania Youth Athlete Development camp and championships were achieved through the collaboration of coaches, and athlete volunteers, namely: participating Oceania Rowing Federations coaches, Kevin Scott (PYF), Paula Stevenson-Mcdonald (ASA), Joanne Reiher and Semesa Vilise (FIJ), Ioana K. Sugar (TGA), Jean Louis Morin (VAN) and Lisa Kendall & Spencer Turrin (AUS). RNSW’s Elliot Shackcloth-Bertinetti, Australian guest coaches and Olympians Amy Clay and Georgie Rowe, Vanuatu National Team beach sprint rower, Ben Pechan, U19 Rower Avery Brambell with the World Rowing Oceania Development Team. All went above and beyond- from standing in mucky water for hours to get hands on coaching, to picking up sea grass, to ensure the running path was clear, to rowing out and dropping buoys to lay a course, to rigging, unrigging and loading boats, basically doing whatever it took to ensure the participants had an excellent, safe and enjoyable experience.
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