Condobolin boy Harry Crouch has been selected to represent Australia at the World Junior Rowing Championships, that this will be held in Trakai, Lithuania in August.
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Harry is the son of Bernadette and Phillip Crouch, brother to Meg and grandson to Julie Harris of the Southern Cross Village in Parkes.
The 16-year-old has been selected to row in the two seat of the Under 19 Men's Quad Scull.
The other three rowers are Year 12 students from Sydney.
In order to gain selection, Harry competed in a series of selection races spread over a week at the Sydney International Regatta Centre.
The selection trials began with a 2km erg test (modern indoor rowers are often known as ergometers or erg).
The erg test saw Harry achieve his PB time of 6 minutes and 15 seconds.
This placed him third overall on weight adjusted, ranking out of more than 80 rowers from all over Australia trying out for the team.
Harry competed in a series of sculling races, from which he ended up ranking fourth overall in a very high quality field.
This ranking ensured Harry was placed in a strong crew for the remainder of the trials.
His crew ended up going well under the bench mark times set by Australian rowing selectors.
To make this feat more remarkable, in the two weeks leading into the selection regatta Harry effectively trained on his own when he came home to Condobolin for the school holidays, many kilometres from the nearest rowing club or coaches.
Harry had to travel considerable distances in order to row each day.
He split his training across three different waterways – long rows were done out at Lake Cargelligo, while shorter rows were done at Gum Bend Lake or on Bundaburah Creek near Forbes.
During the last week of March, Harry competed in the Australian National Rowing Championships.
He entered four different events, winning three gold medals and achieving fourth in the other event.
Harry started rowing as a Year 7 student at Kinross Wolaroi School before moving to Sydney mid-way through Year 10 last year to attend Newington College to chase his dreams to row for his country.
The world championships will run from August 2 to 6 on Trakai’s Galve Lake, that’s 2000m and 87.5m wide.
This popular rowing spot was the venue of the 2002 and 2013 World Rowing Junior Championships, 2012 World Rowing Under 23 Championships, and 2016 European Rowing Junior Championships.
It is known for its picturesque island castle near the finish line.
Rowing is not a professional sport and funding the sport does receive can only go so far.
This opportunity for Harry to compete at the World Junior Rowing Championships in itself is not free and for the privilege of representing Australia, the funding shortfall means athletes are required to pay $7,950 each.
Family and friends have been busy fundraising to support Harry and his family.
Wilbur Harris is the proud uncle of Harry and is selling $100 club tickets at the Parkes Mensland store in Clarinda Street, Parkes.
Call in and show your support, and buy a ticket.