Image Credit: Rowing Australia
In one of the most hotly awaited categories at the Australian Rowing Championships, the top 22 schoolgirl eights from around the country will race to bring home the Sydney Cup and the right to call themselves national champions for 2025. This race brings forth some of the largest spectator crowds of nationals and elevates all ex-school rowers’ pride for their old programs. It’s an opportunity to see what school programmes are performing well and which ones need a shake-up. It also provides an excellent launchpad for athletes to stand out for international selection. This season has seen some intensely competitive schoolgirl racing, and the Australian Rowing Championships held on the picturesque Lake Barrington will continue that trend.
St Catherine’s School (Victoria)
The victors of the notorious 1500m Barwon-held Head of the Schoolgirls open eight this year, St Catherine’s School (Victoria), are looking to use the highest level of schoolgirl racing in Australia as proof that they are still forces to be reckoned with. Following the programme winning the schoolgirl eight at Henley Royal Regatta in 2022 in its first year of competition, the school program has been shaken with a few years out of the limelight. This has all changed under the new watchful eye of Head Coach Jon Trovas and has seen the top eight virtually undefeated in Victoria this year. It’s interesting to note that Ross, Peter, Hibbins, Morris, Prendergast, Hoban, Peele, and Perton have not yet travelled interstate so far this year and thus have not faced off against their wider competition. They’re a crew that will no doubt be received apprehensively by their contenders, and with the big boat knowledge that first eight coach Hayley Verbunt has (who notably coxed the Australian women’s eight at the Paris Olympic Games) it’s not difficult to imagine why. Many eyes will be on this boat as they take the start line and race to bring the national title back to Victorian soil.
Kinross Wolaroi
Current NSW State champions and recent winners of the Head of the River, Kinross Wolaroi are poised to be the crew to beat arriving into next week. In a brutal race against the St Catherine’s School NSW crew, Kinross took the lead early and held it with resilience to ensure they doubled up with both state titles – despite the nail-biting 0.56-second difference between first and second place. In what has been a phenomenal season for the schoolgirl eight, where they have remained virtually undefeated, Ben Watt continues to prove the depth he brings to the school programme. Securing the state championship title for the first time in the programme’s history, both Watt and the first eight coach, Andrew Gannon, are shaping some exceptional athletes. The crew of Clinton, Chudleigh, Wise, Jarick, Reidy, Searle, Staniforth, and Wong will no doubt come prepared for a showdown to take the Sydney Cup and complete this season with the full trifecta of titles.
St Catherine’s School (NSW)
As the 2024 national title holders, it’s been an intense season for the NSW-based St Catherine’s crew following their exceptional win last year. Close second-place finishes in both the NSW State Championships and at the Head of the River will have undoubtedly left the talented crew of Poulos, Steed, Stigter, Rupnik Williams, Yardley, Baker, Borthwick, and Hennessy hungry to retake the win this year. With five returning crew mates from the 2024 crew, there is ample national-level experience – and in an atmosphere that only the National Championships can provide, this could be an essential piece of the puzzle. Head of Rowing Jarrod Watson, named NSW Schoolgirl Coach of the year in 2024, and new first eight coach Annabelle McIntyre have worked together to build their national pedigree. McIntyre is no stranger to an elite rowing programme, having been one of the top sweep rowers in the Australian national team for several cycles. She will have imparted knowledge to this crew to allow them to perform. Have their multiple run-ins with the silver medal over the season added enough fuel to the fire to see them bring home a national title?
Prediction
In a race as talked about as the schoolgirl eight, predicting the outcome is all the more challenging. It is hard to grasp where the crews sit on a national basis with schools travelling only for the National Championship, but it makes it all the more exciting to evaluate. In what I am calling now to be one of the closest Sydney Cup races in National Championships history, I predict that Kinross Wolaroi will utilise their crew strength and take home the title. I think the battle for silver will be within seconds of the gold medallists, but St Catherines School (Victoria) will take their place on the podium, followed by St Catherines School (NSW). I would then expect Pymble Ladies and Melbourne Girls Grammar School to fight tooth and nail for fourth, but Melbourne Girls Grammar will take this spot, followed by Pymble in fifth.
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