New South Wales Rowing Championships 2025 – Women’s U21 Quad Preview

Photo Credit: Rowing NSW

The championship women’s U21 quad at the NSW Championship acts as a final point of review for compeititors on an inter-state level before the big dance that is the Australian National Championship in March. With significant racing packed into three days, fatigue, experience, and skill play significant roles in determining who will walk away with the gold. The diversity of this year’s entries includes both school and club that shows entries from six Australian states, undoubtedly providing an interesting race.

Swan River/Adelaide Uni

The states of Western Australia and South Australia combine to form a crew with significant experience in the playing field. Adelaide University Boat Club’s McNally and Laing have both shown success at the start of this season. In respective regattas in their home state, McNally has won U21 single scull classes, on occasion beating open-age athletes. Her experience extends to being selected in the South Australian Youth 8+ last year. In Laing’s first year out of school rowing, she’s obtained a gold alongside McNally in the open four. This comes from a successful 2024 season that saw Laing compete in five A-finals at the 2024 national championships. The girls from Swan River lend a healthy amount of experience to this quad, with both Spencer and Fievez competing at the U19 World Rowing Championships in the women’s coxless quad, which finished eighth overall. Both athletes had incredibly impressive results in the sweeping category at last year’s nationals as a combination, including winning both the U21 and U19 coxed four and coming second in the U19 pair together. Both were also selected as part of WA’s Interstate eight. Their experience in rowing, both generally and together, will surely give this quad a competitive edge.

UTS

The young UTS entry in this event is certainly one to look out for, with the four St Catherine‘s graduates not only having a wealth of experience rowing individually but a significant record of winning together. Rupnik Williams, Manins, Swain and Gaston were all part of the school’s first schoolgirl eight who, historically, defended the school’s SG eight title at last year’s national championships and took home another gold in the U19 category. Alongside this, Swain and Gaston returned home with an additional gold medal in the U19 coxed four. The combination of Rupnik Williams and Manins are familiar with the course, with the two achieving a second-place finish in the U19 double in December’s Reindeer Regatta. The biggest challenge for these seasoned rowers will be the code switch from sweep rowing in school to sculling – will their training at UTS be enough to maintain their competitiveness?

Sydney Composite

The Sydney Composite is undoubtedly the favourite to win – all four rowers have international racing experience under their belts. Centenary’s Sophie Malcolm and University of Queensland Boat Club’s Eliza Bridgefoot are commonly the two to watch on the Queensland junior circuit. Both rowers were selected onto the U23 Australian team last year despite being underage for the category and recorded an impressive fifth-place finish in Canada in the quads. This was alongside fellow crew member from Sydney Rowing Club, Liesel Page. Both Queenslanders also put on a dominant display at nationals last year, winning the U23 quad. They both won in the interstate youth eight for Queensland. Malcolm also came home with a third gold medal in the U21 singles.

Due to her performance last year, Bridgefoot also earned an invitation to the National Training Centre (NTC) trials. Despite missing out, the invitation at such an early age is a testament to her skill and determination within the elite rowing scene. Outside of this, her experience rowing with Page extends past last year’s Australian team, with the two competitive as the U19 Australian double in Paris, placing seventh overall. Page is an incredibly seasoned rower for her age, leaving her school program early to focus on the sculling discipline at Sydney Rowing Club. This progress over the years saw her walk away from last year’s nationals with gold in the U23 lightweight double, U23 lightweight quad, U21 lightweight single, U21 quad and a third place in the U21 double. Her impressive resume makes her an incredible asset to the boat.

Joined by fellow club member Georgia Allen, recent graduate of the Tideway Sculling School, and former junior English rowing representative, the recent Virginia University signing has a diverse profile. Since Allen’s move to Australia she has put out good results in the NSW High Performance Time Trials, and walked away with a silver in the U21 single in the Small Boats Regatta. She will undoubtedly contribute heavily to this boat from the bow seat.

Sydney University/Mercantile

Sydney University’s/Mercantile‘s entry in this boat class will likely shake up the results, with the combination of seasoned SUBC junior Alex O’Brien being paired with school leavers Mia Booth and Alice Macready alongside the success of Victoria’s Zara Kfouri. Booth saw success in her schoolgirl rowing career, walking away from nationals last year as part of Pymble Ladies’ College’s first eight with a silver in the SG eight and a gold in the SG eight sprint. Macready has shown immense potential over her rowing career in the sculling class, in recent years winning the Australian government’s Commonwealth Games Grant for her potential and success both on flat water, in coastal boats and notably her win at the World Rowing Indoor Championship in the W17-18 500m alongside a commendable 12^th place in the W17-18 2000m. She’s come incredibly close to medalling in the past in the single, with her final hurrah in the single category seeing her place fifth in the single at last year’s nationals. Upon joining SUBC, her results have only improved under the guidance of Alan ‘AB’ Bennet.

O’Brien’s recent switch into sculling has seen her place well for a master sweep rower, placing first in the U21 double at the Small Boats Head, and fourth in the U21 single. She also brings experience under challenging conditions in her selection as an Australian team representative in the U21 Trans-Tasman regatta as a reserve, where she was called up to race after a fellow team member fell sick.

Kfouri will bring sculling expertise to this boat. She competed alongside O’Brien in last year’s U21 national team quad, who won confidently whilst narrowly winning in the eight. Last year’s national championships saw her place third in the U21 single scull, whilst winning the U21 double and U21 quad and placing second as part of the Victorian interstate youth eight team. Her recent results at the NSW Small Boats Regatta, winning both the U23 single and double, also affirm her current success. She brings a wealth of experience in sculling to this boat that can’t be overlooked.

Prediction

The Sydney Composite will be the one to beat – with all four members having international racing experience in sculling. It will be a close battle for second between the Swan River composite and Sydney University/Mercantile and Swan River/Adelaide Uni which is too close to make a definitive call. The crew’s experience from UTS will make the battle for third tough. Overall the race will be nothing short of exciting to kick off some straight finals on Sunday.

About The Author

Josephine

See author's posts