The Disher Challenge Cup Regatta 2024 – Review

The legacy of the 1919 Henley Peace Regatta lives on in Australia in two main ways. The better-known is the King’s Cup itself. First presented to the winning Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) crew, it’s now awarded annually to the men’s interstate eights winner. The banks are filled with spectators screaming themselves hoarse as they will their state onto glory and the chance to hoist the beautiful golden trophy.

The Australian Capital Territory has only ever hoisted that trophy once, back in 1997. They have their own Henley Peace Regatta legacy, though, with the annual Disher Cup regatta between the Australian National University (ANU), the Royal Military College (RMC), and the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). The Disher Cup for the men’s eights came from Captain Clive Disher, stroke of that AIF eight back in 1919. Captain Disher presented the first Disher Cup in 1971, with the regatta now a signal for the rowing season to start in Canberra. Cadets from RMC and ADFA line the banks of Lake Burley Griffin, screaming themselves hoarse as they will their institution onto glory and the chance to lift the trophy. Participants must be students or staff at each institution, leading to different crews compared to the rest of the season.

Conditions for the 2024 Disher Cup were close to perfect, with crews cutting glass on Lake Burley Griffin. Both the lake and the ANU Boat Club celebrate 60 years in 2024, with all competitors receiving a 60-year commemorative pin and a number of ANU alumni attending, including members of that first crew in 1971.

Midshipman Peter Bach Memorial Shield for Men’s Single Sculls

Result: ANU, ADFA (500m)

This was always going to be a hard sell for ADFA sculler William Ashworth. A respectable rower in his own right, his opponent was Australian representative Hamish Harding for ANU. Unsurprisingly, it was the man who rowed a double for Australia at World Cup I that had the easy win.

Kym Fisher Trophy for Women’s Single Sculls

Result: ADFA, ANU (500m)

This race was unusual in that the two rowers train together. ADFA’s Ruby Gray began training with ANU when she moved to Canberra at the start of 2024, but as an ADFA cadet put on the grey camouflage zootie for this race. ANU’s Ellie Lambden was the defending champion coming back from injury, and the lack of recent rowing told as Gray powered home to take the win by just over a boat length.

Colonel Diane Harris Trophy for Women’s Coxed Fours

Result: ADFA, ANU (1000m)

Want to know how much these races mean to competitors? The screams of delight from the ADFA crew of Ella-Samara Shepherd, Alex Habridge, Charli Mulligan, Samantha Howe and coxswain Sophie McPhail told you everything as they held off a fast-finishing ANU crew for the Colonel Diane Harris Trophy. ANU’s Carly Neatherway, Lauren Joliffe, Indigo Keaney, Sian Fitzgerald and Natasha Erb closed the gap by over half a length in the closing stages, but couldn’t quite overcome a slow start.

LW Nicholl Shield for Men’s Coxed Fours

Result: ADFA, ANU (1000m)

Another win for ADFA made it three from four for the regatta and threatened to dampen the ANU alumnus spirits. Not that the ANU crew of Angus Finney, Douglas Harrod, Steven Zhao, Christopher Woods and Natasha Erb could be fully blamed, after an oar breakage partway through the race. This left ADFA’s Liam Eyndhoven, Lachlan Smith, Boyd Nenham, Cameron Penman and Cour Taylor with a relatively easy race win.

Anne Curtis Cup for Women’s Coxed Eights

Result: ANU, ADFA (1800m)

This event saw the best racing in 2023, as ADFA pushed ANU the entire length of the course before losing by a length. ADFA’s men had broken a 10-year drought in the 2022 Disher Cup, so the women’s eight were hoping to do the same after last winning the Anne Curtis Cup in 2014. It was not to be, however, with a strong ANU crew of Rebecca Hoffman, Erin Chadban, Alex Perry-Dalton, Pip Gray, Ellie Lambden, Rebecca Jones, Sarah Connor, Liz Blower and Lulu Blackwood pulling away early and maintaining that gap throughout. Gray, Lambden, Jones and Connor have all raced or been selected for the ACT with Blower racing youth eights for New South Wales; that extra experience told despite ADFA’s Nissi Whel, Charlie Lawrence, Caitlin Moriarty, Stephanie Armstrong, Helena Turner, Eleanor Brownlie, Ashleigh Burns, Stasia Scaunich and Petra Dalle Cort pushing the entire way.

Clive Disher Challenge Cup for Men’s Eights

Result: ANU, ADFA, RMC (1800m)

The only race featuring a Royal Military College crew, the 53rd Disher Cup went like so many others to the men from ANU. They could again boat a strong crew with three ACT representatives in Hamish Harding, Jonathan Adams and Ishan Shalliker combining well with Hugh Ashley, Robbie Matchett, Samuel Harrop, Max McAlpine, James Robson and coxswain Klim Tsoutsman. Not that the ADFA or RMC crews were without talent: ADFA’s Alexander Kennedy and Felix Lewis, and RMC’s Thomas Galloway were all strong schoolboy rowers.

In the race itself, ANU opened up a strong early lead, pulling out to a clear water lead by the 1000m. The ADFA crew of Charles Moll, Gabriel Gill, Alexander Kennedy, Jacob Willing, James Turnour, Felix Lewis, Charlie Webb, Tobias Mohr and Finn Rogers did likewise to the RMC crew of Tom Dunne, Lachlan Glare, Ethan Gorkhe, Joshua Melse, Fabian Wightman, Thomas Galloway, Shannan Goodman, Koby Wyatt and Jessica Kelly.

Three wins each for ANU and ADFA, with ANU potentially the happier after winning the two eights races on the day they celebrated 60 years of rowing.

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Stuart John

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