Hally Hames has been associated with the St George Rowing Club for most of her life.
Hames joined the club as a teenager in 1998 and spent countless hours on the water, relentlessly honing her craft.
Four years later she became a junior world champion, winning the title on Lake Galve in Trakai, Lithuania, having finished fourth a year earlier in Germany.
St George has a tradition of naming its boats after members of their club who have represented Australia, with Hames honoured with the naming of an eight after her last weekend.
Hames told the Leader she was thrilled with the honour.
“It means a lot. It’s pretty much the only club in the area for kids to go and try out the sport of rowing,” she said.
“There’s so much talent in the shire. I love the club and I hope they continue to be successful. There’s a very strong base of juniors around the area.”
It means a lot... I love the club and I hope they continue to be successful.
- Hally Hames
Hames, from Grays Point, stopped competing when she was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2014. But she is now in remission and has already made a success of coaching junior rowers.
“I definitely miss competing [but it’s a] good outlet, the coaching,” Hames said.
“I used to compete against the boys at St George all the time. I found I could beat them most days so I knew I’d be able to keep up with a lot of the girls and be quite successful.
“I try to get my competitive streak out via the kids I coach. Sometimes that works, sometimes not. Sometimes I want to throw them out of the boat and get in there myself.
“I just love being out on the water. I love all the different boats you can compete in.
“You can be by yourself out in a single or you can hop in an eight and compete in a team sport.
“Mostly I wanted to represent Australia in something and I was good at rowing.”