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Rowing Victoria's Weekly Local Legend - Jack Chatziyakoumis
This week's Local Legend is Jack Chatziyakoumis, Vice President of Yarra Yarra Rowing Club.
As it happens, we need to start with Gail Chatziyakoumis.
She suggested to Jack that he should take up rowing. Jack’s father nearly won a sculling Gold for Greece in the 1956 Olympics; by the time Gail met Jack, he was over the rowing stories. But Gail was new to the whole damn thing.
After all, she said. It can’t be that hard.
Jack wrote to a couple of clubs and was warmly welcomed by Yarra Yarra Rowing Club (YYRC) in 1982. From the beginning “fair-weather Jack” enjoyed the outings and social activities, but not getting cold and wet.
After a while he discovered the joys of competition, finishing strongly in a coxed pair event at Carrum against Stuart Critchell (then rowing out of Banks, now at YYRC) when both boats broke up and the crews raced on foot to the finish line, carrying pieces of the boat.
His favourite regattas, still, are the ones where he gets to travel somewhere interesting with his family, and when the weather is nice. He is modest about his achievements but has a strong record of wins in singles, doubles, and quads. He is an enthusiastic supporter of the Winter Sculling series and has competed virtually in all of the Winter Sculling events this year.
He always loves the gear and the ‘tech’. “Many a time I have kept a crew waiting because the GPS won’t sync yet, or the Strava device wasn’t charged,” he said. “It’s my hobby: I love astronomy, technology and electrical gadgets. Years as an engineer in the automotive industry have just made it worse."
Jack enjoys his leadership role within YYRC, and has held the office of Vice President since 2013. He believes decisions should be made on the basis of good information and balancing the needs and interests of different members and groups of members. “Even if people don’t agree with a decision, it is important that they trust the decision-making process,” he said.
He has been badly bitten by the competition bug. “My philosophy is to go hard in practice, and even harder in a race,” he said. “How would you feel if you were beaten by one second?”
Most memorable experience? “The 2019 Perth to Fremantle race,” he said. “I was in open water, chop coming over the canvas, not a person in sight, and totally lost. I actually asked myself: is this how it all ends?”
But, there’s still those ergos. Jack found during Melbourne’s recent lockdown that he’s happy with hard sessions on the ergo. This has paid off with medals in local and international virtual events, including:
- Bronze in the live-ergo Head of the Charles
- Gold in the virtual double ergo Head of the Taff, with Ed Kinch
- Gold in the virtual double ergo Head of the Merrimack, with Linda Skidmore
- Equal-third in this year’s Scullers Head of the Yarra
- Second overall in this year’s Scullers Head of the Barwon
- Fastest overall time in the Winter Sculling Association’s Spring Fiesta, with ergo races over 250m, 500m, 1000m, and 2,000m.
Do you know somebody who is a local rowing legend?
Provide us with their name and story for a chance to be featured in Rowing Victoria's weekly featured athlete via email at:
memberservices@rowingvictoria.asn.au
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