Aikman Club

01/04/2026

Aikman Club Continues To Impress

On a fine day for rowing a small squad of Aikman Club rowers returned to the Maribyrnong River on 21st March – this time to the Footscray Regatta (a little down river from Essendon).

With five entries for the day the club claimed 1 First, 2 Seconds and 1 third place in Finals on the day.

The action commenced with the first race of the day with Chris Gassin lining up in the Male B grade Single Scull Heat. Chris turned the tables on his Essendon opponent Lachlan Bird by 0.26s – Bird having beaten Chris in the final of the recent State Championships.

The Final saw Chris pitted against a rower from Wendouree-Ballart who proved too good on the day crossing the finish line 8.17s ahead of Chris.

Next up were the heats of the Men’s C grade Single sculls – with Tom Cariss winning his heat by 6.53s in the time of 2m59.6s. Not to be outdone Chris Gassin returned to the water winning his heat by 8.3s in 2m 54.79. Chris also extracted some further revenge in defeating Louis Sirotic from Essendon, who narrowly defeated Chris taking 3rd place in the State Championships C grade single. Reuben Goff managed a strong finish having caught a crab early in his heat to finish 3rd in 3m 38.86s. This was Reubens 2nd ever race following his efforts at the State titles.

With the C grade Single sculls split over 2 divisions (due to the number of entries over all) Tom was first up in his final finishing a gallant 2nd only 2.22s behind his Richmond opponent - having encountered equipment issues in the race. In the next event Chris won his division of the C grade Single with a commanding performance winning by 9.32s.

In the final bracket of the day our 3 single scullers joined with Phil Tan in the Male C grade Quad Scull with Andrew Tan in the cox seat. In a strong start to finish race the crew won the heat by 8.75s in a time of 2min 54.82s.

The final of the Quad was a tight run battle with the crew finishing on strongly for 3rd place against experienced competitors from Melbourne Argonauts and regatta host Footscray City. (No time was taken for this race).

The performances of our crews over recent regattas have a number of clubs looking over their shoulders when lining up for races.

The next regatta is on home turf at the National Water Sport Centre at Carrum on 18th April- we look forward to a strong support presence on the day.

24/03/2026

2026 Rowing Victoria 150th Anniversary State Championships
The Aikman Club joined with rowers from 69 other Clubs and Schools to participate in the State Championships at Lake Wendouree, Ballarat. The Champs were held over 3 days 27th Feb – 1st March. The venue was the 1956 Olympic course.
In yet more firsts for the Club two members rowed in the Male C Grade Single Sculls event.
The conditions over the weekend varied significantly, form Thunderstorms on Friday afternoon, good conditions on Saturday and windy on Sunday – when the C grade singles were held.
Battling high winds on Sunday afternoon Chris Gassin (OH ’08) finished a strong 2nd in his heat in 4.27.34s to advance to the final later in the day. In an earlier heat of the same event Reuben Goff managed a respectable 5th in 5.14.01. This was Reuben’s first ever race.
In the final Chris managed a strong 4th place in 4.28.91 missing the podium by a narrow margin.
Club stalwart Paul Diggerson was also involved as the President of the Jury running the regatta.
The club now looks forward to the next adventure at Footscray on the Maribyrnong on the 21st March, and the State Masters Championships at Nagambie on the 2nd & 3rd May.
New members are always welcome – whether you just want a relaxing social row or have never rowed before but would like to give it a go! There is no requirement that you join our racing squad.
Check our website or contact [email protected]

19/03/2026

Aikman Club feature in 1st Rowing Victoria Virtual Rowing Championships

For the first time Rowing Victoria conducted a Virtual rowing Championship over the week 7th- 15th February 2026.
Indoor rowing is one of the newer aspects of rowing – conducted on Concept 2 Row Erg’s across the State. There were 3 distances 500m, 1,000m & 2,000m across both Male & Female and various age categories.

Reuben Goff featured on the podium in the Masters category across all 3 distances – taking Silver in the 500m (1.24.6), Gold in the 1,000m (3.13.0), and Bronze in the 2,000m (7.03.0).
Other club members competing in the Masters category included Phil Tan 4th in the 1,000m and 5th in the 500m and Paul Diggerson 6th in the 500m.

On ANZAC Day (25th April) the Club will be joining other Australian Clubs and individuals in the annual ANZAC Challenge with New Zealand – to see which country can rack up the most 2,504m efforts on Row Erg’s. If you want to join in the challenge, get in touch for times the club will be open.

[email protected]

18/03/2026

Aikman Club strikes Gold

Following on from the recent Bendigo Regatta, a small squad ventured across town to Essendon on 14 December for the Henley on Maribyrnong Regatta.

A Henley style event is match racing (2 crews) usually over 3 rounds with the winner progressing.

Chris Gassin (OH ’08) lead the team performances taking out Division 1 of the Male Masters Single Scull event – with a winning margin in the final of 0.42s. for the Clubs first Gold Medal. Earlier in the day Chris finished a creditable 9th in the Male A Grade single scull. This was the first time Chris has returned to racing since representing HY in the 2008 Head of River as 2 seat in the 1st VIII which finished 1st in the B Final, having narrowly missed the A Final by 0.62s.

Other strong performances came from Tom Cariss (OH ‘22 ) in the Male C grade Single scull, along with Ben Reed (OH’24).

The Female C grade Coxed Quad who won their Time Trial and the Mixed Masters coxed Quad who were competitive in their Heat.

The Club is now looking towards the next regatta.
New members are always welcome – whether you just want a relaxing social row or have never rowed before but would like to give it a go!

There is no requirement that you join our racing squad.

Check our website or contact [email protected]

22/10/2025

More Video from Bendigo - the fully race for the Male Masters 4+

19/10/2025

Aikman Club returns to racing

Following 18 months of growth of the Club, we returned to racing with a trip to Lake Weeroona for the annual Bendigo Sprint regatta on 18th October 2025. The Development squad of 12 rowers competed in 6 events across the day, with all crews gaining valuable experience. Five of the six crews competed in Finals. The Male C grade coxed Four finished 2nd in the Final, Female C grade coxed Quad 4th in the Heat, Mixed Masters coxed Quad 3rd in the Final, Mixed coxed Quad 4th in the Final and the Male Masters coxed Four finished 4th in the Final.
In the Male C grade single scull Ben Reed (OH 2024) became the Club’s first Winner of any event, in taking out his Heat race. Ben went on to finish 4th in the Final. Ben’s school rowing was mainly as a cox (which included coxing Haileybury crews to wins in the Male B grade 4 and B grade 8 at the Australian Henley in 2022, Open Male Schools Quad at Head of Schoolboys and Head of the River as well as the U21 Quad at State Championships in 2023 and defending the Open Schoolboys Quad at the Head of the River in 2024). We look forward to Ben’s journey transitioning from cox to rower. In a nod to Haileybury rowing history the boat Ben rowed was previously owned by Mr D.J. Thain, a coach of crews in the early days of the College rowing program.
The squad plus some additional members are now looking forward to future regattas with the next likely event the Henley of Maribyrnong (Essendon R.C.) in early December.
Anyone interested in getting involved in rowing are welcome to get in touch with the Club or join us on a Sunday morning.

31/08/2025

On a windy Saturday (30/8) an indoor workout is just the thing.

12/08/2025

What a difference 1 hour or so makes from fog to bright sunshine on a great morning for rowing (Sunday 10th Oct)

06/07/2025

overview

06/07/2025