Summer 2023

Summer training continued to focus on building strength and stamina in the boat. We continued with four training sessions available to team during the week with encouragement to attend as many as possible. 

Naturally, work and family commitments means that is not always possible but it was fantastic to see so many attending as frequently as possible.  Some travel from Matamata and Waihi, others have young families and full time work commitments.  Most Saturdays after training, many of the team head off for a coffee and catchup. 

IBCPC International
Breast Cancer Regatta 10-16 April

We were back to Lake Karapiro for this international event that attracted participants from all corners of the world. There were over 2200 participants, making up 81 breast cancer survivors teams and 24 supporter teams. This event is held every four years but unfortunately COVID delayed this event from 2022, hence the 2023 date. Teams from around the world arrived for registration and training sessions on 11 and 12 April.

The Boobops gathered again at Matamata on 13 April for the first event of the regatta which was the Meet and Greet in Hamilton that evening. What a fantastic event and awesome to see so many people enjoy the Māori dance items, wonderful food and drink along with comradery. On Friday 14, we met in Cambridge for the street parade and again an absolutely wonderful event with countries marching through the main street of Cambridge in alphabetical order. Boobops were one of the first teams to arrive at the domain and so it was a privilege to be part of the guard of honour for other teams to be greeted with.

Paddling was again disrupted due to high winds and issues with the platforms for race starts but we all still enjoyed two wonderful days of racing, when possible and swapping badges and shirts. Many of us caught up with paddling buddies from Melbourne and other international regattas.

The Sandy Smith flower ceremony was a land event this year, due to the conditions but still a very moving and emotional ceremony. This is a non-competitive regatta – yeah right – however it was exciting to hear Boobops Chardy time in the 500m is second in the world, with a very close time to Waikato Treasure Chests taking out first place. This time was based on two heat races and we are left wondering what would or could have happened had there been a final.

Nationals 8 & 9 April

We headed to Lake Karapiro for this regatta and stayed in Matamata, so the team were all together as a few of us live locally.  This meant we had a party venue to celebrate our season on the Saturday evening.  The weather wasn’t kind over the weekend with many races being cancelled. 

Once again we had two teams entered into the 20 person races, where Chardy cleaned up with gold in the 500m and 2000m races.  Unfortunately, the 200m was unable to be held due to weather.  Savvies improved immensely on their times during all races.  Boobops were also entered into the 10 person races and so we entered three teams here.  Chardy bought home bronze and Pinot were not far behind their time.

Auckland Regionals March 25 & 26th

Most of the team headed to Auckland for the Regionals held at Lake Pupuke in Takapuna. Most of the crew were able to stay within walking distance of the lake which made for ease of access to the venue each day. We were fortunate enough to enter two x 20 person boats into the races. Boobops Chardy bought home gold medals in all three races – 200m, 500m and 2000m. We think coach was quite proud and it was fun to drink champagne out of the winning cup.

Auckland Anniversary Weekend
Regatta 2023

Unfortunately, this was disrupted by heavy seas and unseasonable weather and called off early in the day. There were a few injuries sustained due to large waves crashing over the bows of the boats whilst trying to load from the shore.