Image Credit: Rowing Australia
A new addition to the Australian Rowing Championships program, the U21 women’s eight gives clubs a chance to showcase their top development athletes outside the usual Interstate Youth Eights at the end of the week. The crews we’ll see on the start line at Lake Barrington mirror the line-up from the NSW State Championships almost perfectly, promising yet another nail-biting eights race.
Sydney Rowing Club Composite
Sydney Rowing Club’s composite crew are undeniable favourites heading into this event. The crew won the hotly contested U21 women’s eight race at the 2025 NSW State Championship, a feat that helped Sydney complete a rare quadruple in the eights. Nicole Vance and Georgia Montague also succeeded in the U21 pair at the same regatta. They’ll be backed up in the eight by the return of Swan River Rowing Club’s Lola Fievez and Greta Spencer, both members of last year’s Australian junior coxless four. Sydney and Swan River are both powerhouses of their respective states in terms of performance metrics and sheer numbers, so you would expect their combined might to put down an impressive performance in Barrington.
Melbourne University Boat Club
The Melbourne University crew will be going for another lap of the course after collecting a silver medal in this event at the NSW State Championships earlier in the season. Chloe Nevins and Meg Dumbrell lead the crew in the stern pair and will surely bring some confidence to the boat after collecting a bronze medal in the women’s elite eight at the same regatta. After coming in just 2.6 seconds behind the winning Sydney composite, the girls from Melbourne will have some fire in them when they arrive at the start line next week.
University of Queensland Boat Club
The only Queenslander crew in this event, the University of Queensland Boat Club eight will be out for revenge next week after missing the medals at the NSW State Championships by 2.58 seconds. They certainly have the skill to pull it off; Sarah Bourke and Scarlett Woodbury finished second in the U21 pair at the NSW State Championship. After a slower start to the eights race in Penrith, the Queenslanders fought hard to get back into medal contention, and it will be interesting to see if they’re able to get a jump out of the start, hold on to their Sydney and Melbourne competition, and go the whole way for a medal next week.
UTS Haberfield
UTS Haberfield’s bronze medal-wining crew from the NSW State Championships will take to the course again in Barrington next week, certainly putting out some fierce competition to stay in the medals. The crew will be hungry to hold on to the front end of the race after holding less than a second margin behind Melbourne University for the entire first 1500m of the state championship race and just losing another second in the last 500. Should the crew be able to hang on in those early stages of the race, it could be enough to throw their competition off balance and score them another podium finish.
Prediction
After an exciting race at the NSW State Championship, with almost equal margins between every boat from first to fourth, this race will be one to watch come next week’s finals. Sydney Rowing Club and Swan River’s composite certainly arrive on the line as favourites, although with some slight crew changes, medals are all well and truly up for grabs. Should UTS and UQBC get out early and hold on, there could be a serious upset in the podium standings. I expect the gold medal to come down the line, leaning in favour of Sydney Rowing Club and Swan River’s composite. If UTS can execute their race flawlessly, they could be up for the silver, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a nail-biting photo finish for third and fourth between Melbourne University and UQBC.
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