Commercial Rowing Club

Twenty-six years in the same boat and they still go looking for someone to race home against!

It started in 2000. Harry was between partners, Jeff had just come home from Europe and was muddling around in an old single. Harry rowed over and asked if he wanted a crack at a double, and that was that. Jeff had barely rowed as a kid, so the chance to share a boat with someone who knew what they were doing was one he wasn't about to pass up.

What's kept them there? A division of labour so easy it became the whole point. Harry books the flights and digs out the best accommodation, Jeff sorts the entries and boats, and each simply takes on what they do best. Harry strokes, Jeff sits in bow, and Harry happily lets Jeff tinker away at their stroke, always experimenting, always evolving together.

The moment they both point to came in a national final, they were behind with 250 metres to go. Jeff called for one last push, spent, but certain of one thing - if he kept going, Harry would be there for every stroke. They won by two-hundredths of a second.

These days you'll still find them chasing a bigger boat down the river on the row home, seeing how long they can hold on. It takes real character from the other crew to race them rather than pull away, and for Jeff, that's CRC in a nutshell.

🙌 Building tomorrow’s champions starts with belonging to a club that offers a positive squad culture and supports your rowing goals.

🇦🇺 Our summer program is led by Jacinta Edmunds — CRC Head Coach, Olympian and World Rowing Champion, and 2026 Australian World Uni Rowing Team Coach.

⭐️ You’ll train alongside our performance and pathway squads and learn what it takes to become one of the best in the sport.

If you’re prepared to do the work, you’ll hone your technical skills and fine-tune your race prep. It’s time to take your rowing career to the next level and discover what you’re capable of 🩵💙

➡️ Places are limited, sign up now.

Applications close 21 August.

🔗 Link in bio.

Six years ago, a Year 8 rower walked into Commercial for the first time. She never left.

Get to know Cianna - one of the many young athletes who make our club feel like one big family. Juniors, open, masters - it doesn't matter what boat you're in, everyone at CRC shows up for each other, and that's exactly what's kept Cianna here through six seasons on the water.

Ask her for a favourite memory and she won't hesitate - winning the Under 17 Women's Eight at the 2024 NSW State Championships. Crossing the line to a boat full of happy tears - coaches included - is a moment she says she'll never forget.

Now Cianna's chasing the next one. This August, she heads to the University of Kansas to row and study Aerospace Engineering, with sights set on one day working at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. Big goals, bigger heart - and still the same rower who can't wait to get back in a boat.

Because one day, she'll be back at Commercial too. This time, as a masters rower!

Once part of the crew, always part of the crew.

It was 1956.

Uncle Charlie King, President of the Brisbane All Blacks rugby league team wanted to hold dances at Commercial’s O’Connor Boathouse to raise money for his team and the Aboriginal women’s vigoro team.

The problem was, Indigenous people were required to vacate the city by 4pm and on Sundays.

Boundary St, West End, marked the line that was not to be crossed.

A negotiation with the Queensland Director of Native Affairs was successful.

The dances were allowed so long as no alcohol was consumed and 2 police officers were in attendance at all times.

Between 1957 and 1962, the ‘Boathouse dances’ became famous!

Regular patron, Uncle George Bostock, said “every black fella from near and far would go to the Boathouse dances, and everybody knew everybody. The hall would be packed to the rafters”!

During this period, Aboriginal people played sport, though they faced social barriers, discrimination and strict government controls. Sport offered community connection, self-determination and resilience.

Even as early as 1896, a crew from Commercial was pictured, which included an aboriginal coxswain.

🔥 Are you feeling excited for race season?

🙌 Do you want to take your rowing career to the next level?

✅ Sign up now for our Summer Rowing Program!

🇦🇺 This program is led by Jacinta Edmunds - CRC Head Coach, Olympian and World Rowing Champion, and 2026 Australian World Uni RowingTeam Coach.

🔵 Train with our youth and high-performance squads.

🔵 Be part of a positive team culture

🔵 Rep CRC at Qld State Champs, NSW State Champs, Aust Rowing Champs, Pathways Regatta and Australian Junior Trials (if selected)

➡️ Applications close 21 August.

🔗 Link in bio.

From the CRC shed to a world championship start line - meet Eoghan Johnson.

Eoghan's rowing story reads like the club's own - hard yards paying off, one internal battle season after another. His selection into Australia's U19 quad scull didn't happen overnight, it followed over a year of training and visualising the moment. It carried him all the way to Lithuania for the World Rowing Under-19 Championships, his first trip to Europe and a taste of international-level competition.

2026 brought a different kind of challenge - back surgery and a long road to recovery. True to form, Eoghan and his QAS team mapped out a 24-week rehab plan, and he stuck to every week of it, working his way back to near full training load.

Next stop is UC Berkeley, where he'll row as a student-athlete and chase new personal bests - with Brisbane 2032 firmly on the horizon. Through it all, his goal stays simple... have fun!

The prologue to Edwina Luck’s story at CRC starts at Rockhampton Grammar School, where a young Eddie was honing her coxing craft. Her efforts worked, as she became a Qld and Australian champion schoolgirl cox in 1980-1981.

Like a lot of us, she had a long break, rediscovering the sport in 2013 when her twin daughters were coxes at St Margaret’s. Eddie joined CRC coxing a Men’s Master’s C crew and reignited her passion for our sport. Over the past 13 years, she’s steered that crew to many winter series and Head of the Brisbane wins. Competing in the D category, they’ve claimed victory at Head of the Yarra 3 years running - looking to make that 4 years in November.

In 2014, she had the opportunity to cox the Qld Queen’s and Qld Masters Women’s 8+. But it was 2015 when her journey back to competitive coxing really stepped up. As coxswain of the Qld Women’s Masters 8+, she helped lead the crew to 6 consecutive Australian Championship titles from 2015-2022 (2020-21 were cancelled due to Covid).

Eddie’s story of that race is vivid:

“The D8+ final seemed to take forever to come around. Having to wait until the end of the day for the interstate D8+ race, I was worried that my crew’s endorphin level would be low. How wrong I was. I was concerned about what calls I would use, would they be the right words? The race plan was solid. There were foreboding blue skies just before the race. Not maroon like the night before. The lane buoys were a blur, only a misty official’s boat 1000m in the distance was all that I could see. Our crew were ready. And race our hearts out we did. We broke the record for the fastest State women’s crew that year, clocking 3.25.55.”

Eddie believes that being a cox is about challenging yourself, striving for excellence and discovering what you and your crew are capable of. It’s about getting athletes to trust her to bring them out of their comfort zone and take them on a journey. She knows the discipline, resilience and trust built through training and racing create lifelong friendships and memories that extend far beyond the finish line. 🩵💙