BATEMANS Bay’s open men’s surfboat crew, Starrett, took up oars for the last time this season at the National Surf Life Saving Championships in Scarborough, WA.
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Michael Bellette, Wayne Coppin, Brandon Ellis, Ben Burdett and sweep Neil Innes capped off a disjointed season with a third consecutive national final appearance.
The Bay finished seventh in the final, which was won by Austinmer.
Innes said the crew put in a “remarkable effort” to get so far.
“To make the Aussie finals three years in a row is quite an achievement,” Innes said.
The crew placed well in their heats on Thursday last week, despite the fact that fill-in bowman Burdett was suffering from food poisoning.
“We came up against some red-hot crews, which made the heats harder than they should have been,” Innes said.
“The boys rowed really well, pushing through extra adversity with Ben being sick.”
In the semi-final, the Bay led all the way until it “tripped over” at the finish line.
“One tower said we were third and the other said we finished fourth, so both crews were allowed in to the final,” Innes said.
Innes said the crew did not row as well as they would have liked in the final because “a few things did not go their way”.
“We just didn’t get it together quite right,” he said.
“There was a bit of different movement in the water and it felt like we couldn’t get a runner when the other boats did.”
However, the Batemans Bay crew remained in good spirits, despite missing out on a medal.
When Brian Stephenson was injured mid-season, former junior Burdett joined the crew.
“The boys did well to push through a disjointed season and we are really happy with our season,” Innes said.
“With Brian going out we could have pulled the pin but I’m very proud of the boys for pushing on.”
Innes said the standard the crew maintained was “phenomenal”.
“For a small club to take on the deep city clubs with Olympic-standard rowers is really impressive,” he said.
Innes said a few of the crew would be keen to row next season but he would give them time to make up their minds.
“It’s been a big season and it will be good for the boys to take a few months off, and if they get the hunger again we could have another crack,” he said.