Curtin university boat club has secured a five-year lease at the Champion Lakes regatta centre, proving there was a continual growth in rowing popularity in Western Australia.
Captain Fiona Lea said it was with thanks to the success of programs run by the club, including the Clontarf Aboriginal college rowing program, that they were able to secure a half bay at the centre.
“Our president Cameron Thorn ran last year’s pilot program to get young indigenous students involved in rowing,” she said.
“It’s because of that program’s success, and the success of all our squads, that we’ve been able to buy five new boats.
“But it also means we ran out of room to store them so we had to look into securing extra space and Champion Lakes was perfect – we can store a lot of our racing equipment there, which frees up space at our boat house in Salter Point.”
The club has about 50 boats.
Ms Lea said the move was an indicator of how well the club had been developing over the last few years.
“We have about 100 members, which is a mix of university students, alumni, high school and college students as well as people from all across Perth,” she said.
“It’s an amazing group of people involved in rowing, without them we wouldn’t be able to keep the club afloat, so to speak, so having to lease out extra space is a major accomplishment for us.”
Visit www.curtinuniversityboatclub.org for more details.
