Aussies in Henley 2026 Part One - SUBC & MUBC

The world's greatest rowing event - Henley Royal Regatta - is almost upon us, and a strong contingent of Aussie crews are making the journey. In the first episode of this two-part series, Rowing Down Under is joined by Sydney University's Simon Huxley to discuss their Princess Elizabeth, Temple, and Princess of Wales crews competing this year. You'll also hear from Melbourne University's James Rook about their Prince Albert and Bridge crews set to take part.

Make sure to listen out for episode two to hear from Sydney, Kand, and Mercantile Rowing Clubs to hear all about their club and junior entries.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Welcome to Rowing Down Under, a podcast by JMARIN with Chris McKenzie and Stuart John.

Intro

SPEAKER_03 0:19

G'day roaming fans, and welcome back to the first of two special episodes of Rowing Down Under. As I record this, the world's greatest rowing event, Henley Royal Regatta, is just two weeks away, and I cannot wait to get over there. Despite the turmoil going on around the world, there's still quite a good showing of Australian crews making the journey to the UK this year, and over these two episodes, we've caught up with just about all of them. In episode 1, we've got Simon Huxley from Sydney University Boat Club, who are sending a Princess Elizabeth 8 for junior men, a Temple 8 for student men, and Intermediate Women's Quad in the first running of the Princess of Wales Challenge Cup. We'll then catch up with James Rook from Melbourne University Boat Club, who are sending a Prince Albert Cox 4 for student men, and a women's eight in the Bridge Challenge plate for intermediate crews in just that event's second year. In the next episode, we'll catch up with Sydney Rowing Club, Canned Rowing Club, and Mercantile Rowing Club to hear all about their entries across the club and junior events. So make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast and give us a five-star rating while you're there. It massively helps us reach more of you. So, as I mentioned, a PE, a temple, and a Princess of Wales for Sydney University. It's one of the first times an Aussie Club has entered the PE, alongside uh Cand, who we'll catch up with in the next episode. So I'm sure it'll stir up a little bit of controversy among the Brits, but the Temple and the new intermediate quad events are also relative unknowns for Aussie crews. So to kick us off, let's find out what's been happening on the Lancove River with Simon Huxley.

Sydney University Boat Club

SPEAKER_03 1:56

Alright, Simon Huxley, welcome to Rowing Down Under. How has uh training been in Sydney? Sunny, mostly sunny Sydney over the winter?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

It's been pretty good. I think today was the first day that we uh we got some cold, cold weather. It took me a while to um thaw out after getting off the water this morning, but um otherwise it's been hasn't been too bad. The weather's been the weather's looked after us so far. And we've actually um we've split our uh training this year. So through this period, we're doing a fair few afternoons as well. So we're not just we're not just braving it at 5 a.m. in the morning. So no, it's been um it's been good to us.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

Yeah, perfect, perfect. It's gonna be I reckon it's gonna be perfect timing by the time everyone gets over to Eurosummer. Uh it'll be just cold enough here that you might want to get out in the morning. Yeah. So Sydney Uni, not a club that we've historically seen heaps of at Henley Royal Regatta. It hasn't really been a sort of big focus, and you know, similarly to a lot of the universities, it it is difficult the way our system lines up with the UK system. But you've got a pretty sizable squad heading over this year in some of the uh some of the big name events as well. So run me through the the kind of three crews that you've got going over and and how you decided on on those three.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Yeah, we've got a we've got a women's quad going over. Um and they are they're uh sort of older athletes of what we've got going over on the boys' side. Um so two of the girls out of the women's quad, uh Alex and Alyssa were in the sort of racing the under-23 pair this year, did had some mixed results, but a really good job at nationals, but we're sort of just off then being able to progress to that next level, and so I've decided to go back into the into the quad for Henley. Um and then Addie Rolls is joining them out of the Duke program over in the US, um and Alice McCready as well, who's been doing um been doing some similar to Alex and Alyssa back here in um Sydney. And I think we would we were looking, we also had a series of sort of overage athletes, and so Steffi Prella um and a few others who'd just missed out on Australia A or or Uni Games cruise. And so from pretty early on, I think on the women's side with Phil Bourgignon and A B, they were pretty focused on taking some uh sort of women's development cruise over and having a crack at Henley. And then the boys' side, um we've as you know, we've been we've been really working hard to grow the student athlete um sort of population at the at Sydney uni over the last couple of years, and it's kind of a natural progression for us. Like actually the the the Henley timetable I think works works really well for that sort of first year out of uni, first year out of school, second year out of school athlete who sure is is potentially really really good quality development athlete, but either the the Australian rowing calendar has sort of come too early because they finished school you know in December, state champs and national champs sort of hit them in March, they have done two months of training and they're not really ready to go. Whereas having the extra couple of months leading into Henley has been a really good um been a really good focus for them. And so, yeah, so we've got two eights on the boys' side as well to supplement the quad on the women's side. Um the first eight is a junior eight, so PE eight, made up of um a couple of school kids, so two or three schoolboys who have been involved in the Sydney Uni program over the last two or three years, and then um, and then six of our student athletes who are um all underage and have been have been sort of training and part of our youth development squad over the last um over the last anywhere between really anywhere between sort of 12 and 24 months. And then the other, and then the second eight is our temple eight, which is again a a sort of real mix of athletes. So on the on one end you've got people like um Will Rogers, Sam Basher, and the like, um Gusta Solka, you know, at the the top end of the under 23, and then we've got a a really great mix of um, you know, Sam Stewart, for example, is has come out of the Scots first date last year only and is a school lever, um, but has been part of that under 21, under-23 group this year and has been making a real fist of it. So look, I don't I don't think um I don't think the temple's gonna, you know, sort of come out leading the leading the Brooks A boat or anything like that, but they're gonna go over and they'll give it a really good crack and and um you know if we make it through a few rounds and we get a really good development um process out of it, then we're we're delighted with the with you know sort of how it's fit into our calendar, it'd be great.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

So yeah, Temple can certainly be just one of those super competitive events some years, and uh chance to come out against some against some really good uh quality competition. Um the sort of start on the on the Princess Elizabeth crew, uh you're sort of saying uh to before off air how you think it's something that you should be doing sort of every year. Kind of run me through, you've taken school crews over there to to some success as well. Um taking a club crew over there, what what's sort of the the the difference? We're talking about the age before. Run me through that.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Yeah, I think um yeah, as you say, so what we took Kings in 2001, um, you know, managed to managed to win it back then. Uh then we took Kings again a couple of years ago while my brother Jules.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

That 2001 crew beat Radley, and that was the last year that Radley won the national school until until this year.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

So that's uh you know, that's a pretty special, pretty special time that they did recently at Matt School, so so yeah, it's pretty good. Yeah, would be it would be another cracking race between that 2001-8 and that eight, I think. But um uh yeah, and then so so obviously then had a bit of although I was back here but had a bit of experience then in 22 when we took the the King's first date from that year cross as well. Um it'll be interesting to see, you know, like the the kids they're they're even though uh a couple of these guys are are out of school, we're approaching the campaign pretty similarly. We've we've certainly learned from from those times, um, and we're trying to do things a little bit differently. So we're spending a bit more time on the machines through winter. Um we found with that King's Eight uh a few years back that you know we're we're tracking really well halfway through the campaign through winter, and then as we we at that point in time we we flexed up the amount of water sessions we're doing. We didn't do quite so much on the machine. I think we felt like it probably affected us negatively. I don't think it necessarily helped us push on. And so we're we're we're experimenting this year with really leaning into the work that we do on the machine, being really efficient with what we're doing on the water. Um, and as I said before, doing some afternoon sessions to try and soften the soften the blow of rowing in the dark in the in the middle of winter in in Sydney. Um yeah, and and I guess the the sort of thinking behind the PE8, uh as you said, I th I think uh we should be we should be trying to have a crack at it each year. You know, like it's it's we're all working really hard at um well Steve Donnelly, the RA president at one point was talking about our levels of um retention between year 10 in Sydney compared to year 10 in London, of kids who keep rowing after school. We're something like 10%. And I think the way he was describing it, the UK was something like 70%, you know, and we and we've just got to we've got to come up with ways of keeping keeping talented kids interested in the sport for longer, to let them let them play through their adult years a little while and see whether they're going to continue on with it. And and we see you know, Henley's the biggest and the greatest regretter in the world. We see it as a really cool opportunity to try and do that, and we're really hopeful that we'll be able to come up with a structure and a system that means that um we're able to sort of offer that sort of a program to um you know young athletes, so 16-year-olds to come into our program now, enjoy their sculling, then continue on, and then end up having a crack at either a four-league quad or a PEA at Henley over the course of their career.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

So yeah, and of course, we graduate our schools school years work totally different to in the UK, and we graduate a year younger, essentially, or almost you know, sometimes more than a year younger. So sending athletes over this year after in the club setup, um, thanks to those to the the change in rules a couple of years ago is certainly something that could be huge for Australian rowing if we can continue.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Well we found that we found that with that King's we found that with that King's crew, right? Like that that King's crew two years ago, I mean, if they'd you know, if they'd if they were able to compete in their essentially their year 13 in Oz, which is which is the age that they would be against you know the majority of the guys who are racing in some of those UK schools, then yeah, they would have been I mean they weren't far off at even even young. Now I know there were some sensational athletes that were also young that knocked us off that year, but um yeah, another year under their belt, a little bit older, a bit more mature, and you know, who knows, who knows what that crew could have done. And I think that what we're hoping to do is to try and level up the playing ground a little bit, right? And make sure that you know, instead of instead of Sydney schools going over and racing 12 months underage, we're able to go over and take take athletes from the Aussie system and go over and try and compete on fair on fair footing.

SPEAKER_03 11:55

So yeah. And we'll quickly address it because I know there'll be some people in the UK who are sort of like, oh, what's going on here with the uni club and you know all the rest of it, and trying to decipher the fine print of the rules and all the rest of it. But so clubs in the PA have been allowed for a couple of years now. What sort of uh what did you guys sort of have to prove just to make sure that the entry was was totally fine, because it is totally fine.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

It was pretty rigorous, yeah, yeah, yeah. So obviously the Aussie Stewards have been have been pretty focused, I think, on making sure that the um yeah, the the sort of integrity of the event is maintained, and we're really supportive of that. We're not we're not wanting to um do anything that sort of shakes that. And so obviously uh extensive and ongoing relationship with the club for a long period of time. So um I mean that all all of our members have been row all of the members of that eight have been rowing with the club um for I think it's I think it's I think even the the guy maybe Monty is the one who so he's a he's uh has been a member for at least six months. I think he came and joined us in sort of December this year. Um and has been training with is a student at Sydney Uni and all the rest of it. Then the two school guys are one's the brother of Will Rogers, who, as you know, has been sort of the the linchpin of our recruitment efforts for the last couple of years and is is you know one of the one of the sort of best junior and I think senior B athletes that we'll have over the next over the next couple of years has been going really well. Um so that's Lockheed and then um and then also Tom Carran out of the Joey's um system this year. Now Tom couldn't do much, he couldn't do when they're in their school rowing season, it kind of it kind of mirrors exactly what a club season is, right? And so you can't you can't get that much access to them, but you do get access to them in winter, and then as soon as as soon as they finish their their sort of school commitments and they're back into it. Um and so we had to we had to make sure, like it was it was clear that the guys were the guys were pretty focused on ensuring that that was the case. Like it was, you know, they had they had assurances both from the club but also from the from the schools as well, that they were supportive and that this was a system that they had been a part of for a number of years, and that um that you know the relationship between the programs were positive and you know they saw it as valuable. And so, yeah, no, I think it was a I think it's good. I think it's good. And I think we've had clubs go over and race Foley for a number of years. It we just haven't necessarily got ourselves organized to to do the same in the in the PE yet. And I I hope, as I s as you said before, I hope we can do it um every year. So now Australia clubs are very good in the Fawley too. Part of usually what people focus on when they start talking about eligibility is is you know, because they're worried that we're going to bring a super eight over and and beat everyone, right? Like I think that the reality is that most of these guys were were, you know, they were all on schoolies throughout December. Half of them are on half of them were on ski trips throughout January. Like these these guys are they've they've gone through their HSC last year, they've had really disrupted um training programs off the back of that, you know, they've really only hit their straps from a training perspective from from January through to through to now. And so, you know, you could see the types of the types of times that they were doing at um at uh you know through the um nationals and those sorts of things were were you know solid sort of school times, but nothing special. Like they're not the 543s. I think they're guys, these guys were in eight that were at six minutes, you know, like it's or 559 or something like that. They're not um it's a different it's a different level of preparation that we've had compared to what a what a first eight would have. Now there's some talent in there, and we're hopeful that you know we're gonna keep keep working for the next couple of weeks, and we're hopeful that you know we're able to go over and carry the flag really positively and and scare a few people, but we just have to wait and see how, wait and see how we go.

SPEAKER_03 16:12

Yeah, yeah. Um so moving on to the the temple, a bit of a development crew. Is that sort of you said you want to build the sort of profile student rowing uh at at the club and and at the university? Is that something you want to sort of keep having a crack at going forward and really try and build these guys from the PE through to the temple and you know, when they're in their sort of final year of study, actually really have a good crack at it?

SPEAKER_00 16:32

Yeah, and try and um what what what's trying be a try and be an alternative offering to to the US, right? At the moment, I think um, you know, school students in Australia and the US colleges do an amazing job at this, but school students in Australia that are at that top level, they see the US as the as the the sort of the funnest and the most appropriate process to go through a lot of in a lot of cases. And the the clubs back here are sort of left um scratching around to try and build build crews out of what's left. What what we're really keen to do is to is to demonstrate actually we're pretty good at running development for underage athletes back here in Australia. We think we've got a a really great system that at Sydney Uni that helps support them through their that development from you know being boys up into being adults and and professional students. We think there's value in them um being close to family and some of those support networks. And so what we're trying to do is make sure that on the rowing side we can demonstrate that you can you can balance having a good time and good fun in big boats and going over and doing these sorts of events while also while also pushing forward your small boat preparation and and tracking through the RA, you know, elite development pathways in the hope of representing Australia as well. So yeah, we're keen, we've we've brought, I mean, I think a few years ago we we had a squad of sort of five or six. I think we've now total numbers now are I don't know, they're probably they're probably upwards of of sort of 25-30 athletes that we've got we've got relationships and we're building with. Not all of our top athletes are going to temple, but a good a good smattering of them are. Um yeah, I'm really keen to see how they see how they go.

SPEAKER_03 18:22

So yeah, yeah. I'm keen to see how they go as well, because it's uh yeah, it's such an interesting event, the temple. Um yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Um, so much of it, so much of it turns on. I mean, that's what's so great about Henley. You know, there are so many, I mean you look at I don't know, but I mean it you look at Amber, you know, the Sydney guys last year in the in the four who went right through to the final day, you know, a little bit fell their way, and you know, but I I thought they did a sensational job and you know, let's hope, you know, you never know. Maybe we have a have a story like that where you know a crew hits the booms and we're we're able to make our way through as well. We'll just have to see how we see how we can.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

Yeah, we just gotta put yourself in it, exactly. Um and I know you don't have tons to do with with the girls' squad that that Phil's uh sort of leading there, but question I've got to have if they've got three, have they been out in a quad with a with a sub or are they going over early or how does that work how's that running for them in the uh it's the Princess of Wales, the the intermediate quad in its first year.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Yeah, yeah, they've had um they've had that's right. I I mean I saw them the other day, they'll they're laughing away as I was sort of paddling a three as they were as they went around the as they went around the corner. But no, um that is some racing, they've had uh Tiffy Botha, who you might know might remember from the other 23-8 last year. She's been hopping out with them a few times, a couple of the other um Liv Natty's been in there a couple of times, a few of the other girls have have hopped in as well, and so yeah, they've had some they've had some good times in the in the quad. And I think Phil's also similar to us, you know, like it it's we see it as a development pathway here for these guys, and so he's he's spent a spent a fair bit of time back in the singles and the doubles and you know dropping the rate right down and just and just really working on the basics in in part to make sure that not only are they prepared to go over and race World Henley, but they're building already for their next for the next year's season. And so um, yeah, no, they've been doing some they've been doing some really good work. It's probably been a bit luckier for us that we've just had a couple of eights out to go out and sort of beat each other up in every session they've had, whereas those guys have had to get in the singles with the tow ropes out every now and then and sit there and do it amongst themselves. But they're going they're going well.

SPEAKER_03 20:37

Um so the tour as a whole of all the clubs I've spoken to, I've I've heard some eye-watering amounts of money being spent to get uh uh squads over there, given the state of the world, and also it is just an expensive thing to do. Um, how have you guys been managing all that? Been some sort of fundraising or sponsorship or anything like that, uh people pitching in to help out?

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Yeah, we've been looking for looking for some sponsorship. There's a couple of couple of things that we're looking at doing over the next few days, which we're hoping might might help on that front. But as otherwise, it's the club's been really supportive, which is great. Um obviously the parents have to have to be supportive, otherwise it doesn't get off the ground. But the I think I think that's the real key for us. As I said, we're we're keen to work out ways of this becoming a regular on our calendar. Um the only way we couldn't do it at the cost that it's cost us this year every year. Um it's it's as you say, the numbers are pretty eye-watering. I I talk to a lot of the guys over in the UK, you know, we're we're in the process of trying to find training venues, even, you know, and these sort of things. And even training venues cost money, you know, like it's it's you know, X quid at athlete and these sort of things. And it's like it's you sort of sit there and it's like, well, it's already costing us you know, two thousand quid just to land in the country. Um Um and so one of the things we're looking at is do are there is there a way of building relationships with you know schools slash unis over there that we can leverage going forward? And the challenge is that we there's not that much quid pro quo that we can give when they come back here because not many come, you know, but um see if we can't find some people who who see the value in having international crews over there. Um you know, I think if we hopefully we go over and we add something to the event and you know we're seen as as positive um positive people to have have around and we're able to try and do it a little bit more cost effectively over the next next couple of years.

SPEAKER_03 22:39

So yeah, yeah. And when you head over there, uh what uh I remember you telling me the other day, but I can't quite remember all of it. Do we a little bit of pre-uh racing before the role itself?

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Yeah, so we go into we'll race Marlowe. Um uh so we'll go in uh on the on sort of the Tuesday of that week. So we're not gonna race that well at Marlowe because they only will have had about yeah, they only had about probably 12 hours of good sleep by the time we race. But um, but in but in with that King's group that went over, we found that as a really good, it was awesome, right? Like the there's um as an event there's like nothing else that gets done down here where you just have you know hundreds of eights. I remember seeing a photo of the warm-up like and there were just eights clogging. It's like a car park, clogging the wall, clogging the whole way up to the start line of the of the course. And so the guys are really pumped to go over, you know, they know they're not gonna be at their best at that point, but they're really pumped to go over and have a good have a good race. We're hoping that we'll be able to put a good enough performance on the board there, which together with some of the racing work that we've done back here is strong enough to get you know pre-qualified and all the rest of it. Um so that's the that's the sort of negotiation that um we're hoping to we're hoping to have at the moment, and and that's part of the reason why we haven't gone to Hollandbecker, you know. Like the the idea originally was to go into Hollandbecker, race Hollenbecker, and then um and then off the back of Hollandbecker come over and and race at Hanley. Um few things. One, it was difficult to find boats that were going to be consistent across the two across the two regattas, so we're worried about you know the Kings guys similar with Rivu last year, I think, we just never really got settled. I don't think any of those crews really got settled in the boats that they they had over there. Um and we thought, you know, if we if we go into Hollandbecker and we spend even less time in the boat than what we might otherwise, then we're that's probably not setting us setting us up to succeed. And then um it was gonna be much more difficult, I think, for particularly that PE 8 to demonstrate where it was compared to other crews for them to be able to get qualified. Um and so we're hoping that Marlowe ends up being a positive enough experience for us to be able to demonstrate some quality that that the stewards are able to um give us a little bit of an easier ride through qualification so that we can have a bit more time to prepare, you know, and just get settled, get settled over there.

SPEAKER_03 25:06

So and you get to face you know your competition, the same conditions. Um, yeah, and it's awesome, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:12

It's awesome. And I and I think I mean we got dusted when when we, you know, that the Kings guys we took over, we got we got dusted by people who we ultimately beat. Um but they still loved it. You know, Will Rogers within that King's crew, he still he still talks about it. Like it was still a still an awesome, still an awesome event. And so the girls are gonna do that one as well, or are they gonna do Henley Women's? They're doing Holland Becker. And so they they I think on the they found it a bit easier on the boat side of things to um uh to find boats, and so they'll roll through their that which would be unreal. I mean, it'd be what a great trip, right? Hollenbecker, and then on to Henley. It's it's awesome that Hollandbecker's moved that timing around to be able to facilitate that this year, and so they'll um they'll do that. But they're those guys have all a number of those guys have been away, right? So Addie, I think I know Yeah, they've either been in junior teams or they've been in US teams, they're used to US college teams, they're used to sort of travelling around and those sort of things. Whereas a a lot of the guys who we've got a few guys from Aussie teams across the across the boats, but um but a lot of the uh a lot of the guys uh this will be their first big trip. And so we just thought, oh let's get them into the UK and just get them settled.

SPEAKER_04 26:25

And yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:26

And even back home, we don't get that chance to kind of like have that few week run-in or a big training block in an eight or in a crew boat because we're always troubling changing something. Even that's different.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

Yeah, it is, yeah, it is. And the guys are thriving. I mean it you know, we look at we look at the um as you say, like Sydney and you haven't done this that much before, and and so when we're when we're talking about it, there are a few raised eyebrows to say, okay, well let's see how it goes, you know, let's let's see whether it but the but the energy around the place, um I mean I can see why the Sydney Rowing Club guys have done it consistently for year on year, because the energy around the place of having big boats go out every day and guys just locking in as a large group and all the I mean it's just awesome. You know, we've got and kids are and some of these young kids are responsible. Like a guy named there's a guy, Ed West, right? Is it from the Scots aid a couple of years ago um or last year, same as Sam Stewart, hasn't hasn't done only really started rowing in year 12. Um amazing physiology, really, really great physiology, but had a disrupted year, you know, with with you know HSE and travel and schoolies and all these sort of things. And he's and he's locked in now for probably since maybe mid-Feb, but really since nationals, he's turned up the wick. And he is he has gone from being solid, you know, great potential to being a legitimate like borderline elite athlete within within eight weeks. I mean it's it's really, really impressive how how and it and there's I could tell you sort of ten other stories, you know, like it's a it's it's been a great way of galvanizing the squad and getting everyone fired up. And so yeah, we're locked in. We're hoping it's we're hoping it's something we can do do for many years to come.

SPEAKER_03 28:18

I think so many Australian clubs forget that everyone rows to row big boats or to row crew boats and to do things like this, and yeah, so caught up in the the high performance and the small boat and the single. And I mean, I'm sure Will Rogers wants to go out in a single every week, that's fine.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

I don't know what it is at the moment. For whatever reason, I can't we can't get him out in the single. So you you you let him in the eight for too long. He's right. But you're right, like Sam, like another one's you know, you know um Bash, you know, like Sam Basher, he was in the junior four a couple of years ago that won gold back in um Canada. Um he he he did a great job in the small boats this year, but he had to come back from Glandular and a few other things, and he just said he's he's now locked in at eight. And yeah, he's he's he's performing at levels that he's just loving it, you know. He's ends himself every session because he's got seven mates around him. Yeah, so it just brings a different dynamic time.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

Um last one for me, because uh we're starting to get a little bit on for for time. Um how yeah, you've got a brand new event and then two of the most competitive events the Regatta, the Temple, the and the uh and the PE. How are you sort of managing expectations and goals and those sorts of things? What does success mean?

SPEAKER_00 29:35

Yeah, yeah. Well we're we're all we're all pr we've all got our eyes open for that, right? Like it it's um Yeah. I I mean sure, we can dream we can dream about weekend racing and racing on Sunday and all the rest of it, and who knows? If we get lucky, if we get lucky with the draw, we have a have a couple of good races, and you know, maybe we have a bad race, we're good enough to get through someone, um yeah, that might that might happen. Um I think we'd be bitterly disappointed if we got bundled out, you know, without without at least getting through a couple of days. Um but even so, I mean you'd you look at the you look at the amount that each individual has pushed on. There's not a there's not a single individual that this last 10 weeks of training hasn't been hasn't been helpful for. Club culture has been awesome off the back of it. Um even as it is, it's been a it's been a pretty successful campaign. Um I don't know, like like I think the PE 8, we'd we'd we'd love to get them through to through to Friday. Uh if they have a if they have a I mean there's some big boys in there, right? Like there's you know, Sternpear in the Aussie junior team last year, the six seed is Ed West, who I'm talking about, the five seed is Matt Coleman, who's you know, sub six twelve on the erg is pretty handy. Um and then there's there's a number of you know really good movers in the bow four as well. Um if they if they if they get to Friday they have a cracking race, they may well make Saturday and then who knows. Um the temple the temple I hope they get I hope they get drawn with people who are who are at and around their level. Like I'd be I I'm hoping they don't come up against you know the Brooks A boat or um or you know uh one of the really top Dutch unis straight up or one of the top US unis. I hope they get to get through get through the first race and then come up with a with a sort of really cracking race on day two or something like that, and then we'll see. So all right.

SPEAKER_03 31:40

Sounds like this tour has already been a success before we've even kind of left and it's done great things for Sydney Uni. And uh it's very, very exciting to see another one of our big clubs getting amongst um getting amongst what is the best regatta in the world. Um so thank you so much for your time, Simon, and uh I'll I'll see you over there.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Yeah, mate, sounds good.

SPEAKER_03 32:04

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Melbourne University Boat Club

SPEAKER_03 33:02

A big thank you again to Simon. It's a big step forward for Sydney Uni, committing to sending these crews not just this year, but obviously wanting to target the event into the future. So I think the recruitment market for school lever athletes in Sydney maybe just got a whole lot more interesting. So, as we mentioned at the top of the show, Melbourne University Boat Club is sending two crews, and it's been some time since they've done an official club tour to Henley. This year a student coxed four and an intermediate women's eight, and we caught up with coach and previous Remnum winner, James Rook, to hear all about their progress on the Yarrow River. James Rook, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for joining us. How have things been down on the uh the mighty Yarrow River?

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Yeah, g'day, Chris. Um, no, mate, they've been going really well. Um we're always having a blast down here. Um it's obviously a bit quiet at this time of the year, not too many people on the water. It's normally very busy in the uh with all the school crews, but no, mate, it's been going pretty well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:01

Good, good. So you're taking over two crews, uh a bridge eight for the girls and a Prince Albert Cox 4 for the boys, two avoid two events that we don't see too many Australians in, and in fact, uh the first Aussie crew in the Bridge 8 in its short history. So, how'd uh how did it all sort of come together? Was it sort of long-term looking towards these ones across the whole season, or yeah, how'd how'd you sort of decide on those two events?

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Um, well, the the Bridge 8, they um some of the girls in that crew um had gotten together a little while ago. Um, and Henley had always been on their radar, and uh it evolved throughout the whole year. Um, we had a larger group of girls who were uh training pretty hard throughout the entire preseason uh and then right through the racing, and and this was on their radar, so that was a bit more premeditated, and then and then the boys in the Coxed 4, it's um it's an under 21 Coxed 4 from uh Melbourne Union this year, and uh they sort of got to the end of the season and more thought, well, you know what, what's next? Um, do we want to run next year? Do we want to succeed later in our run careers? And they all said, yeah, we'd love to keep doing this, and and this was a great stepping stone and opportunity to stay together for a little bit longer and and uh and push right through the winter.

SPEAKER_03 35:28

So how good. So uh as you mentioned there, that guy's crew sort of been together for a little while. You sort of run me through their season, and yeah, like they've actually had the chance to race as that crew a few times, which is the uh the foremost. Yeah, it's almost kind of rare for uh for an Aussie crew going over to Henley. Normally they kind of come through specifically for the event, but uh they've kind of had a bit of time together, haven't they?

SPEAKER_01 35:53

No, look, they um they're all they're all second year out of school this year. Um, they've all come from different schools, and they've been rowing at Melbourne Uni for two years. Um, and this year in preseason, uh one of them, actually the stroke at the moment, Patty uh Patty had to swap sides from his diner side stroke side, and and he took to Bowser like a duck to water, and he just started to absolutely fly. Um, and then all of a sudden we sort of found four blokes, two on each side, that really just worked. Um, and so quite quickly they became a bit of a four that um that did a fair bit of work together. Um, and throughout the whole season, we spent most of our time in the eight, you know, making pretty wholesale big changes there, and then um came into the four for a few regatters, you know, Vic Champs and a couple of little local, you know, Nigambi regatters and all that, and then went on to nationals and got to the end of the season and sort of looked back and went, oh, buddy hell, they haven't lost a race. Um so you know, it was it was pretty organic, but you know, it's it's turned out really well for them.

SPEAKER_03 37:03

Yeah, funny how that happens, isn't it? And um over the sort of training block since Nationals um much sort of time off or kind of straight into things and um yeah, how's how's that kind of run?

SPEAKER_01 37:16

Like as soon as Nationals finished, um we were pretty we were pretty hard to say let's just have it at least a week away. Um, and then they came to me and and my other coach and our other coach Liam and said, look, we you know we we want to go to Henley. Um so we both thought, oh geez, okay, do you are you guys sure you know what you're in for? Like this this is a lot of work to get an Australian crew to get over there. Um and uh so we we took them through everything that um that that was going to be required of them. Um everyone went away, had a good think of it, and then mate, got straight back into it. Um so you know, spent a fair bit of time in the first four weeks trying to stay off the water. Um, you know, a lot of gym and ergo work, um, sometimes half erg, half water, trying to, you know, keep it a little bit fresher. And then over the last couple of weeks now it's just been yeah, flat, flat knack out on the water. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:12

Interesting. Oh, yeah. I was chatting to another coach who took a crew over a couple of years ago and reckons they spent maybe a bit too much time on the water after after the season, and they just got a little bit kind of stale, and uh and that kind of reflected once they got over there. So, yeah, yeah, keep them a little bit fresh. That's uh a good way to go about it. Um you've got to get off the water, mate.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

Like, let's not forget this is one of the most boring sports you've ever seen. Like, who the hell wants to go backwards and get absolutely no interaction with another like team? You know, like it's just it's stupid. So um we've got to find a way to keep it fresh, and and I think that's probably the best way to do it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:52

And they spent a bit of time in the in the straight four as well. I thought I saw some videos the other day.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

Um, yeah, we do a little bit. Um we we we we've most of the time been in the in the um in the Cox four. Um I've never really been a big fan of getting those young boys into the straight four, mainly just because I don't think they're good enough. Um but they've started to, you know, graduate in my eyes to be allowed the chance for the Coxless, and and it's been going really well for them. It's a good tool, very good tool.

SPEAKER_03 39:26

Yeah, and it's it's such a specific it is so different, the Cox 4 as well. I reckon it's um they need a lot of time in it.

SPEAKER_01 39:34

Um you want to you want to talk about the difference, right? Look at this. So a Cox 4 is like 54. Oh, call it 55 kilos, and then you've got a 55 kilo Cox, right? It's 110 kilos, you divide that by four rowers, that's 27.5 kilos per rower. Now, what's a COX is for like call it 50, I think it's 45, 50, call it 50, right? Divide that by four rowers, that's 12 and a half kilos. Like the difference per rower in terms of draw and push, uh, 12 and a half kilos or 27 and a half kilos, like it's it's ridiculous the difference.

SPEAKER_03 40:11

Yeah, and then when you get over to Henley and everything's going heaps slower than you ever remembered it going against the stream and the wind and everything, that's that's only so much.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

It hasn't been rained too much. Like they had a pretty bad you know, January, February, and then I think it's been pretty dry. But um, who knows? I'm sure there'll it'll be a hailing headwind, and they'll open up the floodgates for the Australians on uh on uh on the bars here and make sure that they uh make it a bit slower.

SPEAKER_03 40:37

Yeah, exactly. So excuse me. Yeah, I think it I think it has been a bit drier, so hopefully it is quick, but you just never know until right beforehand. Um it's been nice and warm there though, which I'm looking forward to.

unknown 40:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:51

So the girls, how did that sort of were you did you have to sort of trial for that eight, or did it kind of naturally come together? You mentioned a few of them kind of looking towards uh going from the very early parts of the season?

SPEAKER_01 41:04

Well, we we had um um the coaches there, like um Beth Ross and Emma Dyke, like they've been working with those girls for the last couple of years, and they, you know, all of them have been just moving leaps and bounds, I think, in the last couple of years. And as I said, it sort of got to that point where you know there's lots of girls that have um from Melbourne Union and they're you know racing at the world champs, like there's a few of them that just won in the uh in the Women's Aid uh on the weekend, which was amazing, and then there's a few more girls in the quad. Uh, you know, we've got some trying to go uh make the team under 23s, they're in the US right now. And then there was this huge group of girls that weren't in that squad. Um, and so they've they've sort of been, instead of maybe thinking, oh well, you know, what else should we do? Maybe maybe there's nothing else to do, they've all gotten together and they're working bloody hard, and now they're finding themselves going over to Henley, you know. So I think I think it's awesome. Like they are they're a great group of girls, and yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:06

It's a it's a bit of a mix, isn't it? As well as a couple younger girls and a couple more experienced ones. What's that sort of dynamic like for that?

SPEAKER_01 42:14

Massive mix. Um, I think we've, you know, we're now I don't want to get age wrong here, but I'm gonna be very very early 30s, all the way down to probably something like 21 years old. Um, which to be honest, I don't know, that's it's probably the same age group age gap I had when I was coxing girls. Like I remember being 19 and Sarah Hall was probably what 32, 33, 30, 32, something like that, 31. Um, so I don't know, they they all get they all get along really well. Um we get to train every day with a Cox 4 and they're really similar, you know, world record speeds. Um and so I think it's been uh it's been fantastic for everyone to have a bit of a partner to go um to go hard in training at all all winter, which is our biggest, that's our biggest challenge from Australia going to handle it.

SPEAKER_03 43:04

Yeah, yeah, and I mean I've chatted a few other people who sort of uh in their squads are doing everything off handicaps and all the rest of it, that must be must be great to be able to just side by side paddle those two boats.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

Yeah, it's side by side, you lose, you're not as good, and it has just been fantastic. I remember at the very start of our campaign, you know, start level, ready go, Cox 4 puts hundreds of meters at paddling. Two weeks later, it's dead level. And then a week later, the women's aid are out in front, and then the Cox 4 are starting to complain again. Oh, what you know, they what do we need to do better? Then they make a change, then they're back in front, and then the women's aid make a change, they're back in front. So it's been outrageously competitive all winter. Um, and you can see how it's pushed both crews um to probably achieve a lot more than I might have even seen, to be honest, as well.

SPEAKER_03 43:58

Yeah, it makes a huge difference. You know, as like they'll know each other for the same club, it's it's even probably even more valuable than I know up in Sydney, like previous years have had sort of Thames Eights against Princess Elizabeth 8's and Australian Junior 8's and stuff all growing together, but you don't really know what form they're all in, and you can kind of get lulled into a false sense of security, which I think has happened before.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

So it's it's you're right. Like we're like every every Wednesday at the moment, we we've been doing little race days, you know. Everyone comes in their zooty, full race day warm-up, you know, we have a briefing, and then you know, some of the boys start pumping music at God knows what time of the morning, and maybe some of the girls almost get a little bit annoyed, and it's it's great because they're both finding little challenges, little race day niggles, like someone from another cruise yelling and they're being obnoxious, and it kind of pisses you off, but you've got to learn to deal with it. Well, the girls get to see that every day with the boys, yeah. And and so it's um, yeah, it's good, it's been good little practice actually.

SPEAKER_03 45:02

Have you been able to have you done any paddling against the Mercs cruise or yeah?

SPEAKER_01 45:06

We did some oh, we were out with their um their women's ate the other day, and that was awesome. Um, I'm really excited for those guys, and we haven't done a lot with the with the boys. I think they've been they go to Caram a fair bit, and then they've got their eight and their four, and yeah, we see them road past, and um even even watching them, I reckon it's awesome. Like I've been able to few times watch what they're doing and then go, oh, you know what? I don't think we're doing that well enough. And you can take that into our crew, even though we haven't done much work with them. So yeah, it's been good. Yeah, it's great that we just cruise over.

SPEAKER_03 45:40

Yeah, it's looking like it's gonna be a really strong cohort. I know uh my colleague at JRN Tom has been telling everyone how it's uh there's gonna be no flights in the air by the end of June and it's all gonna be disastrous and there's no Australian crews coming over. But yeah, I think it might I think there's almost 20 crews um uh going over. Uh possibly there's always some that I'll miss, of course. Uh yeah, wow. 20 crews, that's huge. I think so. I'll probably not quite that many, but close. It won't be as many as last year's ridiculous 40 something.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

But um mate, yeah, that was that was off the rich scale.

SPEAKER_03 46:15

Yeah, yeah, maybe again next year. But um how how much uh Henley experience have you got uh across the across the two boats? Now obviously you you've had some good times at Henley, you've probably won the revenue, but uh um in terms of the athletes, how how how many of them have been over before?

SPEAKER_01 46:31

Mate, uh now unless unless I'm mistaken, I reckon um I reckon we're going over with zero. We're all fresh.

SPEAKER_03 46:42

Okay. I knew the guy I thought the guys were, but yeah, I wasn't sure about the girls.

SPEAKER_01 46:45

Nah, all of the guys are fresh, that's for sure. Um if I go bowed down in the women's eight, nah, yeah, you know, we're we are fresh. A few people have I think a band is spectated, um, but none have raced. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Which is, you know, it'll it'll be interesting. Um, you know, sometimes that can be, you know, a massive disadvantage, but um, you know, the other side is that yeah naivety can can often be a little bit of your strength. Um and I think at the end of the day, if you're good enough, you are good enough, and if you're not, you are not. Like it's pretty, you know, you get found out or or you succeed.

SPEAKER_03 47:25

Yeah, yeah. So uttering any little words of wisdom about about the regatta itself or ta tailoring anything on that front, uh, it's what you know. And I've I've heard of coaches just making crews train in tinny wash and stuff and anything like that, or just as good as you can.

SPEAKER_01 47:42

Uh one of the masters rowers, um yeah, Jim, who's uh he's a solicitor in Melbourne, and uh having a chat to him, he took a crew over in 19 I want to say 1990 something or maybe early 2000s, said, right, so what you've got to do, rookie, is you've got to get them out of the docks and wash it all up and get them a row through that. And I think you know, there's there's probably a bit to there's a bit to say for that. But the other side is that, you know, I I've spoken to both of them, and even this morning, you know, it is a choice to either react or not react to wash, right? Like, yes, you're gonna get knocked around, but it's your choice to either act like an absolute dickhead and start running horribly, or get over it. Like, what are you gonna do? Uh it's actually quite simple. You know, I love watching like Jess Morrison from the women's pair with probably one of the best rows in the world at this, it could be riding down on Bow's side, and she just nothing would have changed. Absolutely nothing, you know? And and that's a choice. So, you know, some are better at it. Um, and I'm not saying we're very good at it, but I think it's yeah, you can't do much about the wash.

SPEAKER_03 48:53

Yep, yeah, good. And so once you sort of get over there, you're heading over a couple of weeks before. What's uh what's the plan for a bit of bit of racing before Henry Royal itself?

SPEAKER_01 49:04

We've got the girls going off to Hollenbecker. Um, there seem to be a lot of girls, uh, well, women's eights, sorry, um, that are gonna be going over there, maybe a few more than last year, which is exciting. Um, and I think our the team was really excited about going um to Amsterdam as well to a different course. And the boys are gonna go to Marlowe. Um, probably a much deeper and better racing experience for a Cox 4 compared to you know, potentially a Hollenbecker. Um, yeah, so we're gonna split off quickly and then come back together.

SPEAKER_03 49:39

Yeah. Is that a little bit of a logistical nightmare trying to you've got crews in different countries now?

SPEAKER_01 49:44

It's a logistical nightmare. Um, you know, what's what's one little what's one more little little trip in there? I I it's not even gonna move the dial compared to you know what what some of the club people have had to do.

SPEAKER_03 49:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, talking to some of the clubs, you know, hearing of bills of over a hundred thousand, well over a hundred thousand dollars to to get get the team over there. What's the kind of fundraising side of it and all that kind of uh all that jazz been like for you for Melbourne Uni?

SPEAKER_01 50:13

Oh look, we've um it it fundraising is fundraising is really difficult. Um and I've spoken with we spoke a lot with uh the guys and the girls um about you know that you can't just go out and put your hand out and ask for money, you know. You you need to be showing someone a little bit of effort. Um and I think uh the boys or the girls have shown a lot of their, you know, whether it's peers, whether it's family friends, whether it's local businesses or even national businesses, that they're actually putting in a lot of work and they are showing that they have strong characteristics as young people and young athletes that might align with their business or, you know, a family's personal um, you know, views. Um one of the this morning, actually, when we got off the water, uh we've got Pacers Farm Eggs. They've given the girls and the boys like 350 eggs and a little bit of cash to help get over to Henley. And uh their whole motto is eggs for everyone, you know, not just elite athletes, it's egg for everyone. And so that aligned really well. And they they saw a lot of you know the attitudes of what everyone's doing here, and they said, yeah, we want to jump on board. And and I and you know, the latest one was 420 pies. Like they they've come along and jumped on board as uh as an Aussie company, jumping on board with an Aussie crew trying to go over there, you know, powered by the pies. How good's that?

SPEAKER_03 51:44

That's unreal. I I love it. Two very practical sponsorships in food.

SPEAKER_01 51:50

Yeah, I mean, but it's it's great. It's you know, you know, the these is a great example of of um of a big business aligning themselves through um young people just walking the walk. You know, they didn't go out and just say, can you can you give me some money? Um they actually saw them working and said, you know what, we we align with you your values aligned with ours. Let's do it. Yeah, um, so it was really it was nice to see actually.

SPEAKER_03 52:15

And it's such a good experience for the athletes as well. Like, I don't I I I follow a lot of motorsports stuff, and I know like younger people trying to make the step up. Like, half the sport is trying to sell yourself and get sponsors. And like that's a whole part of rowing that doesn't really exist. So having them, you know, being able to go out and sell themselves and and attract sponsors must be it's sort of a whole nother element to the tour, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 52:40

Yeah, I don't I don't know, mate. Like we're we'd say um, you know, we're we're we're an interesting sport. Um, you know, we're a lot of a lot of what we do is very archaic and and old school, and sometimes that's great. Um, but there is there is a a whole new world that um rowing is just sort of either neglected or completely forgotten to get on board with. Um, you know, even just something as simple as uh visualization, you know. You talk to any AFL coach, any AFL team, they've played the grand final a thousand times in their head. You can't speak to some of the Olympic crews, so they shoot themselves. Oh, sorry, mate. They uh you know crap themselves as soon as they get to the start line. And I was part of one of those crews, and and we're getting off topic here, but we're really we're we're a long way behind in the rowing scene and and sponsorship's one of them. And we've got a lot of people in our sport that are you know incredibly successful, but they also love our sport. And you know, if we reach out and we show that we aligned, well, you never know. Maybe maybe you can uh maybe you can get some help.

SPEAKER_03 53:45

Yeah, unreal. Um last one for me. So two very, very competitive events that uh that you've entered. So the bridge, first time an Australian crew's been in it. The um the PA as well. I had a bit of a lock. Australian crews have got a shocking record in the PA. Um Yeah, a lot of round one exits. Um I think uh there have been some average crews uh go go over in it, but uh uh which definitely absolutely not saying uh is is is the case with you guys, but how you sort of um yeah, have you got any sort of expectations? The athletes got some expectations in how far they want to go and and how you're sort of managing all that.

SPEAKER_01 54:25

I think that um expectations are important. You need to expect the high standard of yourself. Um I think the biggest thing about Henley that is really important to remind yourself is that um you could come up against one of the worst people on the first day or the best people on the first day. Or you could find yourself in a really foreign environment for the first time, like you know, the water or you know, the the crowd, for example. You know, how many how many people there on a on a Thursday or a Friday? Like is it 80,000? Is it 100,000? I don't know. Yeah but you know, how many people have ever raced in front of that? I I could say unless you've you know uh unless you've actually raced at Henley, you probably know one. So where are we gonna go, mate? I couldn't tell you. Um I can tell you that they're gonna be they're gonna be pretty fired up and ready. Um and uh geez, it'll be it'll be one of their most cherished rowing memories um of their lives, I reckon. That's that's what I can tell you for certain.

SPEAKER_03 55:31

Yeah, I can't wait to see them. That's uh that's two very, very exciting crews, and um, yeah, very, very on how your crews are gonna go.

SPEAKER_01 55:42

That's that's tough. Um who has the predictions, I want to hear it.

SPEAKER_03 55:47

Oh, I don't know. I reckon I don't know, I don't know enough about the girls. Um and the bridge is hard too, because the bridge times were uh last year were pretty similar to the Wargrave um in its first year. Um this year, I've heard. Yeah, there'll be more US crews coming over. Um whether that you know the split between them being the bridge and the island um is always interesting as well. So I think the bridge is very, very tough to predict. I reckon you based on the the time that the PA did in uh the Heat at Nationals, I reckon. Uh and you reckon they've gone a lot come a long way. They should be right around the pointy end, I reckon. Um well mate, we shall see. We shall see.

SPEAKER_01 56:33

And hopefully I don't have to see you at the Fawley bar on Tuesday. Hopefully, hopefully it's after Sunday.

SPEAKER_03 56:40

Yeah, hope not. Hope not. I'll uh hopefully I can see on the deck of Leander on Sunday night. Uh all right, I think that's uh a good place for us to to wrap things up. Thank you, rookie, for for joining us here on the podcast. And I'll uh I'll see you over in Henley. Hey Remate. Cheers. Well that wraps up part one of Aussies in Henley. Part two will be dropping later this week where we'll be chatting to some of the clubs, Sydney, Mercantile and Canned Rowing Clubs and their entries into the club and junior events. Make sure you catch our sister podcast, The End of the Island, for the free, during, and post-Henley action over the next couple of weeks wherever you're listening. We're joining the UK team this weekend for Henley Women's Regatta, and you can get all the watch up there on JRN.news. Take travels for all those heading over to Europe this week, and we'll see you next time on Rowing Down Under.