Rowing treble has Townsville Grammar riding high
TOWNSVILLE Grammar School has achieved a rare rowing trifecta after its open boys four won gold at the Queensland Schools State Championships in Rockhampton last weekend.
The team of Shaun Bell, Oliver Jhinku, Jackson Green, Lachlan DonnellWales, and coxswain Jamie Hodges emerged victorious against the best junior rowers from across the state.
It capped a perfect season for the Grammar crew after they were also crowned the Head of the River champions and North Queensland schools champions last month.
It’s just the third time in the past 20 years that the Townsville school has achieved the treble.
“The state title is the hardest to win,” Grammar director of rowing Corby Green said.
“It is an open event which means Year 12s, with the difference being in our boat we had one Year 12, two Year 11s, and the stroke of the boat was a Year 9 boy ( Donnell- Wales).
“For that stroke boy in particular being a Year 9 and actually going up against those other crews from Brisbane was a big achievement for our school and for our North Queensland region,” Green said. Townsville rowing clubs have had a disrupted season with aquatic weeds on the Ross River creating a serious hazard, but Green said the schools trifecta was an excellent way to finish.
“Even if you’re on the water it doesn’t take much weed to snag on a rudder and stop a boat and just create havoc through a training session,” he said. “Being a smaller, regional school to pull that off just makes it sweeter.”