Photo Credit: Rowing NSW
In the finale of the national racing season, underage crews from across the country will come together this weekend at the Australian Rowing Championships, ready to take home some national titles. The U21 category of racing is an important one for athletes transitioning from school rowing into U23 and Senior – it’s a competitive field, with U21 team selection on the line. Larger crew boats allow for clubs to mix and match the best athletes; seeking to create the fastest crew possible. With over half the field of nine boats entered as composite crews, we can expect some truly phenomenal racing to come from this boat class in 2025.
Australian National University Boat Club/Sydney University Boat Club Composite
With two of the crew members from the ANU/SUBC crew winning a silver medal in this event at the 2025 NSW State Championships, we can only expect newcomers from ANUBC Leslie and Turnball to be extremely competitive additions – and with their bronze medal in the U21 women’s double, this proves to be correct. Booth and Macready have had extremely competitive seasons alike, with a silver medal in the U21 women’s double for Macready, and some exceptionally fast heat times for Booth in the U21 single and the U21 eight. They’re four scullers that should combine extremely well and will no doubt be a competitive crew on race day.
Toowong Rowing Club/Surfers Paradise Rowing Club/Commercial Rowing Club
A crew hailing from sunny Queensland, the combination of Matthews, Murphy, Reid, and Davis have won several U21 medals between them in the lead-up to race day. Matthews and Murphy were part of the U21 women’s quad that won bronze at the 2025 NSW State Championships, and also raced together in the U21 pair, coming seventh in the competitive field. In the 2025 QLD State Championships, Reid rowed to a bronze medal in the open women’s quad, and achieved silver in the U21 women’s quad (coincidentally, behind her fellow crewmates of Murphy and Matthews). Following recent weather battles up north, it will be an exhilarating race for these four talented athletes.
Mercantile Rowing Club
One of only three crews entered to be composed of athletes from the same club, Harrison, Dryden, McCarthy, and Korr will certainly be looking to take advantage of the fact they can easily train together in the lead-up to race day. It will be the first time we have seen this crew compete together so far this season, but what we have seen individually totals to a successful campaign for these four athletes. At the 2025 Victorian State Championships, McCarthy was in the silver medallist U21 women’s coxed four and raced to an admirable fourth in the U21 women’s eight. Harrison and Korr also raced well at the Victorian Championships, taking home bronze in the U21 women’s coxed four as part of a second Mercantile crew – in these competitive races in Victorian waters, these athletes are surely aware of what it takes to compete in a tough field.
Adelaide University Boat Club
Travelling a long way from home for the National Championships this year, the crew of Felderhof, Laing, Holland, and McNally have come prepared after winning the open women’s quad and the open women’s four at the 2025 SA State Championships. McNally is no stranger to sculling, winning the silver medal at the 2025 NSW State Championships in the U21 women’s single scull. Felderhof and Laing raced exceptionally well at the 2024 SA State Championships, with a gold in the open women’s double with a whopping 21-second lead over their competition. The fact that this crew hasn’t yet raced interstate this season should not deter them, and they’ll likely put up a great race.
Predictions
In what is an exceptionally quick boat, the U21 Women’s Coxed Quad will be a sharp race, with even sharper competition. With so many new crew configurations and club mixing, predicting the finale becomes a bit of a chess match, but I think it would be hard to look past the ANU/SUBC composite as the winners of this race. I expect they’ll lead from the start and push off their competition through the last kilometre – and then the race for second and third will start. I think that this will be an exceptionally tight podium, and imagine that we’ll see the Toowong RC Composite crew pull into second, and Mercantile RC finalise the medals in third. Adelaide Uni BC will not be too far behind in fourth, and will likely push the top three the entire way down the course.
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