Brian Martyn

Footscray City Rowing Club (VIC) and Daramalan Rowing Club (ACT)

The following citation appears on the Rowing ACT website Life Members page and was extracted on 30th December 2022.

Brian Martyn was elected to Life Membership at the 9th Annual General Meeting on 1 August 1973 in recognition of his service to the Association as an administrator, boat race official and coach.

Brian joined Footscray Rowing Club in the early 1940s and served as a rower and administrator. He came to Canberra as an officer of the Department of Immigration, where several long overseas postings disrupted his rowing interests. Upon return to Canberra from such a posting in 1964 he immersed himself in the rowing community, supporting both the Association and the Daramalan Rowing Club.

Brian coached excellent schoolboy crews for Daramalan RC when it operated from East Basin and in the early 1970s coached capable lightweight men’s IVs from the RMC Rowing Club.

During his term as Vice President from 1968 to 1973 Brian contributed heavily to the Association’s deliberations on the development of rowing. In particular, he drew on his experience as a boat race official and coach in leading the rowing community to abandon the course in Central and East Basins in 1971 and move our regattas to Yarramundi Reach. This decision was necessary to ensure the future of the sport in Canberra.

Brian gave over thirty years service to the Union of Boat Race Officials and was a well-known figure in his favourite officiating role at the finish line, where he was able to keep a keen eye on the form of all racing crews.

Extracted by Andrew Guerin
30th December 2022

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The idea for this history originated from the Olympic Rowing and World Senior Rowing Championship histories written by Andrew Guerin and Margot Foster in 1991, 1992 & 1993 for the Australian team handbooks. Andrew Guerin developed and extended these histories to the current format in 2004 for publication in 2004 and then expanded the site.

Steve Roll has been an invaluable contributor to the website in locating errors and finding Christian names of rowers. His superb work is acknowledged.

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