Swan River Rowing Club win 24th successive men’s eights state championship to go with women’s eights title

Winning one title is hard, going back-to-back is considered even tougher and a three-peat is looked upon as the holy grail of sporting dynasty achievements.

Then there is what Swan River Rowing Club have achieved: 24 straight state titles in the championship men’s eights at the Rowing WA State Championships.

And Sunday’s latest state title in the coxed eights was made even greater by the club’s accompanying success in the women’s eights final, which saw SRRC become the only club to claim the double championship over the last 25 years.

The final two races of the weekend ended with double delight for head coach Mark Beer, who said the dual victories in the eights were richly reward for what they had aimed to achieve.

“It’s a real great achievement from the athletes, and reflects what we’ve been trying to do as a club over the last seven years: building more members and getting more people involved,” he said.

“Ultimately, your top performances are a by-product of that bigger club base engagement.”

The men’s remarkable streak — unheard of in state rowing circles — dates back to 2000.

“In our sport, it’s never happened before. It’s 48km of racing over 25 years, because one year was canceled,” Beer said.

“Some of those races on the weekend, they’ve been pretty close races, we’ve had a bit of luck along the way.

“In the middle block of those years, we had a bunch of Olympic level athletes that were holding the ship pretty easily out the front, but now the National Training Centers are based over east, the quality of the competition is still high, but it’s a much more level race these days.

“The pressure will keep building. Next year, we’ve got a shot at making it 25 years in a row, which is pretty mind boggling when you say it out loud.”

Beer said the pressure was always on the men’s eight to continue their streak, but praised the rowers for embracing the challenge.

“When they line up, the guys know they’re involved in a little bit of history, so it’s a really important boat for the kids of the club to try and get a seat in.

“There’s a fair bit of pressure they put on themselves when they’re on the start line, we’ve got a big target on our back for the other clubs out to end the streak, which is great and creates a bit of excitement around it.”

And as for the prospect of making it 25 in a row next year and successfully defending the women’s title?

“Straight away, you start thinking about, what you might do differently or try to improve,” Beer said.

“You’ve always got to be moving forward, or you’re treading water if you’re not trying to improve in this sport.”