Rowers rejoice as way cleared through weeds
T O WN S V I L L E ’ S y o u n g rowers are breathing a sigh of relief after this weekend’s NQ Schools Championships regatta was saved from cancellation.
Parent Tracey Keogh said aquatic weeds on the Ross River course had been an issue for years, forcing regattas to be cancelled.
Ms Keogh said the outof- control weeds were a serious hazard for rowers.
“The worst thing is we’ve got some really talented kids here and they can’t even get on the water,” she said.
“The weed is so thick that if a kid did capsize and get caught up in it … then that kid could get really hurt or worse. You don’t want to think about it, but it could happen.”
Ms Keogh said there were concerns this weekend’s NQ Schools Championships Regatta, with competitors travelling from Cairns, Rockhampton and everywhere in between, would be cancelled.
However, a last- minute response from Townsville City Council to clear the weed gave the event a chance to continue.
President of the Riverway Rowing Club Gavin Jones said the weed had choked the river for months.
“We were really worried we were going to have to cancel,” he said.
“( The weeds have) never been this bad.”
Mr Jones said The JCU and Riverway Rowing Clubs met with councillors over the issue.
“They immediately tasked an enormous weed clearing machine to our stretch of the river,” he said.
“It looks like, if the winds are favourable, we’ll be able to conduct the regatta.
“Some of the kids have been training for 12 months and now they’ll get to compete. Without council’s intervention I don’t think any of these regattas would have gone ahead.”
Mr Jones said the NQ Schools Championships was one of the biggest events on the Townsville rowing calendar, with about 300 competitors taking to the water.
“There’s quite a few Townsville kids involved, and there’s a lot of people coming up and spending the weekend in Townsville that wouldn’t otherwise be here,” he said.
A Townsville City Council spokesman said the weed harvester had been allocated to the area for 12 weeks in an attempt to clear the weeds ahead of upcoming races.