Central’s Simon Smith sat in “in the big engine room’ of a rowing eight and brought home a gold after a whirlwind week-long trip to the world’s largest rowing regatta in Boston.

The Head of the Charles Regatta (HOCR) involves 3,000 boats and 13,000 athletes and has been hotly contested since 1965. 

C & R Insurance’s Simon raced for a club based in San Francisco, the Marin Rowing Association, in the 40-50 age group men’s eight. 

He got involved thanks to a friend he rowed with in the 1990s who rowed for them and it’s the second time he’s been a part of the HOCR for Marin. 

Simon said it was unusual for him to sit in seat five in the boat’s engine room, as he did in this race, as he’s usually in seven.

“We won against a strongly stacked group of crews. There were ex international crews back [after Covid-19] and ex-Olympians from Great Britain, Canada and the USA.”

He said that they were only five seconds off breaking the course record.

“It was really really cool to return to rowing after a break with some health issues [last season].”

The rowing spectacle that is The Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. PHOTO: Ben Crawley

The pace of this trip was hectic and he never managed to fully adjust to Boston’s time zone.

“I flew over there, I was there for a week. One hour after getting off the plane I was into a boat in San Francisco. Then I flew to Boston and I was an hour off the plane and into a boat again.”

Simon Smith and crew racing at HOCR in Boston.

Simon said it was only when racing in the final that he felt normal and not mixed up due to jet lag.

“We raced, won, had a celebration and then I was on the plane the next day at 8am.”

Simon Smith and Dunstan High’s Pipi Horan at Maadi Cup earlier this year. PHOTO: Sharon Bennett

Closer to home, a rowing regatta was held at Lake Ruataniwha in Twizel over the past weekend and training and events are ramping up for the club and high school rowing season. 

Dunstan Arm Rowing Club coach Simon has been volunteering and mentoring young rowers for the past 16 years.

The club will be hoping to build on their success earlier this year when they placed third overall at the national championships in Twizel, in February.