On Friday 16 June 2017, Balmain Rowing Club held its annual presentation night, where Balmain Para Rowing Program’s own Kevin Wall was announced as Balmain Rowing Club’s overall individual point score champion for the 2016 – 2017 Summer Season. Kevin was presented with the ‘Col Campbell Memorial Trophy’, a most prestigious cup which dates back to the 1967-1968 season, where it was first won by Frank Gardiner (who would later go on to win the Australian Championship Junior coxed four for Balmain Rowing Club, together with Cliff Fountain, Terry Maher, Richard Hunt, with Stephen Purkis as coxswain and Don Croot as coach).
Kevin also was awarded the trophy for the highest male masters’ point score, again due to his significant achievements over the Summer season. When his awards were announced, Kevin was ecstatic: “Cheers… I’m pretty Chuffed!” he replied.
Coaches of the Year
The two founders of the Balmain Para Rowing Program, Barbara Ramjan and Anne Craig, were also jointly awarded the ‘Coach of the Year’ trophy together with two of the women’s junior coaches. Barbara and Anne have had a wonderful year at the program, where, together with Alex Nikolaidis and Liam James, they have had resounding success with Jeremy McGrath’s inclusion in the Australian Paralympic LTA coxed four, a resounding win in the NSW State point score (not only winning the point score, but obtaining more points in para rowing than all other clubs combined in the state), and a huge effort in the development of both new competitive rowers and recreational para-rowers, with now more than twenty para-rowers on the water over the season. A well-deserved effort!
Open Squad Wins
In the spirit of inclusion, the Balmain Para-Rowing Program also works closely with the club men’s open squad at Balmain Rowing Club, and we were delighted to see two squad-members, Eoghan and Marco, take out the Summer Season Schoolboy point score and the overall Winter Series point score respectively. Eoghan was also runner-up to Kevin in the overall Summer season point-score, and the two rowers have been both rivals and crewmates all season long.
Congratulations to all winners and thanks to the club for a lovely night!