Old Boy Blaine Heseltine entered Churchie as a grade 5 student in 2005. In his senior year of 2012 he was a member of the school’s most recent Head of the River winning 1st VIII, which subsequently toured in Scandinavia and competed at the Henley Royal Regatta.

In 2013, Blaine started rowing for the University of Queensland Boat Club and competed for Australia in the Under 21 competitions in 2014 and 2015. He continued to pursue his passion for rowing and represented Australia in the Lightweight Men's Quad in 2018.

In 2019 Blaine graduated with a degree in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Honours) from the University of Queensland. During his time at university, he was also awarded a University Full Blue for rowing. In the same year, Blaine turned his focus away from rowing to his career. He began working as a Ground Systems Engineer at Airbus, where he was responsible for servicing military helicopters. However, he didn't leave his passion for rowing behind as he turned his focus towards coaching. For two years he oversaw the U19 Women's Program at the University of Queensland Boat Club in the summer and in the winter coached at Brisbane Girls Grammar School.

In 2020 Blaine's coaching skills were put to the test when he coached the Brisbane Girls Grammar School 1st VIII to the school's first-ever win in the Brisbane Schoolgirls Rowing Association competition. The following year many of these girls went on to row at the University of Queensland and all went on to win U19 sweep categories at the National Championships at Lake Barrington, Tasmania. Due to COVID-19 no U19 world championships were held; however, Rowing Australia selected a team for domestic competition in which Blaine coached the Junior Women’s Coxless Four and the Junior Women’s Single Scull.

2020 was scheduled to be the last Olympics for the Lightweight category; however, again due to COVID-19, the Olympic schedule for Paris 2024 was to remain unchanged which saw the inclusion of Lightweights for one more Olympic cycle. In 2021, Blaine decided to return to rowing in a bid to make the Paris Olympics team for 2024. After having a strong developmental season in 2022, he was named as the Lightweight men's sculling reserve for 2023. Blaine will compete internationally at the Bled International Regatta on Lake Bled in Slovenia, the Holland Beker Regatta in Amsterdam and at World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne in June and July.

This international season is an essential part of his preparation heading towards Paris 2024. As the Lightweight Men's Single Scull is a non-Olympic boat class, Blaine’s international campaign is self-funded. If you wish to support Blaine in achieving his goals, please click here to be directed to his Australian Sports Foundation (ASF) fundraising page.

Blaine, in the words of the founding Headmaster Canon Morris: “Finish Hard!”