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The Flying Doctor Rowathon is an annual one day marathon row held on the Darling and Murray Rivers and hosted by Wentworth District Rowing Club (WDRC) in Wentworth, New South Wales. It is the longest one day marathon rowing regatta in Australia and raises funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. In 2025 we will again raise funds for their Wellness (Mental Health) Programs in remote communities.
The 2025 Flying Doctor Rowathon.
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The 2025 Rowathon Experience will start on Friday afternoon with boat rigging at a private property upstream of Mildura - ref chart "Murray Above mildura" and collection of Rowathon information from WDRC.
The traditional informal BBQ dinner hosted by WDRC will commence at approximately 6.00pm. It will be an opportunity to relax with crew and enjoy the sunset reflections over the Darling River. There will ample parking by the river and this will be also the location for the pre-regatta breakfast on Saturday morning.
The program will be as follows:
FOR 2025
Breakfast was available at WDRC by the river bank from about 5.30am on Saturday morning. After participants filled their tummies with yummy goodness the first leg crews WILL travel to the start property to prepare for the first leg, launch boats and start rowing, making sure the starter recorded their start time.
Full crew instructions including maps of the course will be given out in the week before the Rowathon, at the Friday evening BBQ and during breakfast, before the start.
Participants could review the course on the river charts from the "Charts & Maps" menu. The first leg chart is "Murray above Mildura".
Crews will row down to Mildura Rowing club lawn for morning tea and a rest or crew change.
All boats will then, as a flotilla, travel into lock 11 to be lowered down to then row down to Coomealla Golf Club landing for lunch and a well earned rest.
Following lunch, crews will row the third leg down the Murray and up the Darling to WDRC and finish.
Afternoon tea will be available before everyone gets cleaned up for a predinner drink and a delicious dinner in the rowing shed.
See maps below.....
So the approximate distances were:
1st leg = 25km; 2nd leg = 25km and 3 leg = about 25km
A flat fee pays for breakfast, morning tea, lunch and end of rowing snacks. It is not necessary to take cutlery or crockery to the row, as everything is provided at the meal stops. Nor will you needed to take any money, as you will have paid for your meals with your registration.
The day will finish with the Survivor's Dinner in the WDRC boat shed where crews can compare great rowing feats, times and sore parts, always with a deal of satisfaction.
The dinner is paid with the entry form. During the evening we will auction a limited number of special items to raise funds for the RFDS.
We will also have a stall near the WDRC boat shed, at the end of the day, selling local produce and donated items, again to raise funds for the RFDS.
The Rowathon is not necessarily a race, but there are some serious records to be broken by those who enjoy a challenge. Crews are timed over the three legs of the course and the aggregates compared for awarding the trophies. If you and your crew want it to be less competitive, you could enjoy an extraordinary row at a more leisurely pace along the beauty and grandeur of our nations great rivers.
Generally, crews have rest breaks on the water every 20 - 25 minutes, as well as taking three formal breaks on the riverbank with their Support Crews. Above and below the morning, lunch and afternoon stops there are signs marking the points at which your boat would be timed in and out of each of these two formal breaks. Times do not significantly count for the Jack Joel Trophy but are of great interest to crews which, by rowing the full distance unchanged, vied for the Ian Law Trophy. We also have the Col Rogers Trophy for the "Fastest Boat" over the course with crew changes allowed and the Wentworth Perpetual Trophy for the fastest boat with no changes doing just the half marathon (first leg). So "be in it to win it."
Location Maps for the 2025 Flying Doctor Rowathon including roads to get to the stops.
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