A perfect glassy lake greeted IGSSA rowers as their buses dropped them to Champion Lakes on the morning of 20 June 2026. Speakers blaring (I heard Eye of the Tiger, We Found Love, Thunderstruck… so good!), they made their arrivals known – ‘we’re here and we’re ready to race’.
The excitement of the day kicked off with the Old Scholars race, where we saw familiar names such as 2026 Junior Australian Team representatives Charlotte Hansen-Knarhoi and Stella Wandel in the Iona and PLC boats, and Rowing WA School Development Officer (and legend) Lara Glendinning in the Perth College crew – alongside many more club, school and State Team stalwarts. We also saw the majority of the 1989 HOR-winning Penrhos Crew reunite with some younger alumni to come in a respectable fifth place.
And then the racing was underway, with the Senior Quads, Year 10 Eights, and Senior Scullers in the first batch of races starting at the 1500m. In the Schoolgirl A Scull, John XXIII’s Lily won Head of the River (but Perth College’s Evelyn held onto a three-point lead in the season consistency pennant). The Schoolgirl B Scull was taken out by the amazing and undefeated Jasmin (St Hilda’s), while the Junior A HOR champion was PLC’s April, and Junior B HOR champion was the also undefeated Gretel (PLC).
A highlight of the day was the camaraderie shown by the single scullers – at the end of each race, many of the competitors waited at the finish line and cheered for the rest of the field as they finished their races. As any rower or spectator knows – the scull can be a lonely and high-pressure place, as there is nobody but the rower themselves to be responsible for their performance. So the sense of solidarity and support between them all is a special element of 1x racing.
But the schedule rolled on – all the while, Iona’s incredible rowing support group were keeping spectators, coaches and athletes well fed with their delicious sausage sizzle and egg & bacon burgers! A huge thank you to the parents & friends who worked so hard to ensure the day was a success – I heard they estimated their food ordering perfectly, with just fourteen sausage buns left over at the end of the day… what an incredible effort for their first time EVER hosting Head of the River!
The younger rowers at times had to battle a slight cross-head wind which started to blow in just after 9am, but they took this in their stride, and coxswains cleverly handled their crews on the water to ensure they steered straight. The unusual direction of this wind prompted the coaches of the First and Second eights to prefer lane one over lane eight when they selected lanes for their crews (an IGSSA tradition!).
The winners of the Year Nine, Ten, Senior and Freshman Quads represented a diversity of schools, with PLC, St Hilda’s, MLC, Iona and Perth College all taking home line honours in one or more quad events. However in the Eights, it was PLC who won nine out of eleven events, demonstrating their prowess in the big boats. Just Perth College (Freshman B VIII) and MLC (Year 9 B VIII) could overcome them!
Travis Jenkins and the wonderful Two Monkeys Agency crew worked hard to produce an exciting livestream of the day, which you can watch back on our YouTube channel by clicking here.
An unfortunate technical issue with the venue speaker system meant spectators relied heavily on the livestream to get a sense of what was happening up the course – thank you to the whole media crew for their amazing work.
The final races of the day saw the fast and furious racing of the Senior Eights light up the race course. As heavy favourites going into the race, PLC’s crews were under pressure, but held their composure and confidence to lock in their eleventh straight First Eight win. The race for second place was highly contested and an exciting element of the 2026 rowing season, with Perth College having placed second all season long, but in an exciting turn of events, MLC got the edge over PC on the day to take silver!
PLC were the undeniable champions of the day, continuing a decade-long tradition of consistent success both on Head of the River day, and across the five regattas of the IGSSA season. PLC had a remarkable fifteen crews who went undefeated across the season! Congratulations PLC!
Click here for all Head of the River results
Overall Season Points:
1. PLC 1880
2. St Hilda’s 1436
3. Perth College 1363
4. MLC 1101
5. Penrhos 745
6. Iona 635
7. JTC 409
Rowing is a uniquely rewarding sport. As all IGSSA rowers know, the commitment required to train, compete and succeed is unmatched by most other sports. This is what makes it so impactful. Waking up before dawn to join your teammates down at the shed – maybe it’s cold, wet and windy – requires grit and loyalty. You know that each race is not simply about how hard you try during the race, but about the decisions you make each day and each training session. This is the true value of being part of your school’s rowing team – you have become stronger, more resilient, more focused, and (hopefully) you begin to learn that success is a cumulation of many small decisions and behaviours.
Remember that success does not necessarily look like crossing the line first. You do not control the other crews, but you do control your own effort and attitude, and you can influence your teammates. You must do your best to manage the elements of performance that YOU can control!
Well done to all rowers, coaches, staff and supporters for an amazing 2026 IGSSA rowing season. To our Year 12s, thank you for your contribution to your school rowing team, and I hope you can continue to row at a club or coach at your school in the future. To all other rowers, keep working hard and we will see you again next year!
And finally, a HUGE thank you to the following people, who are the backbone of our regattas:
VenuesWest staff
Rowing WA staff
Rowing WA Boat Race Officials
Volunteer Boat Drivers
Kelvin Ha and Two Monkeys Agency
Rowing Coordinators at all schools
St John’s volunteers and staff
Host School parents & friends
PLC parents & friends – who arranged merchandise
MLC’s results volunteer, Kim (who was great company in the tower!)
and everybody else who contributed to the success of the 2026 season.
Over and out!