Union Rowing Club - 1864

26/10/2023

Hi all, we received a message from John Watson, Temuka Antiques today if anyone is interested please contact him directly .

Hi i have 3 union rowing club caps from coxin and singlet too from early 1930s am thinking of putting on trade me. thanks john watson temuka antiques.

27/08/2023

19/06/2022

And it's a wrap...At our annual prize giving this afternoon we celebrated another good year for Union RC:

Best club at the National Masters Championships
Rowing NZ's Club of the Year
South Island Volunteer of the Year: Deb Hymers- Ross
CRA Masters Rower of the Year: Theo Hudson

And here are our club winners:
Junior Rower of the Year: Alex Fletcher
Junior Crew Of the Year: Caitlin Dent and Isabella McConaghty
Most Improved Rower of The Year: Caitlin Dent
Masters Rower of the Year: Theo Hudson
Masters Crew of the Year: Dom Mahoney & Andreas
Giannakogiorgos
Novice Masters Rower of the Year: Kirsty McDonald
Novice Masters Crew of the Year: Kirsty McDonald & Claire
Farrelly
Coxswain of the Year: Kim Harris
Coach of the Year: Stuart Wade
Supporters of the Year: Vicki Dent and Russell Watson
Volunteer of the Year: Peter Sullivan

And a special mention goes to BJ Erasmus and Lauren Isitt for organising the event.

Well done everybody and thank you to all our club members and volunteers for making Union RC the happy and successful club it is.

28/05/2022

Union Rowing Club: Club of the Year 2022

We are pleased to announce that our club received the Rowing New Zealand Club of the Year award for 2022. This is awarded to the club that has made the most significant improvements in its on and /or off water performance. Thank you to all of you, rowers and volunteers, who make Union RC the great club it is.

Another reason to celebrate is the fact that the award was accepted on our behalf by Nathan Flannery, St Thomas of Canterbury old boy, Union RC club representative and New Zealand Olympian, who also received his RNZ Legacy Medal at the Rowing NZ AGM in Nelson last night. Congratulations, Nathan, on your impressive achievements and we hope to show you around our shed sometime soon.

15/05/2022

Congratulations to Theo Hudson! CRA Masters Rower of the Year, such a wonderful achievement, we are all very happy for you.

21/04/2022

8th May, 8am in Kaiapoi!

28/02/2022

Canterbury Championships and South Island Championchips

Thanks to the ongoing efforts and the innovative thinking of South Island Rowing which enabled rowers young and not so young to continue to compete at Ruataniwha despite Covid restrictions, our small team gained further valuable racing experience ahead of the Aon NZ National Champs.

Unfortunately, illness and injury whittled down our numbers even further, with Lauren and Barend unable to return to competition this season. In their absence, our team of Alex, Eva, Beth, Caitlin, Izzy, Bella and Audsley, managed to achieve some very promising results at both regattas. Perfect weather meant the Canterbury Champs ran like clockwork, and it was encouraging to see the new combination of Caitlin and Bella win the women’s intermediate double. Bronze medals went to Beth, Eva and Alex in their respective club events.

The stage was set for another competitive outing at the South Island Champs, just after the team attended their second training camp at the lake. This was, of course, a much bigger event, but once again our crews did us proud with some personal bests and qualifications for their A-finals. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas, meaning not all finals could be rowed.

We also want to celebrate our masters rowers, who had more opportunity to shine at both regattas, with Andreas, Dom and Vicki also competing over the 2000m distance in club and intermediate events. Go Union!

(Beth F. competing in the 1X at the South Island Champs)

27/02/2022

The URC junior club rowing season has all but come to an end. These snaps were taken at the recent Nationals where our junior URC crew did beautifully. What's more they have created friendships and bonds that they will remember for a life-time.

08/02/2022

The Otago Champs.

Following the washed-out Ashburton Regatta, the Otago Champs proved to be the challenging early season test they are known to be with the changeable conditions Ruataniwha often serves up in late spring.

Our small junior squad of nine scullers was not at full strength due to illness, but still managed to place themselves into 3 B finals and 8 A finals.

A third place in the women’s club double and Alex also edging into third in the men’s club single were especially encouraging results.

When not looking after the juniors, Stu, Russell, Vicki and Tanja competed in the masters events, with very good results.

From here the juniors headed to their first training camp at Kaiaipoi, followed by their richly deserved Christmas break.

As for our masters, they just keep on rowing, all year round. : )

09/01/2022

Welcome to Union Rowing Club 2022!

Union RC enjoyed a great start to the 2021/22 season with an enthusiastic turn out for the combined National Masters Champs/Aoraki regatta at Lake Ruataniwha.

The Masters entered multiple events collaborating with the Avon Masters a handful of times. This enabled our small squad of 21 to compete in 34 events. Because we raced mainly as club crews we were able to (once again) win the trophy for the most club points earned during the regatta.

Our patron Jim Little built and donated this trophy which encourages competing for and proudly wearing your club colours. Clubs are awarded 5 points for gold, 3 for silver and 1 for bronze, while composite crews do not get any points. From our novice women’s double of Claire and Kirsty winning gold, to our most experienced athletes winning multiple medals, we all contributed to that overall success.

A novel “long distance race” of 3 km was added at 8 am Sunday morning, rowing from the salmon farm to the finish line. Entries for this had to be in Saturday noon. The water was choppy but the race came off without a hitch and was great fun.

As the Masters Nationals wound down, our juniors entered the fray in the Aoraki1000 regatta. The masters rowers had appreciated their support on the bank, and we were able to return the favour when it was their turn to race. We saw a definite improvement in the skill level and stamina of our young scullers, many of whom have put in long hours on the erg and on the water over winter. Beth and Lauren also entered the pair, a newly discovered favourite of theirs, but due to the deteriorating conditions could not row their final. Our keen female scullers were unlucky with the weather, with the very changeable water chopping up just in time for their much-anticipated events.

Overall, the Aoraki regatta was a very well run, early-season event and we are looking forward to the upcoming regatta season

- Dorle (Club President)