ROW TO A RECORD
TSS’ SEASON TO SAVOUR:
NEVER in Tess Murray’s rowing career had she heard of a crew going undefeated for an entire season and she certainly didn’t think she could coach one.
In her first year of coaching, Murray led the now legendary The Southport School Year 9 division 8 quad that went undefeated all GPS season and took out Head of the River.
Consisting of the formidable five-man squad of cox
Cooper Lygo, Finn Backus, Elijah Trevor-Jones, Angus Hacon and William Gatenby, TSS crossed the line just over three seconds ahead of Churchie last month to win Head of the River and solidify their spectacular season.
“It was such a close race and I was very nervous,” Murray said of Head of the River. “We had our big 20 stroke push at the 500m mark, which was always when they got ahead, but I thought Churchie was going to win for sure.
“When I first had them as a crew, I thought we could go well if they all put in a lot of effort but I didn’t think they could go undefeated. They’ve improved so much. At the end of the season, they were far beyond what I’d expect from a Year 9 crew and they were rowing well beyond their age and place. I thought the first win would be it but then we had the second and third and fourth and they had that weight on their shoulders but they couldn’t stop enjoying it.”
After returning from American college on a rowing scholarship, Murray went to Bond University on the Gold Coast and began coaching rowing at St Hilda’s before completing her first season at TSS this year.
The coach vowed to be back next year to continue developing the school’s emerging talent after falling in love with mentoring.
“I started rowing in the Year 9 division six crew so a similar standard to what these boys are, which is why I wanted to coach this age group,” Murray said.
“Year 9 sets up your love for rowing and I wanted to make sure the boys were having fun and they can look back and enjoy their time in the sport.”
I THOUGHT WE COULD GO WELL BUT I DIDN’T THINK UNDEFEATED TESS MURRAY