Lyla At The National Rowing Championships

Year 10 student Lyla Fievez competed at the National Rowing Championships last week, receiving a gold and a silver. Due to flooding, the championships to be held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre were moved to Lake Nagambie in Victoria. 

Lyla has only been rowing since November 2020. She became involved in the sport through her parents, both are previous rowers and encouraged Lyla to join her local club, Fremantle Rowing Club.

We asked Lyla which events she won her awards in. “My doubles partner Greta Spencer (from Iona) and I won bronze in the Under 17 Women’s Double Scull. Then Greta and I, with two girls from over east, won Gold in the Under 17 Women’s Quadruple Scull.”, she said

After the Nationals, there was an interstate regatta held where Lyla rowed for Western Australia in the Under 21 Women’s Youth 8. This was her favourite event. “It gave me the opportunity to represent WA as well as make a lot of new friendships.”, she said.

To prepare for Nationals, Lyla was training extremely hard. “I was training up to 14 times a week with a combination of on-water sessions, gym sessions, and training on the ergo (rowing machine). There were also a lot of time trials and testing involved in the state team selection process.”

Congratulations Lyla, we look forward to seeing where you rowing takes you in the future.