Mayor Barry McKenna and councillors Catherine Ehrhardt, Dan Bull and Chris Cornish will form the Council Oars, one of 10 teams set to compete in ANA Rowing Club’s annual Learn-to-Row Challenge Regatta.
Crs Ehrhardt and Cornish rowed some 20 years ago for Perth College and Guildford Grammar respectively, while crs McKenna and Bull have never been in a racing boat before.
As coxswain for the councillor quad, coach Lawrence Bourke has led the team in five lead-up training sessions.
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READ NOW“From the club’s point of view, we’re hoping to get some new recruits out of it,” Mr Bourke said.
“These things are quite fun to watch… you never know, we might have a capsize.” Cr McKenna said rowing was far more technical than he originally thought.
“My non-co-ordination has tried to sink it a few times; they’re all rowing in one direction and I’m going the other,” he said.
Cr Bull said it was “fantastic” ANA Rowing Club provided an opportunity for people new to the sport to give it a go.
Mr Bourke said the Swan River stretch available to the Maylands club was “probably the best bit of water in the State”.
He said ANA started in the 1920s beside the WA Rowing Club, but the clubhouse was gutted by fire in the 1960s.
The club shared space with Swan River Rowing Club until the early 1990s when it moved to Bayswater.
The Learn-to-Row Challenge Regatta will be held at Hinds Reserve, Bayswater, on Sunday, March 13, at 10am.