9th Rowing Regatta

On Saturday, the 1st of March, about 170 competitors from local secondary schools, universities and community rowing clubs gathered in Victoria Harbour for the 9th Victoria Harbour Rowing Regatta. Hosted by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, the event this year attracted rowing masters from the Mainland who contributed to the vibrancy and success of the event.

The competition was divided into three major parts: single-person boat, double-person boat and four-person coxed boat. These were in turn divided into master's, open, women's and youth groups.

Each group of rowers started from the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, paddling westwards to the Hong Kong Convention &Exhibition Centre, and returning to the starting point after rounding a club mark. The length of the course was 630 meters, making it a short-distance event. All 51 matches throughout the day were elimination rounds, where contestants defeated their opponents in a one-on-one format and advanced until a group champion was determined.

The focus of the event fell on Hong Kong contestant, Chan Yuk Man. Chan competed in both the Open Single Sculls and Open Coxed Quadruple events. He won the single event but lost in the coxed quadruple event, finishing 9 seconds behind his opponent and failing to advance.

Chan also won 1stprize in the same event last year and won again this year and was "very satisfied" with the result. Before the regatta he had decided to retire and the 9th Victoria Harbour Rowing Regatta was the perfect end to his career.

Fellow Hong Kong athlete, Hui Wing Ki, competed in the master's category in the Women's Quadruple Sculls Coxed Boat event and also won a gold medal.

The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club first organized the Victoria Harbour Regatta in 2017. This is the ninth year that the event has been held, and the number of participants was the highest to date.