Rowing Down Under
Rowing Down Under - The Australian Rowing Podcast.
Join JRN writers and pundits Stuart John and Chris McCarthy as they take you on a journey through the Australian rowing season.
Tune in for weekly insights, analysis, and guest interviews from across the nation.
Rowing Down Under
S2 Episode 11: Bye Bye Barrington
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It was a long week, but nationals are done for another year, and everyone's made it back across the Bass Strait.
Join JRN pundits Chris McCarthy, Stuart John, and Ant Di Cosmo for all the washup from the 2026 Australian Rowing Championships.
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
Um that's that's gonna stick with me for the rest of my life.
SPEAKER_02And what you're saying is my music.
SPEAKER_03Welcome to Rowing Down Under, a podcast by JRN with Chris McCarthy and Stuart John.
SPEAKER_05G'day rowing fans, and welcome back to Rowing Down Under, the JRN podcast, where you're gonna get all the wash up from the Australian Rowing Championships. My name is Chris McCarthy, and I am joined by Stuart John and Aunt Cosmo. Guys, how was your travels back from Tassie Stu? You took uh a couple of days to make your way back to God's Country in Canberra.
SPEAKER_00I think God's Country is up in Queensland, and we'll get to talk about that a bit later on. No, it was it was, you know, uh a night in uh Devonport to finish up and then yeah, made it home alright after a long drive with a couple of rest stops in there from Geelong up to Canberra in the middle of the night. Brilliant. And how was your Sunday night?
SPEAKER_02Um, I went straight from the course and jumped on the boat back home with all the WA crews. Uh and it was a lot easier than Stuart's, that's for sure. Fell asleep nice and early and then went straight to work off the boat.
SPEAKER_05Oh that's grim. That's very, very grim.
SPEAKER_02It was actually it actually worked really, really well because Latzi was in our cabin and uh surprise, surprise, Susanna Lazie and I made the whole journey back together. And I got up early, I straightened my hair, it was good to go, good to go.
SPEAKER_05That would have been the first time all week that you didn't have to share a bed with her.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Kind of nice. No jokes, she'll throw it. She can hear me, she listens now, she can hear me.
SPEAKER_05Good, good. Yeah. Um, yeah. Well, I I actually almost didn't get home on the Friday night. Uh it was turns out it was windy everywhere. It was really windy in Sydney, and they were only only one runway operating in Sydney, but uh got out of Launceston in the end and uh back home and got to enjoy the fantastic coverage from the comfort of my couch on Sunday. Before we get started, we've got a lot to go through. What an incredible day, especially on Sunday in the interstate and the school's uh regatta, and I'm sure we've got lots to talk about uh in terms of the regatta as a whole as well. But before we do, a quick word from our sponsor. 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. And it's the part of this bill where spots through purpose words be 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, sustainability, affordability, and innovation drive them to propel the sport of growing 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 then, let's get into it. I think we should start with what I think is the biggest story of the national championships, the interstate regatta, and in particular, the King's Cup. And just before we I give the pleasure to Stuart to run us through uh what was uh an emphatic historic victory, let's just have a quick little listen to the words of our colleague in the commentary box, Richard Dorstein.
SPEAKER_04Queensland leading the King's Cup into the final 150 minutes hold on your hats like Barrington. This could be remarkable. Victoria pull one out late in the race to running up in both buttons South Australia there as well, champion. Victoria coming! Queensland dropping, they've got to be the front big ones. It's Queensland of Victoria, Queensland still in front as they turn still off the line. The Victorians will get close, but I'm thinking of third! Queensland have run the longest route. I d7 long years later. Oh, I can't believe it! Queensland have won the King's Cup.
SPEAKER_05Well, there we have it. The King's Cup going back to Queensland, and who better to tell us all about it than uh Stuart John, our resident Queenslander Stu. Are there still tears, you know, just every every 20 minutes or so, just thinking about it?
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's called hay fever when you're in Canberra, Chris. No, it was it was amazing because the entire way down the course, you could hear it in Richard's voice the entire call. So at 500 metres, Queensland lead the King's Cup. At a thousand metres, Queensland lead the King's Cup. At 1,500 metres, Queensland still lead the King's Cup. And in that last 500 metres, then all of a sudden, everybody who was from Queensland kept coming down and going, hang on a minute. This could be it. This could be it. And you had this mass of people in Maroon caps that were racing down to the finish line, the area between the presentation and the finish. And it was this like everyone with their hands over their mouths, their, you know, this intake of breath as they came up towards the line, because Victoria pushed right towards the end. Uh, you know, they got to within, I think it's 0.2 of a second in the end, that winning margin. Uh, in front of us in the presentation area, you had the Queensland women's youth eight that won silver. They were sitting there on their seats, they're up out of their seats, looking out for it. And then as they crossed the line, and as Richard called Queensland winning the King's Cup, it was relief. It was literal waves of emotion from all the Queensland fans that were there. Um, two of the selectors apparently swum out to the boat as they turned around to come back to the presentation pontoon. And then even afterwards, Queensland finished second in the Queens Cup behind New South Wales. The girls pulled straight up at the pontoon, the Queensland Queens Cup crew, straight up at the pontoon. Instead of sitting down where they had to, they just bolted straight for where the King's Cup was still celebrating. Um, yeah, it was so much of it completely wholesome. All those people, you know, Ray Ebbett, who's, you know, for a long, long time was the chief commentator. Um, it's now only been a couple of years since he stopped commentating. He called us up in the commentary box afterwards, you know, he and he even put in our chats, you know, tears in his eyes. Um there were Queensland representatives from the 80s, from the 90s that were there that were just about in tears. Um it was it was one of you don't often get to witness sporting history, and oh uh that's that's gonna stick with me for the rest of my life. Like it was just such a beautiful moment. And then afterwards, like just you could see them down on the pontoon having a quiet beer, just talking about it. It was it was incredibly wholesome, and all of us from North of the Tweed are incredibly proud.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I'm very glad that uh that that you got to do the interviews at the end, being a Queenslander. Um, and I can't imagine how special that would that would have that would have been. And um very sad that I missed it, but uh it was emotional even for me. Watch you. I had a text from uh from Michael McCrae saying that uh he was getting emotional and he's you know him and I are two rusted on New South Welshman and and you know we just couldn't be happier for Queensland. Look, as long as Victoria don't win it, I don't mind. So um speaking of uh Victoria and Decosmo, the lighties. Um my gosh, there was just no stopping.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Well, I don't know if sorry, I'm watching the Penrith Cup and I'm backing those boys in and I have the whole season, but I don't know if you guys saw the Victoria Cup. When I saw, I think it was Frankie Spano when she let go of her all so they had that really dominant lead, and then the wind picked up, and then I I I don't know if you saw it, but it's on the live stream. She let go of her all, and my heart sunk because I was like, no, no, no, no, get that all back, get that all back. Just let anyway. She they recovered amazingly, and I think that even they just had such a good, strong lead in the first half that it really carried them home in the second half. That's the Vic Lighty Girls of far out, guys. You know how to give me a heart attack in the back end of a race.
SPEAKER_05I didn't even see that. Jeez.
SPEAKER_02If you go, I I was glued to this rate because I started up in the commentary box and then I couldn't watch the Vic Cup from up there. I was too like, I would have been so distracting to Lizzie and Richard up there. So I quickly took myself out and I'm watching on the back screen and I'm intently watching them the whole time. I'm ignoring everything else, I'm just watching it go. I'm like, okay, stay flat, stay flat. The winds just need to stay flat here. So they've blasted out of the blocks, and I was like, oh my god, yep, here we go. Here we go. And they've set up their lead, and then in the second half of the race, just as the wind changed, and it only happened for the Vic Cup in the first half of the next race, and then it sort of died back down again. But there was a couple of massive gusts, and I just saw, yeah, I I think it was it it could have been, I think it was Frankie. I just saw it like come out of her hands, and then the boats the boat stopped, and I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. But it was a really good recovery from those guys, and they managed to pull through, but we haven't won it in 10 years, so that's the first time in 10 years that the Vic Lighdies have um the Victoria Cup Lighties have won it. And um, yeah, I don't know. I feel yeah, it was just so I feel like I've invested so much of myself into that boat after the over the last five years. Because when I started in that boat, we were coming forth, we were getting walloped, a shellacking to steal Richard's words. We were always out the back door, and then we got the bronze at Cirque, and then last year we got the silver in Barrington, and it's been a pretty long rebuild process in Victoria to get the interest back in lightweight because there was no interest in those boats, there was zero interest, so it's been a massive culture revival, and I think the eights helped that to get to a point where we now have a really strong stream of lightweights coming through in Victoria.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and across the board, um, so many of the lightie events outside of the interstates were were won by by lightweight uh by Victorian athletes. Um, so whatever you're doing down there, I was gonna say whatever they're feeding you, but it's but it's you know it's lightie, so it's whatever they're not feeding you, isn't it? Um down there.
SPEAKER_02Um, I think it's just like gaining interest in the boat because when I started, very much no one was interested in it. And even I was talking to Tomzak because that's the first time Carl Tomzak has won that boat, and he's represented Victoria a number of times in the Pandora's Cup. I cried. I I I genuinely speaking of tears, when I saw Carl, I just kept balling my eyes and I couldn't choke the words of I'm so proud of you at. Because he's had it like six or seven attempts at it, and um he finally came back again this year, and for him to win it, it's just anyway, I think it's just regenerating that competitive interest in those boats. Because the Kings and the Queen's cups, you're always gonna have takers for them. Always. Um but in those smaller boats, I it's it's hard to find you you really need to generate a co culture of interest.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. And I I think I was gonna shout out um the New South Wales Penrith Cup crew because their row to second I thought was incredible. Um and uh really gutsy row. And um, you know, they could have like last year as well, they could have easily finished off the podium. Um, but you know, backs up against the wall and they did it. Um I think Rob Black and Pete Warren, the coaches there, are doing quite a good job of getting Lighty 8s out and getting a bit of a squad happening um up here, and be interested to see if that can follow through in the same way that uh Victoria have done it. Although I think it's a couple of years before anyone's gonna catch uh the big white V in the lightweight events. Looking a little bit forward in the Queen's Cup, we spoke about the shellacking. Um, you know, it was almost 10 seconds to New South Wales, but I think the really big story out of that was that Victoria finished off the podium in the Queen's Cup for the first time ever. Ever.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_05The first time since it had been run as an as an eight-ordered race, so 27 years. Um you know, it's the most dominant run in our sport, really. Um, Victoria in the Queens Cup, ridiculous numbers. Um you know, we've spoken before about Western Australia and how Stu, they're just one Annabelle McIntyre away from having a tilt out back on their home waters next year. Queensland now back in it as well, um, with the controversial but not controversial uh New Zealand import because that is completely allowed under the rules. Um, they're a little ways off New South Wales, but I feel like there's a bit of momentum there, and I feel like there's more momentum in WA and Queensland than there is in Victoria. Could we see WA winning on their home waters next year?
SPEAKER_00100%. You could, you know, and I think what was great from a WA perspective was that they won the Bicentennial Cup, which was the youth women's eights. Um, they've already got some really, really talented rowers in those crews. Um, I think Greta Spencer, Lila Fieves, I think Greta was here, but Lila wasn't. Um, so you know, those two are going to add a bit to it. You take out, if you're, you know, Annabelle McIntyre's just one of the best rowers in the country, you take out your weakest rower in that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Um, so you take the weakest rower out of that WA8 and you put in Annabelle McIntyre, that closes the gap right up. Um, I think they faded a little bit towards the end, gave Queensland that little bit of an opening to try and make it through. But with, you know, winning the bicentennial cup means they've got a whole heap of talent that's coming through. And if it's I I don't I think it'll be a bit closer. I don't think it'll be a shellacking again next year. Um so it'll it'll just start to get closer. But I think to your point, Chris, I had to look back through all the results. I think it was the last time Victoria didn't make the podium in the Queen's Cup was uh so obviously when it's eight oars, they've never not made the podium. Last time before that, yep. The last time before that, 1977. That was back when it was a four. They've done it for 50 years. That is that's outside of my lifetime.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I think I just quickly before I go into my Yeah, I know. And I I kind of I have an opinion on what the I think the problem is, but before I get to that, I want to note like Eliza Bridgeford in that Queen's Cup crew that came second, she double voted, she did the skull and she backed it up in the Queen's Cup and they got a silver. So I promised, I said I would say it, but that watch that girl because she's under 23, she's going again for under-23s this year. I reckon she'll the Queen's Cup and even the skull. Good things coming out of that girl. Um but the problem I think we've got in Victoria at the Queen's Cup, and we're gonna start to see it in the King's Cup too, is aspiration. There is a lack of aspiration among the younger boats to continue through to the Queen's Cup and the King's Cup because there is a perception that they're all gonna be NTC athletes and it's gonna be so dominant, so there's not even a point, there's no point in trying to nominate for those boats. I think there's a lack of tunnel and pathway and aspiration for those boats at the moment in Victoria. And that's not to say that we can't rectify that quickly and and learn from our mistakes this year and go forth and build for next year. But there is uh a genuine disconnect between our youth boats who are under-21s, that under-23 gap, and then the king's and queens cups. So uh that's if you ask, that's what I think the problem is, is the pipeline up as we start to see those great names like Lucy Stefan and and you know, those big names start to retire and step back from rowing. We have a lack of talent to fill that that gap just yet because of our aspiration and our pathways up.
SPEAKER_05And and you could probably say that could be reflected right across the country with uh just the way that the Australian system works with the with the National Training Centre. There is this gap uh between your sort of your school lever rowing and then you're up to your under-23s and up to your senior rowing. There's this weird gap that sometimes it's hard to back yourself, I think.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Um that you can't.
SPEAKER_02But those Queensland crews were primarily under 23 athletes.
SPEAKER_05Exactly. That's yeah, Queensland has done it well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, they because they've backed themselves for years that they could do it. Well, well, the Queensland Bicentennial Cup crew were really young as well. I think they had Isabel Patterson in there and Ayla Drury. They're under seven, Ayla Drury's under 17.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. And she's racing Bicentennial Cup. Yeah, how many bicentennial cups can she do there?
SPEAKER_02If New South Wales is not careful as well, because they've got the stronger there, they they're in the position that Victoria was in. If they don't look at their pipelines up now and look at their succession planning now, they'll find themselves probably in a similar puddle.
SPEAKER_05Whereas Queensland are doing we have we have with our men's.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It's the pipeline. Yeah, sorry, keep going. We I'm getting off topic now, classic.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. No, but I think getting member pushing her uh pushing her cases here.
SPEAKER_00But I think that gets to the point, Chris, where exactly what you're saying there, Ant, because New South Wales finished off the podium in the King's Cup. And the last time New South Wales finished off the podium in the King's Cup, the last two times New South Wales have finished off the podium in the King's Cup have been when a non-big state has won. And that was when WA won in 2005, and then when WA won in 1999. Um, and again, you know, it and it you're just not expecting to see the big states off the podium in either of those ones, and yet there was one of each across the Kings and the Queens.
SPEAKER_05Which I will point out, Stuart, to your uh uh as a very good segue for me, that uh your rogue prediction uh in our predictions podcast. If you haven't listened, go back and listen and see how poorly all of our predictions have aged, because some of us, not Stu, um, have made some pretty terrible predictions. Um and a big thank you to Nick Bartlett for uh messaging me to that effect. Um but uh your rogue prediction for the King's Cup was that uh New South Wales and Victoria not to finish on the podium. Um and we had that. Well top two, not to finish top two. Not to finish at the top two, sorry, yeah, off the podium would be a stretch. Um but we had that um yeah, we had that in the uh across both events. Uh where we had uh both uh Victoria not finishing on the podium in the Queen's Cup and New South Wales not finishing on the podium in the King's Cup. So I I think the other um the other quick thing that we'll just touch on, and then because I appreciate that uh it is early morning for us and we do have all of the schools racing to get through, is that uh we saw probably who we expected to win in the Para singles. Um well in all the singles, really. Um do we think they're up for grabs in the coming years? I mean, I don't think I don't think the women's singles aren't for grabs. Um but the para singles would be, wouldn't they, Shu?
SPEAKER_00I think certainly the men's. It was a cracking race between Cormac Hayes and Flynn Wilkinson. Um Wilkinson got out early. Hayes nearly caught up with him. Um I know that Cormac really, really wanted to win that race. Um, but unfortunately, you know, Flynn was good enough to hold him off right in the final strokes because Cormac led with a couple of strokes left to go. Um, but Flynn Wilkinson just has an amazing amount of power in those legs. Uh, I think in the women's, Wallace Russell is looking reasonably comfortable. I I'd love to see a fit Isabel Egan up against her, and we haven't seen that yet. Um, Izzy didn't race in the interstate this year because she'd had the schoolgirl quad skulls earlier on in the day and just went, Oh, look, I'm cooked from that. Um so I think Izzy finishes grade 12 this year. So next year we would expect to see her having time with the National Training Centre. Um, so having that opportunity to train, and she doesn't have to move for that either if she stays in Canberra for uni. Yeah. So having Izzy against Wallace, I think, will be fascinating, and then Cormac against Flynn in the men's will be interesting as well.
SPEAKER_05I think, Ant, you are just jumping at the bit to mention Ella Marshall.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I want to mention Ella Marshall because that was a stellar performance from her. Because we saw Susanna beat um beat her. Earlier in the in the week. And I know Susanna didn't have a great race that race, but I'm really proud of Ella Marshall from if you look at her journey from where she's come from and now in the Paris, because she's very much in the space where she belongs. She was battling around in the open lightweights for a while. And um it's good. I reckon to add to that mix if I can, Stu. Let's see, Ella would be a very good case to have a look and see what training centre does for an athlete. We'll we'll be able to very clearly see in Ella's Ella's journey from non-center, like being not even anywhere near any sort of Oz athletes, whereas uh Wallace Russell has had that exposure in her career from no exposure to to being at the centre. I think Ella. Ella is probably a good marker to see where the gains are at.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, fantastic call.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. All right, we're gonna move on to the school's racing. Oh, of course, uh New South Wales reclaimed the the John Coates Cup for the overall interstate point score. I haven't seen the point score yet. Neither of you two, I don't think have seen it yet. Have you? But I'm like back and forth. Yeah, well, I told you. I think we can flash back to commentary at New South Wales State Champs where I said that we're not letting you touch it.
SPEAKER_02Um and uh back and forth like a like a crazy person.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's it's our trophy. Thanks, mate. Um, and we're gonna move on to the city. It'll be Queensland's next year. Ooh, be cool. We're gonna move on to the schools racing. Uh, just about every single race on the Sunday, I thought was a surprise. There were a couple uh which went, let's say, according to plan or according to the form guide, uh, one being the foregordon conclusion debate that we had in the uh previous podcast about uh about Marist College. Um, incredible row from them. Um we'll mention in this under-17s, uh, Kinross uh got the win there in what was a good race. Marist weren't in the 17s because they've got two under-17s in their open quad. Um, but great from them to to step up and take that that young crop of uh boys, Kinross scholars really have been really impressive throughout the season. Um let's let's talk about the quads. Um in the girls, firstly, Stuart, because Ant has just disappeared off our screen.
SPEAKER_02Um, I'm sorry, I'm here. I am here.
SPEAKER_05Well, okay, well, Ant first then, uh, given it's a Victorian crew, how impressive were Gippy Grabber.
SPEAKER_02I am so proud of those guys, and I saw Nick around the boat park as well, and just everything that they battled with the whole squad during the week to come back and do what they've done. But I've been backing them all season. All season I've backed that crew, and I dare say we're gonna see some amazing things out of the next season. Anyway, I love Mike's and grandma crew because I didn't even go there.
SPEAKER_05Three of them will be back next year. Um, I know Nick is is keen to go back to Henley at some point as well. Um, I don't think that's gonna happen this year, unfortunately. I think it's just a little bit too late with everything going on in the world for anyone to make that decision. It's all just a bit too expensive. Um, I would love to see them over there this year, but I think you know they'd be a very competitive crew next year. Um, Marist, as we mentioned, Stu, unstoppable. They've got at least at least two back next year, and possibly for the year after as well. Um they've just leveled up again this season, haven't they?
SPEAKER_00They have, they have. And I think what's interesting is that this is the first year that they've ever ever had a paid coach, and that coach happens to be Lyle McCarthy, who coached Kim Brennan to gold in Rio. So if you're gonna get your first ever coach, that's not a bad one to um take in. And uh actually what's interesting is that locally, you know, you've got Lyle who's helping out with Maris College, Mark Prater, who was an Australian men's coach last year as well in 2024 as well. He was coaching the Canberra Girls Grammar crew, yeah. Yeah, yeah, he was coaching the Canberra Girls Grammar crew. Um, so you know it's there's some not bad uh coaches that are floating around there. Uh at Bradford College, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so it's you know the three big and then Kendall Brody coaches at uh at Canberra Grammar. So all all of the four sort of main uh big running schools at in Canberra have all got pretty high caliber coaches, I suppose. When you uproot your life to go move to Canberra, you're generally you're generally it's the hardest thing to do in Canberra is leave, isn't it, Stu?
SPEAKER_00So um that's the biggest black hole known to mankind. Yeah, exactly. I'll get another text message from Sarah Davron telling me off for saying that.
SPEAKER_05Uh is this why you're so positive about Canberra? Is Sarah Davron just mean to you if you say anything bad?
SPEAKER_01I'll just blink twice. No one can see that, he's just doing international health podcasts.
SPEAKER_05Oh hilarious. Um, let's talk about the eights. Um I'll firstly want to make the point that we had the new under-17 eights this year. We had the under-17 open eight, I guess, the just the straight under-17.8, which allowed club crews and composites, and then we had the under-17 schoolgirl eight. First across the line in both events was the same. Commercial came second in um in the the the the club event. Do do we need but in the in the boys it was Joey's in both. Do we need to have two? Does it does it make sense to have two? Yes, it's obviously more money uh for the regatta, uh, but do it do we need to have two of them? I want to get your thoughts on this.
SPEAKER_00I I am completely ambivalent about it. I mean, they've made the savings, they've made the savings in the regatta time with the few of the you know, the under-23 in the open events going to the world rowing timing progression, you know, first couple across the line and then the next fastest. So they do have that in there if it gives, you know, if it gives them the opportunity to because the big difference between the two is that the under-17 school eights are run on the Sunday, and that could potentially give younger rowers that opportunity of competing on the Sunday, and you know, because it's the massive, massive crowds on a Sunday morning at the championships, those under-17 school-aights, they've always been on the Sunday, and those events have been around for forever.
SPEAKER_05Um uh but the little bit of a lot of it.
SPEAKER_02I suppose it's probably there for a reason. Like they they wouldn't make more money. It's obviously been requested, right? Well, yeah, and no, there's obviously a demand there. So I I I find it hard to speak on this issue because I was never an under-17s schoolboy, and so I've not gone through that system. But if there's a demand, if there's a genuine interest and a demand there to allow for like non-schools to participate in it, because I know there are quite a few club programs who are pushing under-17s and doing juniors and learn to rows. So if it gives more people an opportunity to row, then I say keep it. And I'm very much speaking from a point of the lightweight eights. A bias, there's a bias there coming from that. But if it was impact impacting the timetable and there wasn't a genuine interest, then no, I don't see the point of the two.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Sorry, I was thinking of the quads rather than the eights, because that was this was the first year of the under-17 quads.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, the school quads. And and what we've seen in the under-17 quads is for a number of years it's been dominated by composites and club crews, and now they've got the straight school competition. So I kind of understand it on that front. The eights has kind of gone the other way where we've we've created the this club event, and then you know, the boys, there was one. I'm just let me look, uh the boys, there was one composite crew entered in it. Um, and it was a fairly throw-together smoggers board, fun sort of composite crew. And in the girls, there was one uh club crew entered in it. I I just at the moment it doesn't seem like the demand really justifies it. But I think we wait and see whether having the opportunity, you know, chicken and egg, you know, give the opportunity the crews come versus having people banging down the door for this new event. So um let's wait and see. I will just mention in those under 17 eights, Normo first across the line in both of them in the girls' ones, and then that were 100 grams underweight on the Sunday, and they were disqualified. And MLC Q took the wins. Congratulations to MLCQ. I'm gutted for the Normo girls, and I know uh the girls and the coaches were definitely yeah, I mean, and you know uh how how tough that is to come in underweight. Um yeah, this happened to me.
SPEAKER_02I yeah, it it honestly is, and there's nothing because in your head you you deserve to win, it's not your ability, and a hundred grams. Like if you think about a 30 mil short glass or and like you double it, that's essentially a hundred grams. That's what it is, that's how little it is. It just so I feel for those girls. Obviously, I I'm very happy for the Victorian Z ML DQ girls, but like it's not an emark on their ability. It's really not, and a hundred grams means nothing. It's just yeah, I feel for those girls because I know I've been there, I know exactly how how how gutted they'll be right now.
SPEAKER_05It's it's tough, I think, especially at the school level. Um, I think it's tough on the coaches, the coaches have beat themselves up. I did chat to them and um they reckon they've weighed the boat about five times over the course of the weekend, including on Saturday after they won the the under 17-8, um, and it was fine. Yeah, but they didn't weigh it on Sunday morning, and they think all the wind and everything um has uh had had dried it dried it out um over over the course of the Saturday afternoon, and and and that was that, which is brutal. Um let's talk about the eights. Uh my rogue prediction back at New South Wales State Champs was that Head of the River wouldn't predict the race for the Barrington Cup. And boy was I right because I had no inkling that Riverview would do what they did. Stu, did you were you shocked when you were calling it? I couldn't believe that someone was leading. It was almost like the King's Cup. Couldn't believe that someone was leading Scotch, and then they kept leading, and Scotch just threw everything at them, and Scotch looked great, but Riverview were just you could tell they were burnt by that head of the river result, and they just like a scalded cat, they were straight out of there and just held onto it the entire way down the course.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and those margins, just having a look at the results at the moment, those margins were nothing in it every single timing point. You know, I think the biggest margin through the first three timing points was 0.7 of a second, which you know is absolutely nothing. And yeah, like the entire way down, I just kept thinking this was going to be Scotch, Scotch would row through, Scotch would row through. And St. Ignatius held on the entire time for back-to-back Barringtons on Lake Barrington. Uh, so I'd I'd I haven't gone back through, but it'd be very interesting to see if that's ever actually happened before because it's not often we have back-to-back on Lake Barrington.
SPEAKER_05Um I don't think we've ever had back-to-back nationals on Lake Barrington before. Because I think I looked this up for someone else for another statistic, and I was like, well, of course it hasn't been done because um, yeah, I think I looked it up for this uh when I was writing the preview for this, and uh, I think I figured, oh, well, no, this hasn't happened because um it's we've never had two nationals in a row in Tassie.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so and no, I think this was the first time though, and again we saw it, you know, you can sometimes see it with the crews that have been really quick all season when they get they don't know how to react when they're under pressure. Um, and as you say, I don't think it was that Scotch rode badly. There was nothing that stuck out calling the race that you'd go, okay. Well, this was the thing. It was just absolute guts and determination from Riverview to hold on because they just they just got out to a little bit of a lead, and that's where it stayed. And then right at the end, they were able to make a final push and extend it out to a couple of seconds. So it was it was an unbelievable row from them.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, well, that's the the thing that I thought was most impressive was I was thinking that same thing at the halfway point. I was thinking, well, this Scotch crew have never been behind at this point, they don't know what to do. But then they still mounted a massive charge at the end and they looked like they could row through. Um, so I thought credit to them on that is that you know it coming from behind and learning how to how to do that if you haven't had to do it your entire schoolboy career or whatever is uh is tough. And you know, they handled it pretty well and they threw everything out review, but review just had the best row on the day. And that was um very, very impressed with that. In the girls, I was warned uh by Ben Watt from Kin Ross not to write off the girls from Orange in uh at the national championships, and uh I clearly didn't listen. And we had a very similar story to last year where the crew that was uh down and out after after Head of the River came through and took an emphatic win on Lake Barrington. It's actually Kinro the first time Kin Ross have ever won the Sydney Cup, um, which is hard to believe uh given how much winning Kin Ross does. They've won the quad a couple of times, they've won the 17-8 before, but have never won the Sydney Cup. Um Pinball were off the podium, which I thought was a little bit surprising, but it is tough to peak for two events. Um, and when you're peaking that high, like you know, like Pinball have done, um, it it it is uh pretty tough. So I'm keen to see what I'm sure there's more to come out of those girls in the coming weeks and months with the junior trials and um maybe a trip overseas. We'll see how everything pans out. Um but uh yeah, but I think that's enough said on the school girl. The incredible row from from Kinross and and well done, and there's still plenty of them back next year. We've just lost Ant. Um, but I think we're gonna hope that she uh comes back into our call because otherwise we're in some trouble. Um, Stu. Let's talk about the singles quickly. Isabella Henderson, what a week for her.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, amazing week. Um, so we've seen her row for UTS, and she won multiple medals for UTS earlier on, I think in the uh under 19 doubles, and I think there might have been one in the quad as well. But a first ever national rowing championship for the Armadale school. Uh, it was great calling that bright yellow bucket hat over the line, and I believe she's now signed it and handed it to our co-colleague uh co-commentator Lizzie Chapman. Um so Lizzie now has the famous bucket hat for uh the Armadale school, but no, what a what a great row. She comes down, you know, drives down from Armadale to Sydney on a regular basis to come down and compete.
SPEAKER_05From what I've heard, and drives it down itself.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Um, really, it was it Lizzie and I were both up in the combox. Wasn't quite tears in the eyes, but we were both absolutely like massive grins on our face to see uh Isabella Henderson win that one. Um really, really cool thing and a great, a great underdog story. And yeah, uh national champion in rowing out of Armadale. There's quite a few, you know, kids from country from the country that do well at national level. Alex Hill, Laura Goulay are probably the two that immediately spring to mind, but they're not often representing their hometown. Uh and to have you know someone come out of Armadale, it's it's just really cool.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, not a bad nationals for regional New South Wales with uh the Almidale School or for the regions in general, with the Alberdale School, with uh Gippy Grammar, with Kin Ross, um, you know, I feel sure a number of the the review boys are are from the country as well.
SPEAKER_00And um I Ladrill from Mwillenbar.
SPEAKER_05Exactly, yeah, like plenty of uh regional representation, which is great to see and uh just proves that we don't need a rowing course in the middle of nowhere to boost regional participation in the sport. But that's all we'll say on that, isn't it, Stu? Um I think uh Ant, do you want to quickly uh give a little bit of a shout out to one of the Cox 4s?
SPEAKER_02One of the Cox 4s? Uh yeah, I to Bucket in the Coroa Anglican Girls one uh Coroa, they were one of those Cox 4s that were in that Friday that was a mess of weather. And um they had a bit of a scare there with Bucket in the Coxs and seat. And I just want to give a good shout out to those girls who came back stronger on the Saturday and the Sunday and did really, really, really well.
SPEAKER_05What I I thought you were gonna have a chat about uh your animal master.
SPEAKER_02Oh, sorry, I've talked about Scarro is a Cox Quad. You said Cox 4, you were talking about Genizano! Oh my god, the girls who got abroad sorry, my head wasn't completely I'm standing up now in a different um space there, but the Genizano girls got off on the podium, which is probably their most successful result in in probably 10 years. And Genizano started in Cox 4s and now they've come full circles and they're doing the Cox 4s again. And those girls just got pipped by Loreto Ballarat, the head of the school girls. Anyway, I'm very proud of those girls. So a massive shout out to the Genizano girls, the Jen Dogs, as we uh we love them. Because that was, yeah, it was so it was so good to see.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. The program on the rise. This has just been so many good stories from nationals. I appreciate we are getting off of time, so we're gonna move on to uh a little bit of the club racing. The club point score came right, or the medal tally, rather. I think the point score probably had a slightly larger margin with the way that that's calculated, but the medal tally came right down to the last race. And if you take the sprint medal for Eric Horry out of the mix, because those don't actually count to the point score, and you just say just the traditional medal tally, Mercantile were within one gold medal of topping the medal tally. If we take that one uh sprint gold for Sydney out of the mix, mercantile are just uh I think we said it very early on in the season after head of the Yara. Scott Rose come in there, done a great job, and they're seriously on the rise now.
SPEAKER_02I think everybody seems to know say that they're on the rise when all the athletes are standing in front of you. But that has programmed there's been a massive turnaround at a committee level from the last two years. Um, because there's a bit of a cycle between Melbourne Uni and Mercantile. They when one's up, the other's down, it's like peaks and waves. So Mercantile has have done a number of things over the past three years with their Mercantile radio, their youth junior program, which is now in its second year running, and they've done a few things in the past, probably three to five years, to get them to this point. And what you're seeing is the product of five years work. So, yeah, Scott, I think Scott Rowe's done an uh like an amazing job with that program, and he's taken them definitely from one level to another. But it would be remiss of us to not acknowledge all the behind-the-scenes work that has got them to these points because under 23 athletes aren't just standing in front of you magically. They just they haven't just appeared in the last two months. That has been a long-term um that's been a long-term plan under Gina Peel, their president. And so they've done a really, really good job. And it's come out now in nationals, you've just seen it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, I definitely um remember last year hearing a little bit about some of the coach hunting, and I know that that's the product of things that have been in place for for a couple of years' time. I thought that really impressive in a couple of a couple of categories. I think you mentioned the their junior um the sort of pathway um out from school into under-21s, and you know, they had all those girls uh head over to Henley last year in the Prince the Prince Philip 8, and then they backed that up with a win in the 21 Cox 4 and the 21-8 in the girls' side, and they looked just unstoppable. Like it's a lot of their medals is working.
SPEAKER_02A lot of their medals as well were picked up, like Freya Axon there. She's a club rower, she rose under Pete Somerville. The juniors are led by Susie Franklin. Like they've just got a massive coaching staff there that all have their their focus and they all do their job really, really well. So it was in yeah, and it's come out of nationals. You can see it. It's it's that succession planning, it's that creation of aspiration.
SPEAKER_05I'm I'm really keen to see I mean uh Sydney have won the medal tally and the point score for I think the last time they didn't win it would have been I can say 2018. Um, and that was there's some controversial calculations going on then um about uh they won the medal tally but not the point score. Um but um excuse me. Uh yeah, so kudos to Sydney that uh they've done it again, and it's it's been a dominant, dominant run for a club that's just had so much depth. And um, I think you know, we mentioned Henley before, it's this carrot that now both Mercantile and Sydney um are carrying, and and uh it does attract a lot of athletes over. Um but I I think we could see a real battle on our hands for the champion club of Australia next year. Stu, I wanted to pose a question to you, a club that we we we sort of saw maybe who had very good results for a very small program, but Mossman Rowing Club, if they had maybe done a few things slightly differently, could they have been quite up there in the medal in the medal? I think there's a couple of events where they'll be disappointed. They would have been disappointed not to get medals. So if we chuck those in and then say that, you know, they they targeted a couple of different events or something like that. Could we have seen them, you know, up at the pointy end with your with your UQs and your mercantiles?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they definitely would have been, so they won 4.25 gold medals. Um, so they're only a couple behind Sydney University and UTS, um, which even from a Sydney perspective would have been something. They weren't a million miles off Melbourne University either. Some of the so some of the crews that they had um weren't always full Mossman crews when they could have done so. Um so I think in the like in the under-19 women's quads, you know, they had uh Steven uh Elise Stevens and Elise Coates, yeah. Elise Coates Eloise Stevens um in a double, but then you had Lottie Ravenstein and Frieda Kirkham in a different double, and then in another double, you had another three rowers. So, but I guess for them the focus would have been on the performance and not necessarily the um not necessarily winning the medals. I think it's it it it it feels as though it's one of those ones where, yep, they 100% could have been well at the top, uh, but they're focused on the what's best for the individual rowers.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and I don't want to criticize them over it because I think they have done the right thing uh by them and by their athletes. Uh, this is not a criticism at all, but I think it's just showing that um, you know, you prioritize different events and do different things and um they're within uh they're even with a shot, despite being a really small program, what they're doing is trying to build crews towards under-19 selection. That's why all those composite quads were all out there and there was no sort of full Mossman quad in that that event. And you know, they're a club that has lost their pathway funding in recent years because their high performance program was um, let's say dismissed uh a number of years ago and the Ungamarks went over to to UTS and there was that whole thing going on. Um, they to if they want to become a high performance club again and get that funding back, they need to put athletes on the national team. And that's what they're trying to do. So they are doing the right thing by them and by their athletes. Not a criticism at all, but I just wanted to make the point that there's another club that's there in the mix, and you know, they get they can pull another four or five athletes who are capable of winning a couple of medals and and they want to put together just a couple of club boats that are gonna be up there or um something like that, you know, they are gonna upset some some big names next year if if that's what they want to do. I think that kind of gets us over most of the club stuff. We are getting on for time a little bit, but I want to talk about the regatta as a whole. And before we get on to the club stuff, it looks like Ant uh is having some public transport dramas and is gonna have to duck off to work, but thank you for all your contributions so far this season, Ant, and uh enjoy the real world while we're gonna be able to.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for having me, guys. Thank you so much for having me. All right.
SPEAKER_05Okay, Stu, let's quickly run through just a couple of things more broadly. Um, of course, we need to shout out Alice, Chris, and Catherine for their work um running the Regatta and what a fantastic job they did uh keeping us on track despite all the things that were outside of everyone's control at the Regatta.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. And you know, just about every single delay was you know, the power outages, um, you know, the winds, the lightning. It was I I joked on commentary that I was half expecting to see a thylosine jump out of the forest around uh Lake Barrington. They've they've done a fantastic job to keep the sprint regatta in there, um, you know, when that is consistently the first thing to go. Um they've when they had the decision about the. I was surprised. I was surprised. I was surprised, but but pleased to see. But also, too, one of the things that was was really impressive was that they took a um you know the decision on the Thursday, I think it was. They got the coaches involved when they had that big afternoon where racing was completely cancelled. They got the coaches on board, said, look, this is how we're gonna go about it. Um, you know, speaking to a couple of people that were there, they said, not really appreciated that. You know, people knew what was going on. It was it's really tough, and it's really tough at Barrington because the phone coverage isn't great. And so you can't just check your mobile phone to be able to see uh easily when the races have been rescheduled for. So they they did a fantastic job. It's it's highly stressful. And having done you know regatta management before at a local level, you know, it can be stressful enough, let alone trying to juggle a shark, a crocodile, and uh a bunch of um sharks, crocodiles, butchers' knives, and chainsaws, whilst also trying to go through ride a motorbike through a flaming hoop, because that's what it felt like at points.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I don't know. That's definitely how Alice Evans was feeling. Uh and she was sick halfway through the week as well. So um, so many people are doing such a great job. Um, I will say and mention that so we did obviously have some sunk crews on Friday night, and uh you know, we had one girl apparently uh uh who did need some medical attention because she was quite cold in the waters of Lake Barrington, and apparently very little follow-up from rowing Australia in the way of incident reports and all the rest of it, which is very disappointing to hear. I'm sure there is an explanation, but if there's not, that needs to be done better, for sure. That's pretty unacceptable, really. That um yes, there's a lot going on and they've done a great job, but the welfare of athletes is um always has to be the number one priority. And if there's been no follow-up from anyone um for those uh Korwer and Gibson grammar quads, um I think it would just be a nicer gesture. You mentioned the phone reception stew. We love Barrington. It is a beautiful place, it is just like a painting when you look out of the commentary box. It's one of my favourite places to commentate, uh, despite the oddities of the lanes uh taking, which it always takes a couple of days to get used to. The government support was incredible. Obviously, there was a lot more money going into that event this year, and that's why it went back to Barrington. Um, it meant that the boat park was fantastic, there was more support for other ancillary things to make the regatta run well. But how often do we need to go there, really? It is clearly not the best venue in Australia to uh to have a rowing race. Uh do we need to be going back there every two years, really?
SPEAKER_00I mean, the problem is is that from a rowing Australia perspective, if they are getting a significantly uh, you know, if they're getting significantly more to go to Barrington than from their perspective, because we know that, you know, in Australia, high performance funding in particular comes out from uh having to, you know, win medals, which we didn't do in the last Olympiad. Um, so it it's it's a really interesting point. If the Tasmanian government are putting in so many dollar redoos that they are, you know, that we have that it's better for the sport overall and it builds the sport in Tasmania. The problem that we've got now is that it's two years in Barrington. Next year's going to be in Perth, which it has its own transport issues, and particularly now that you know we've had it where fuel prices have gone through the roof. So it's gonna be much diesel over the corn more at the moment, I'm sure, is like four dollars a litre. Like it's expensive, yeah. Plus, you know, so that's that's gonna be a concern, and then we're going back down, um we're going back down potentially to Barrington the following year.
SPEAKER_05Um that's the rumour that we're hearing. Uh it's yeah, I I don't like that rumour. My stance on it is if you know if we are being consistently forced, essentially, into having nationals somewhere where the vast, vast majority of the rowing population it's very expensive and difficult for them to get to. I think we need to look at how like, you know, why do we need this much money? Should we be commercialising the regatta in other aspects and making money out of some other things? I think the live stream's heavily underutilized, um, considering the traction it gets for um sponsors and and and everything like that. Um I I think you know there's obviously there's got to be places where costs can be cut and other income can be generated. I don't think we should be having our hand I don't think we should be so reliant on um the government giving us money for uh um to to have the events. Um unfortunately I think that is the situation we're in. I really, really hope we're not gonna have like we could potentially be another five years without having a regatta at the best, one of the one of the best man-made courses in the world that's sitting there in Sydney if we do go back to Barrington in in 28. And I think that would uh be a big shame, and especially when we're going on and on and on about you know, rowing in Rockhampton, not having rowing in Rockhampton and it not being appropriate and um needing to have a venue where the athletes are. We look a bit silly when we're saying all of these things, but then we're gonna go travel everywhere that the athletes are not to have nationals.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, it's it's a really difficult thing. And I mean, the the astounding thing is since 2019 we've been back to Cirque once. Um, part of that was with Nigambi. I think it was because CERC flooded um back in 2022, so that was a real last-minute thing to move it down to Nigambi. Um we need the New South Wales government to step up with some level of support. I I just don't know the ins and outs of what's going on there. It is kind of funny that the Tasmanian government so much has been on the stadium for the AFL and then you know we're getting the extra money, but I guess it's it's not Hobart's roof over Lake Back to Yeah, yeah, or at least a um at least something to stop the wind coming through from the south. Um yeah, I I genuinely, without knowing the ins and outs of the why it's the why's of the decision to go to Barrington and potentially go back there that we're missing out on. Um, you know, so it's I I think you can call it. I would be happy to go to Barrington every two years if the other if the other year was at Sydney. Yeah, and I think the and I think if it's if it's a little bit more transparent going, hey, this is why we're back in Barrington this year, it's because XYZ. Um I think we saw this year the entries were up, but the athlete numbers were down. And I know in the para space, you know, we didn't have community rowing club um coming down, and they've normally got a swathe of athletes in the paracategories. So I think it's yeah, it's this year we've sort of got away with it. Next year's gonna be really tough because it's gonna cost so much to get across the nullaboard to get those boats across, um, particularly if everything keeps going on in the Middle East. And then if we are in Barrington again, then I think you could see numbers just drop off a cliff.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I I agree. Um, I don't want to finish the podcast on uh a sour note. Uh so uh, Stu, can I just have one highlight from the regatta that we haven't mentioned yet? So sorry, it can't be Queensland winning the King's Cup.
SPEAKER_00That we haven't mentioned yet. I think the guys from Surface Paradise Rowing Club, I think they had a brilliant regatta. Um they, you know, last year it was commercial uh up in Queensland. They sort of dropped off a little bit this year, but this year I thought it was Surface Paradise Rowing Club, the performance of their young rowers. Um they seem to have a great squad under Gus Rodero there. And to come back from having their trailer burnt to a crisp and all their boats wrecked was uh after New South Wales Championships. To come back from that and to do so well was amazing.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I'm gonna say the Thursday morning. I don't think I've reflected on it a little bit, and I think I mentioned it in the Thursday podcast, but I don't think I've seen a better Thursday morning of racing at a national championship that I've been to. And uh this year was my tenth nationals, I think. Um so I think might have been my ninth, COVID permitting. Um it despite the conditions, look, sometimes the Thursday morning can be a bit flat. The small boats can be a bit predictable, and uh, but the racing we saw was so unpredictable, so many good performances, so many great storylines. Um, we did cover those off in the Thursday podcast, so please uh go and check those out. I think that's gonna just about do us, Stew. If you've made it this far, thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for the support all the way through the season. Uh, stay tuned to hear if we're gonna do anything over the winter. Um, don't have any solid plans for anything just yet, but potentially the Oceania Teams regatta if we get up there to Queensland, which we might. Um, and uh make sure that you leave us a five-star rating wherever you're listening to the podcast, let us know as well what you want to see from us. If you want to see some content over the winter, let us know what you want to see next season as well. Um, very, very keen to hear from you. Reach out to either of us on Instagram or through uh comment or send us a message through your podcast platform. Stu, any closing remarks from the season.
SPEAKER_00Fantastic season. Can't wait to see what uh next summer throws up at us.
SPEAKER_05Fantastic. Well, 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. Wintech's unwavering commitment to sustainability, affordability, and innovation drive them to propel the sport of rowing to a more inclusive and exciting future where your excellence will know no boundaries. WinTech Racing can be found at a regatta near you. Learn more about how you can get a fair price and an unfair advantage at wintechracing.com.au
