S2 Episode 8: Welcome to Tasmania + HOTR Chat

Welcome to the 2026 Australian Rowing Championships! Join Chris McCarthy, Stuart John, and Ant Di Cosmo for all the wrapup from the AAGPS and APS Heads of the River, as well as a preview of the week ahead on the beautiful Lake Barrington.

This podcast is sponsored by WinTech Racing Australia.

WinTech Racing has established itself as the world's largest and foremost sustainable boat builder, producing over 2000 shells annually.

They are dedicated to promoting the growth of rowing by making it easier and more affordable to buy boats featuring cutting-edge technology that improve performance at all levels. 

Learn more about how you can get a fair price and unfair advantage at wintechracing.com.au

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

I'm gonna call Scotch, like they will get it. If it's a really flat, fair, even conditions, I I'll be a bit more hesitant.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Every single heat in these open events is going to have a level of jeopardy.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Shaw with their first wins in 2019. I like the parallel with Shaw and Kimball, both of them not having a win for six or seven years and uh both of them getting back in top this year.

SPEAKER_03 0:35

Welcome to Rowing Down Under, a podcast by Jammerin with Chris McCarthy and Stuart John.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Hello there, roaming fans, and welcome back to Rowing Down Under the Jammerin podcast coming to you live, not live, but on the location, with a beautiful view of the Lake Barrington International Rowing course. My name is Chris McCarthy, and I'm joined by Stuart John and Ant Lightning to Cosmo. Very graciously before her pre-row this morning because Ant's actually got some racing to do. But Stuart, look at this gorgeous view that our podcast listeners cannot see. But run us through it. First impressions here in Tasmania.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Well, look, when you drive down the road to the Lake Barrington course, you come down off the main road, you're coming down into it. It's this beautiful valley. There's trees absolutely everywhere that are doped back to around Gondwana land. It is just absolutely stunning, and I'm very jealous, very jealous of Ant, the fact that you get to row on this and we'll just be stuck up there. But mind you, I don't think you'll be paying much attention to the scenery when you're out in your single skull.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Uh I had a moment yesterday when I was training, and I just had to stop in the middle of the course and look around. Because if you haven't rowed on Barry, it's honestly one of the most beautiful courses in Australia. Nagambi's probably the only one that tops it.

SPEAKER_03 1:50

But tops it for what?

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Propaganda.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Everybody would love Nagambi. The Olympic should be there. Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

It's canceled, Ant. Are we going with Barry? Is Barry a thing?

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Yeah, we call it like Barry.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Maybe we're making him that a thing. We call it like Barry. I saw some merch with Barry on it. I thought I didn't think that was a thing. Yeah? Barry made?

SPEAKER_00 2:10

We're just gonna go row, we're just gonna row Barry right to the death.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Oh my god, Stewart.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

So we have a lot to get through in this podcast in very limited time because Ant, you need to get on the water in a bit over half an hour's time. Uh so we'll try our best to keep ourselves on track. We've first we're gonna go through the APS and the AAGPS Heads of the River from in Victoria and New South Wales, some great racing at both of those events on the aforementioned Lake uh Nagambi and the Sydney 2000 Olympic venue uh of the Sydney International Regatta Centre. Uh and uh hopefully we've learnt a little bit that can uh we can glean some information from ahead of racing uh in the schools championships later on this week. We do have also a lot to get through in terms of some previews and some first initial thoughts of what we're gonna see over the first couple of days of racing here at the Australian Rowing Championships. But first, we're gonna have a quick word from our sponsor, WingTech Racing. Rowing Down Under season two is proudly sponsored by WinTech Racing Australia. Wintech Racing have established themselves as the world's largest and foremost sustainable boat builder, producing over 2,000 shells annually. They're dedicated to promoting the growth of rowing by making it easier and more affordable to buy boats featuring cutting-edge technology that improve performance at all levels. Now, this is the part of the spiel where we're supposed to throw superfluous words at you like best, fastest, ultimate. But Wintech Australia are better served by real words like authentic, character, and service. Because what Wintech stands for is genuine and built upon the very best people and practices. Wintech's unwavering commitment to sustainability, affordability, and innovation drive them to propel the sport of rowing into a more inclusive and exciting future where your excellence will know no boundaries. Learn more about how you can get a fair price and an unfair advantage at Wintechracing.com.au. Alright, let's get into things, and we'll start with the AAEPS Head of the River. And so we had Girls First Date and Boys First Date Racing. Uh I don't know what you've got off on your phone in front of you right now, but uh let's go to the girls' racing first, because it was actually uh a pretty cracking display, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 4:12

It was amazing, so there was only 1.1 seconds between first and second, and first was Geelong Grammar, the girls from Geelong Grammar, and second was Wesley College. It was a cracking race. I wasn't actually there on the day, but I've got to review some of the footage. The atmosphere was amazing, the sound amazing. So really good effort from those girls. And then Scotch getting the win over Melbourne Grammar School by 2.9 seconds. Uh I really thought Melbourne would be able to like just get it in there. They've been training pretty hard all season, and they've also just delayed a little bit their entry into some of the regattas. Like Scotch really jumped on at first and displayed their strength early on, whereas I thought felt the Melbourne grammar crew was a bit more secretive throughout the season.

SPEAKER_02 4:53

Um I I did think they'd be a bit closer as well. And they they gave them a good run in the first half of the race, but I just especially you know some slightly tougher conditions in your Gamby than you get at your circle or at Barrington on a good day. Um I I don't is there any stopping Scotch? Uh we don't think we get too ahead of ourselves. You know what?

SPEAKER_01 5:10

I'm always gonna back a Victorian school in. And they do ro they are strong boys, and their techniques yeah, and their technique, as we've spoken about previously, does suit that crew. I think if there's weather, I'm gonna call Scotch. Like they will get it. If it's a really flat, fair, even conditions, I would be less, I'd be a bit more hesitant.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

My my my caveat on that is if there is a massive roaring uh tailwind, which occasionally we do get in the afternoons, I could that could play into the hands of some of the other uh say smaller, they're none of them are small boys, but um, you know, uh you know two of the two of the New South Wales crews um or Xavier or Belvin Graham could play into their hands a little bit as a big tailwind, just because I think Scotch's big advantage lies in the slower conditions, but they're quick everywhere. And you know, they won at uh New South Wales State Champs in fairly neutral sort of conditions. I think they still look the favourite.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

I I think they're the favourites, but I don't think it's like last year where Riverview were such dominant favourites. This year I think you've got about four or five schools that you know definitely in with a chance of podium uh potential. It'll be between we'll get to the New South Wales GPS uh in a minute, but uh Scotch will definitely be the favourites from New South Wales along with um that Melbourne grammar crew, and we'll see how they all pan out. And then the um the other interstates where we've got the Southport School from Queensland and also uh Prince Alfred College from South Australia.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

Yeah, I I don't I think it's it'll be a New South Wales or a Victorian winner. Um I don't i it's hard to say because we don't know about Prince Alfred College. They haven't faced up against anyone, and they could, you know, we can't glean times off Westlakes. Um so you know, could throw up a surprise for sure. But last year, when I wrote my sort of spiel for what you say as a crew comes over the line for national championships, I wrote one. I wrote one for review. I didn't write one for anyone else because I wasn't I knew that. You can't do that this year. This year, you I'm not gonna be there. You're gonna have to do what I did for the school girl late last year, which is I had to write five little end of race spills, uh, which uh uh enjoy that.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Um I'm more than happy to help with any of the Victorian crews, just letting you know, Chris.

SPEAKER_02 7:19

Of course, of course, of course. Um AAGPS Head of the River. Wow. What uh firstly, I had a great experience. That's the first time I've called that race. Um it's probably the most watched rowing race almost in the world. Over 100,000 people tuning in to watch that race. It's insane. Um the crowds are next level. Um, although the APS crowds look fantastic as well. I dare say there may have been more people at the end, it would it would have been a similar number. Um, but all those school boys there, it obviously means so much. Um Shaw with their first win since 2019. I like the parallel with Shaw and Pimble being those two North Shore Sydney schools that have been so dominant over the last you know 30, 40, 50 years, and uh but both of them not having a win for six or seven years, uh, or seven or eight years, and uh both of them getting back on top this year, and that's a great um little storyline that we've seen. It was very close, 0.04 of a second, the closest ever. Uh and I would like to clear up some things that happened with the timing afterwards. Um so uh without going too deep into it, uh the buttons were pressed not at the same time, which they should have just been pressed at the same time, so it comes up as a photo finish. So the unoffit the word unofficial disappeared off the results and it had reverview in front of Shaw. Uh it didn't say photo finish, even though Stephen Cruit was very dutifully going through the photo finish at the time, but I didn't know that in the commentary box. So as far as I knew, Riverview had won. I did call Shaw across the line, I did call it correctly, but then a couple minutes later it said reverview, the word unofficial went away. And then we had to change it back, and there was some very uh there's a bit of confusion going around and um some slightly stressed out people wondering who had won it. Um GPS did a good job of handling all that and it was all fine in the end.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Uh but it's worthwhile pointing out as well, Chris, like 0.04 in an eight is not even the width of the bow number.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

If anyone wants to see it, I've got the photo finish, uh photo.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

It is it's the bow ball skill. It is the bow ball in it, and it I thought it was really well called across the line. It is tricky because you are trying to sit there and you want to give the most accurate things when you're in the combox as well. Um, and so you know, we've it happened to us all, it just really tough when it's one of the biggest races in Australian rowing. But um, no, and I mean it sets both Shaw, Shaw and Riverview will both be better for the run because anytime you've got that level of side by side, because it wasn't that Shaw got out to an early lead, was it? It was that the lead changed.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

Yeah, and and we've seen so many times throughout the season between those two crews of we haven't seen one goes out faster and the other one's been reeling them in all throughout the season. We haven't seen you know, one crew has a sprint finish and the other one's been holding them off. It's the way that the race has unfolded has been different every single week. And it was different again. Review went out fast, they found that like top end bit of speed that they've been looking for, and uh then Shaw really mature, came through through the you know, the the first bit of the last 500. I threw you looked down and out. Like Shaw had the momentum, they had probably half a length, almost half the boat length, and I thought, cool, this is it, they're gonna walk away with this here, and it's gonna be Shaw. And oh my lord, St. Ignatius came home like it, and they didn't like watching the footage back, like they didn't look like it. You couldn't look like they were overrating to try and you couldn't pin up where the speed was coming from. It just they just motion. It was just uh there's just a mongrel there, and those boys wanted, you know, two boys back from last year, a came to go back to back. Um, and you know, they were their bow ball was ahead a couple of times in the last two strokes, it was you know, swapping every stroke. Um, and it was short. I don't want to use the word luck because Shaw have you know won the majority of the races all season and they've um done very well to put themselves in that position, but what an incredible race. Um and I I we can only hope that we're gonna get something similar again here uh on the waters of Black Barrington, can't we?

SPEAKER_01 11:04

For sure, for sure. And I even reckon in the in the cockpit. For sure. For sure.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

You heard it here first. Ant is tipping Shaw for the Bennington.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Redact, redact, redact. No, no. But I don't think I think there will be close racing across all of the school school kid events. Like there are just we were talking, we've been banging on about this the last three episodes. The quality of school kid rowing is insane right now. It's great. Even Pimble, I reckon, could take on a lot of those open eights.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

Yeah, well they have they have they've taken on two competitive open eights and they've won. Um we haven't really mentioned, we did mention the other day um while we're still just still still just on the school's uh Scotch Open, the locals here in Tassie. Uh we did mention on the podcast the other day, they were 0.02 of a second off the national record at the head of the at the head of the river. They were very comfortable, so they're 15 seconds clear of the field. Yes, it's at Barrington. Yes, it's hard to sort of compare times and things, but I think they're someone that we should watch out for in the school girl eight.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

That record time was set here at Lake Barrington last year. So it's um I mean I I was having a look at the trophies yesterday when I came down, and I think there's been might have been the Hutchins School has won the School Girl Eights back in the late 90s. So I'm not really counting out.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Um uh Hutchins were the first winners of the Barrington Cup in the uh 1960s as well. There we go. First and second winners.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

I'm not counting out it would be such a popular win, wouldn't it? Down here. Insane for a Tasmanian school to win either of the school eights, it would I I think we'll we'll see the banks lined, thronging with people on Sunday. And if they won that, my word, would that be an achievement?

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Yeah. Speaking of the banks lined with people, um, let's sort of move on to this week. And uh we were just saying as we walked in this morning, uh some changes just around the event area this year, and um new big screens, big screens moved.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

There's a stage.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Everyone everyone's been moved a little bit closer to the finish line, which I think Stuart, we remarked a few times last year, we feel very isolated when we spend our whole day up here at the media centre and in the uh in the town. And what what are your thoughts on uh on how it's everything's all set up this year?

SPEAKER_01 13:12

So this is my second time as a oh hi Lizzie over the speaker.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

Yeah, we're gonna have a little bit of background noise from Lizzie as the uh the racing finally gets underway. But you have to bear with us.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Like just from an athlete perspective, everything is a lot more condensed, so it's easy to walk. Because I found myself last year, I felt like I was just walking amazing lengths across the boat park and the athlete precinct. But I kind of like the way that they've structured the the stalls. So you've got all the shopping, classic me thinking about shopping, here in this like little bar kind of cutesy area, and then you've got all the boat stuff with the boats, which makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Yeah, it's it's the there's the athlete area and there's a spectator area, and they're they're a bit separate, but it's also if you're spending your day watching, you're all everyone's down this end. I think it's going to lead to a better atmosphere come the end of the week. Already, like, you know, there's more people in bean bags and chairs and stuff in front of the uh in front of the big screen. I love that you can see the big screen from the row union marquee, Stuart.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Yes, you can watch, and there'll be a lot of people that'll be watching that. So last year I was in the row union marquee for the interstate races after the para races, and you couldn't see what was going on.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

On official business.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

On official business, yes. I was I was sampling local wares, and um yeah, you just couldn't see exactly what was going on. So trying to work out off those tiny little screens, and when you're my size, which is five foot seven and a pair of Tom Cruise heels, it's really, really hard to see over the heads of rowers.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Are you gonna put it on a Tom Cruise run later?

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Well then you're a very vertically challenged podcast.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

Um fantastic. Um so plan for the week in terms of podcasting. We'll have a Thursday and a Friday podcast for you. On Saturday, we'll have our big preview of all the uh the interstate and schools races, and we'll have a Black Monday podcast uh on Monday with uh all the wrap-up and all the sawheads uh post-Australian Rowing Championships. So I want to ask you to, for the first few days of racing, is there anything having a look at how the draw is sort of unfolding? Um anything uh that you guys are wanting to keep your keep an eye out on um across these sort of early rounds and into the small boats?

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Look, I think with the small boats, I think it's amazingly open. Um the one that I'd like to point out in the under-17 women's single skulls, Ayla Drury from a Willembar, she was third in the under-19s at New South Wales Championships. They won the under-17s. As an under-17, she's been picked in the Queensland Bicentennial Cup squad. That's under-21s as a 16-year-old. This girl is amazingly quick. So I'll be curious to see how she goes here at the Australian Rowing Championships. But certainly all of the open skulls and pairs events I think are really, really open.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Um, I reckon UQ for a lot of the under-23 events will go quite strong, just having a look at some of the names. More so in the sweep events than the sculling, but I definitely back a lot of those UQ crews. And then in the lighties, I think the boys from Victoria, um, Carl and Tom Hastings and in that lightweight pair will definitely I I expect them to dominate.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

Victoria and inverted commas. Victoria and we won't mention it.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

We won't mention it. I mean, what are we mentioning the day? We can we talk about it later? No, no, no. I reckon those boys from Victoria who also will be making an appearance in the Penrith Cup will be a strong performance. Um in the lightweight girls, I've noticed that Alex Moylin has returned, and so has Hannah Tippett, which is great to see. So uh Alex came second in that event last year, and I think she'd be well placed to pick up the gold this year, particularly since those two girls, those two ANU girls who you know quite well, Stu, uh came second by such a small margin at Royal Women's Henley in the lightweight double. So they are some of my favourites.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

That was the rest of the day at Henley Women's that uh was was an absolute cracker. They were you know they were very gracious in defeat, they were very disappointed to lose to uh to Birmingham. Um but uh that was they were way more gracious than I would have been in that scenario. I can't imagine you losing graciously.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Me chucking my toys out of the cot? No.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

We look forward to that at about what is it, 2.15 this afternoon.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

Yeah, so if you listen to this early on, please uh what is it 2.15 or 315? 3.15, maybe 3.45 because we've had a half an hour delay, we're told due to a bound number admin issue. Um but uh Stu and I will be commentating and in the open lightweight women's single scale.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Please be nice to me. Please pray for me. Oh what oh we've got the new the FISA rules being applied.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Oh yes, let's talk about that. Let's talk about that. That's really important.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

So yeah, so it's so particularly for the open events.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

It's only the open event, correct? Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

The open women's double is still got repercharges for some reason.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

There might be a reason.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

But it is with the with the feed the new world rowing rules basically where it is based on the heat. So all of the heats will have some jeopardy to them because you can miss out on the A final with a couple of bad strokes. So it's uh so I think in a couple of them it's the fastest and then the next four fastest. Uh the two it'll be the heat winners, the winners, and then next four, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

The next four fastest. That must be a few.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Well, it it depends on how many heats there are. So sometimes it'll be first and second, we'll go directly through. We saw this at the world championship, we saw it in the international stage last year. I saw it at the world championships. Um I know for the Australian women's four, uh, there was a really tight finish in for third and fourth, which meant that basically in the second heat, you had to finish first or second to go through. Australia led early, drop back a bit. It it just felt like they were a little bit frenetic, and that was it. They could no longer win a medal because they were straight through to the B-final after one race. So that in itself is going to mean that um every single heat in these open events, apart from the women's stubble, is going to have a a level of jeopardy. You have to row right towards the line. It's no saving energy because you've got to confirm that you are one of the next quickest through. And I think that is going to add something.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

So yeah, it I sometimes Monday can be a little bit boring.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Now that you're saying all this out loud, and as an athlete that we'll be rowing under that, it's kind of scary.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Yeah, we're gonna get an update on uh how it actually feels to have that jeopardy uh later on in the week from Ant.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

But uh we do mic up with Ant.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

I would allow it. I would allow it.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

So we're gonna get a straight line from the commentary box into the boat and uh at the 750. Ant, you realise you're not gonna make the A final. How do you feel?

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Don't tell me that now.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

I I think we'd have to have the bleep, the dump button, and the BMA, the BMA guys work hard enough. I don't think we'd do make any extra work for them. Uh at that stage of the regatta. I think we're gonna have some racing reasonably so well, half an hour delay, so I think we're still 20 minutes away from racing. We've got another few minutes uh to fill on uh on the podcast and a couple more things that I want to have a chat about. Open events. So last year we didn't see too many of our top athletes here. There was uh a bout of the spicy cough going around at uh the the training centre, and uh, I think maybe it wasn't a compulsory selection event. I don't know, it was a bit messy last year. Anyway, we've got pretty much everyone back uh this year. Singles. Uh I am gonna say I'd really like to see Cormac win the men's single because he's won uh eight national championships in singles, including the Interstate, but never the open men's single for the Dr. Stephen Hinchy Memorial Trophy. Um and I think this might be his year, thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 20:23

No, he's he's definitely the favourite for it. We saw him at ACT Championships, uh, which was the NTC plus uh Cormac Kendy Leverett, who as we continually mentioned the Queenslander rowing for Sydney Rowing Club and training out of the ACT high performance programme because let's let's not make anything simple in rowing. Um but he he is the favourite uh homie. It'll be interesting to see the South Australians. Mitch Reinhardt uh won last year.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Oscar McGinnis won last year.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Oscar McGuinness, sorry, uh Mitch Reinhardt was well up there as well. So you know whether or not how they go again this year. Um I think at the women's side, Tara Rigney is back, and I would still have her as the favourite because she's still blisteringly quick, even though she's not directly in the National Training Centre, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

We haven't seen as much of her this year as we did last year. She wasn't at uh New South Wales Championships, but um yeah, I think she's still gonna be right up there. I don't really see anyone else um being able to challenge her in in the single skull. Um Ant, any thoughts on the open events apart from the open Lighty Women single?

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Um I think we well, no, actually, I've been watching more the under-23s, so I think I think I I'd largely agree with everything Stu kind of just said there. Uh it'd be interesting to see what Olivia Yates from Tassie will do in the under 23 scores. Yeah, she's on home water and I know.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

Jarrenzo and Olivia Yates as well, who uh does a little bit of writing for the catch and oh and does some racing previews as well. Does a very good job.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

It'll be interesting because her and I think she's rolling again in the open double with Alana. So uh open or under 23. I think she's in the under 23 double with Alana, so it'll be good. Interesting to see how they got those guys go, but I largely agree with everything Stu said.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

Yeah. Very good. Right. Open Women's Pair. There's one interesting combination, Stu, that uh of uh Lucy Stefan with uh a new member, an import to the Australian National University boat club, who who who would Australian National University would never do such a thing as uh import someone from beyond the borders of the Australian Capital Territory. But uh tell me about that one.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Yeah, Camilla Kralakate, uh she finished fourth for Lithuania in the women's pairs at Paris. So it was I and it wasn't until actually I saw one of the JRM previews that I realized, because obviously I'll go through the ANU guys, I'm a member of the ANU boat club, I'll go through all the entries and then go, who is Kralakate? And then had a look, and somebody mentioned, yeah, she'd rode for Lithuania. So her and Lucy Stefan in the pairs, I think it's gonna be a beautiful team up from us. It's gonna be a fascinating sort of run that one. So I think Camilla's moved down to I think she's living in Canberra at least for a little while, or she's come down to visit something like that. So it's it's great to see her in ANU colours. Um as you say, we don't very often get international rowers for us. I think Caleb Antill is probably the most famous one that we've had out of ANU, and Kat Ross, um, the former world champion in the PR2s. So it's it's gonna be really fascinating to see how they go. Um you know, we know that Lucy Stefan is just a human cheat code when it comes to a rowing boat. And whether or not, you know, how much the two of them have been number one, how much have they been training together? And then also how much have they been training in general?

SPEAKER_01 23:47

Well, yeah, Lucy's been in South Australia, so I can't I can't imagine they have.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

I actually wonder if they've got a scratch combo.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Probably just doing a couple training rows here at Nationals and just winning it.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

I've done that before, won a national title. All the best do.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

The other the other interesting one for that event is uh uh Caitlin McMurris Barrett and Isabella Scammel uh in the pair going up against then all the NTC athletes. So I think that is gonna be the open women's pair is gonna be a fascinating one to watch. I can't remember what the trophy's called, but it's a good one. It's a big trophy. Is it the Sarah Tate trophy? It is, and it's big. Uh it's a good looking one. Um and then in the men's pairs, something very similar. Yeah, it's the swan on it. It's the swan on it, yeah, yeah. Um and then the men's pairs, uh kind of similar with Patty Holt and Rowan Lavery, aren't training out of the center full time um up against sort of all the some of the NTC pairs. Although I've noticed like three of them have scratched the NTC pairs. Um uh so I don't won't uh claim to know what's going on, but yeah, a few of them have have scratched. So I think the open events this year, they aren't just an NTC whitewash, and they aren't just uh free-for-all because there's no NTC people here. And I think the level of the people who aren't at the centres is pretty high, and uh, I think we're gonna see some really good racing in those in those those events.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Well, you mentioned Scammel and McManus Barrett, and I think they they are so close to national team selection. If it's not this year, it'll be next year.

SPEAKER_02 25:12

I think if they if they want it, they they could be in it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Yeah, and again, I will point out that Caitlin McManus Barrett has been training out of Canberra for a very long time. And she actually coached a um uh young fella down in Canberra uh with an intellectual impairment, and was she so she'd go out in regattas with Cormac Hay uh with Cormac Hayes and they'd actually follow him down the course so he could get a race and sort of make sure of it. So I've always been for both Cormac and for Caitlin really, really impressed with their commitment to um helping young Cameron out and great to see.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

Fantastic. I think uh we've waffled on for long enough for uh a bit of a Monday morning preview podcast. Ant has a session to go on. It's very competitive to get a uh a training bow number time slot here. You've got to be lined up.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

Did you see the line this morning? Yeah, but they put in like a million bookings for like people, these three people.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

New South Wales people. I I reckon I can tell you who it is. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

No names naming, but I'm definitely looking north at some people.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, thanks, Peter Warren. Um lovely guy, helps out everyone, but yes, we'll get we'll be first in line for that, those bow numbers usually. Um last thoughts on uh this beautiful venue and uh the racing that we're gonna see this week.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

I know we've touched on a lot of competitive people and people who are focusing on selection and things like that, but to everyone who is here who has the opportunity to just row, stop and enjoy where you are. Like stop and enjoy the amazing opportunity you've been presented with, and stop and enjoy the fact that this is really a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing that you're doing. And just pat yourself on the back for being here.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Yeah, absolutely. It's certainly the one race that I've done here in Nashville's in 2021. I didn't take time to enjoy it as much as I was commentating, and it was the only race I did, and it was a bit of a uh just general shit show of a weekend. Um, and don't need to dwell on that anymore. I'm over it. I promise I'm not still hung up and being disqualified. But uh I definitely didn't enjoy it as much as I as much as I should have. And uh yeah, it is just such a gorgeous place to row. The standard of the event that they've put on with you know all these spaces that we spoke about earlier, the standard of the competition this year is fantastic. So please take some time to really enjoy it and appreciate being here.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

And it Ant's exactly right, you know, it's um if you're at even if you're out the back or something like that, you're competing in the national titles. And I think people tend to forget that. So it's yeah, and if you're gonna compete in national titles, why not here?

SPEAKER_02 27:37

Yeah, exactly. And with that, we will let you go, Ant and Stu. We will get in the commentary box very shortly after I finished editing this one. Ant is gonna run away. Goodbye, Ant. Thank you for joining us. We'll see you on the water. We'll see you. She's actually gonna come back and commentate before she uh races after her pre-row. But with that, rowing down under season two is proudly sponsored by WinTech Racing Australia. WinTech Racing have established themselves as the world's largest and foremost sustainable boat builder, producing over 2,000 shells annually. They're dedicated to promoting the growth of rowing by making it easier and more affordable to buy boats featuring cutting-edge technology that improve performance at all levels. WinTech's unwavering commitment to sustainability, affordability, and innovation drive them to propel the sport of rowing into a more inclusive and exciting future where your excellence will know no boundaries. Wintech Racing Australia can be found at Origata New and are here at the National Championships here on Lake Barrington. Please make sure you go and stay good day. Learn more about how you can get a fair price and an unfair advantage at winteracing.com.au