Lachlan Dand, Murray Pioneer

A cold Saturday morning failed to dampen the spirits of more than 200 rowers in 44 crews who hit the water for the annual Renmark Rowing Club’s Wharf to Woolshed Long Row.

Completing its eighth year, following the first event in 2017, the Long Row had competitors from all over Australia take on the 36km journey.

With two stops along the way, the event is particularly popular among masters rowers, and Long Row co-ordinator Anna Petersen said a June timeframe works.

“It’s really appealing to masters’ rowers, because the regatta season is from October to April, so that’s when you have all of that racing as your focus,” she said.

“This is an opportunity for people to keep their training up, and it’s a social event, so I think people enjoy that aspect of it.

“We had people on the weekend who were teenagers, right through to people in their 80s, so it combines a huge age bracket.

“For the first time we had rowers participate from St Francis of Assisi College, and they had their coach Stephanie Turnbull rowing with them which was nice, and they loved it.

“We had some clubs we haven’t had before, including an Australian Defence Force crew, and they came for the first time.

“Participants hit the water from New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and the ACT, so they came from everywhere.”

Planning for the Long Row kicks off in the early stages of each year, with approximately four months’ worth of work going into making the event happen.

Ms Petersen said it’s an ‘enormous’ amount of planning, but members at the club band together to make it happen.

“Generally, we’ll start planning in February, and then entries open in March, and there’s about a sixweek window for people to get them in,” she said.

“Running the event itself requires an enormous number of volunteers, and we had 12 support boats on the water on Saturday, including a local doctor who donates his time to be available on the day.

“We had people manning the morning tea stops, and providing baked goods, and people helping the support boats, so we couldn’t do it without them.”

In what was a special moment, the St Francis of Assisi College’s rowing program has been in effect for several years, and now has rowers competing a 36km journey in partnership with the Renmark Rowing Club.

In another local highlight, the recently renovated rowing dock was also in use for the first time, with the club launching all 44 crews from the one location within an hour, which was a significant positive. 

This article appeared in Murray Pioneer, 25 June 2025.