Kennedy is on board with TSS
MEET the man behind The Southport School’s Head of the River push.
Cameron Kennedy has spent the past decade travelling the world and coaching rowing but has now returned to the Gold Coast as TSS First VIII coach to aid one of Australia’s oldest boat sheds in their pursuit of a 22nd Head of the River title.
Kennedy started his coaching career in Brisbane as part of the St Peters Lutheran College female rowing program in Brisbane before joining the Australian junior rowing program that competed at the World Championships.
From there, Kennedy moved to the UK and has spent the past eight years as a coaching professional before relocating in October last year specifically for the TSS role.
“I’ve had a lot of different experiences which have really opened my eyes to a lot of different ways of doing things and the different ways you can make a boat go fast,” he said. “It’s very good to be back.” After coming second and fourth in their two open eight rotations at the first regatta last weekend, Kennedy said he now had a clearer picture of where his crew stood.
“You could have thrown a blanket over the field it was that close in the first race but we came home very strong,” he said. “We swapped a few seats around in the second rotation to experiment but it still wasn’t as fast as we’d like.”
With fitness the focus for the next few weeks, Kennedy said he would aim to have his crew primed to peak at Head of the River next month.
Kennedy believes secondyear First VIII crew members Lachie Wright and Mackenzie Branch potentially have what it takes to crack the Australian junior program in the future.
Today’s GPS regatta starts at 8am at Wyaralong dam.