IT HAS taken a long time, but the Wanganui rowing community got back to racing on home water when the September edition of the 2015 Winter Series was held on the Whanganui River on Sunday.
Usually held every month, this was the first race of the Winter Series since theJune 20-21 floods, which swamped the Union Boat Club shed and wrecked the inside of the two-story Aramoho Wanganui Rowing Club building.
Cleaning up the damage, plus adverse water conditions, saw the July and August races called off, while the September race was reduced from 9km to 5km.
Spokeswoman Jacs Rush said the buoys were moved to safer areas in the river for the boats to turn, making the distance close to 5.5km and affecting the prognostic times.
As many different class boats with different crew sizes enter the series, it is prognostic times - who does the best percentage of the international standard time for their boat - which decides the overall winners.
"Clubs are still very much in clean up mode following the floods and the river is still flood-affected, with new hazards [like] the new sand bank next to Kowhai Park and several large snags in the middle of the river," said Rush.
"This is why the course was altered to avoid these hazards. For many of the entrants, this was the first time they had been on the water since the flooding."
Although the race had been AWRC's turn as hosts, the after-function was held at the Union shed as the AWRC clubrooms are still out of action.
Trevor Rush and Richard Brock still gave their clubmates a rare chance to smile with victory, as their time as Men's Masters F Grade Doubles was 77.83 per cent prognostic.
They have been training for the New Zealand Masters Championships next weekend in Ruatangaiwha, near Twizel.
Union's Pat Carroll, as a Men's D Grade single, was second overall with 76.24 per cent prognostic, while third went to AWRC's under-18 coxed four of Nathan Luff, Matthew Wright, Harry Lillington, Guy Thomson and cox Niamh Mullany.
"A morning tea was put on by Sport Whanganui, followed by the Wanganui Rowing Association AGM, which focused on the flooding and how we are responding and able to move forward," said Jacs Rush.
The AWRC club is still working towards raising $25,000 for its insurance excess in the wake of the flood damage.
