The Moruya-Canberra Vikings entered an open men’s and women’s crew while the Moruya under 23s women’s crew took part in their first nationals.

Vikings sweep Gavin Hunt said the crews had “reasonably high hopes” of getting through to the finals.

Unfortunately both crews were eliminated within 10 minutes of each other in the first round of elimination races.

Hunt said the women’s crew was “very unlucky” to be pipped by eventual finalist Palm Beach.

“The girls performed pretty well in the heats and went so close to getting through to the next round,” Hunt said.

Hunt said there was “very little water movement on the Friday” to offer assistance to his crew.

“The flat water gave way to a lot of tight finishes,” he said.

The men’s crew missed the start as one rower popped his oar out. The mistake put the crew four boat lengths behind before they were able to make a charge.

The Vikings surged through the water chasing a further appearance and fell a quarter of a boat length short in their pursuit. 

“The crew put in an enormous row and it was disappointing we couldn’t get through to the finals as they were right on the pace,” Hunt said. 

Hunt said the Vikings would begin rowing in September or October.

“It can be a bit cold on the lake in Canberra to train over winter,” Hunt said.

Shaun Pike was the sweep for the under 23s crew and was encouraged by its performance.

The under 23s qualified for the last 18 and bowed out in the quarter-finals.

“The girls are all aged 17 so they have five more years in the division,” Pike said.

“The eventual top three was in our quarter-final and the girls were not overwhelmed by the competition.

“I wanted to show them what the nationals were about and I think they had a good time.”

Pike said the crew would take time to decide whether it would race next season.

“It’s the girls HSC so they may give next season a break but we’ll decide later on,” he said.