The New South Wales State Rowing Championships is both the pinnacle of rowing in New South Wales, as well as an almost mini National Championships regatta in Australia. With attendance from all of the states and territories, this weekend promises to have some excellent competitive racing across all of the boat classes, including the para events. This event will feature almost 2000 athletes racing across 94 events, with the racing kicking off in small boats on Friday morning.
The event takes place at the Sydney International Rowing Centre, the venue for the 2000 Olympics. For overseas readers who may not have seen footage of the course since the Olympics, the dusty banks have been replaced with lovely green grass and lush trees surround the course. It features one of the best warm up lakes in the world of rowing, as well as being a fast course for good times. Par for the course here is for schoolboy eights to be regularly dipping under 6:00.
Not only is this event a great opportunity to get some reconnaissance in for the National Championships in late March, it is also an opportunity to put down a solid marker in the race for underage and senior national team selection. With massive entries in U19, U23 and open events, it looks to be an exciting weekend ahead. This preview will focus on the U19 and School events. If you want to watch the racing in person, make sure to tune in to the live stream available on the Rowing New South Wales rowing manager site.
2023 Under 19 Events
| Event | Female Winner | Male Winner |
| 1x | Centenary-QAS – S. Malcolm | Nudgee – C. Willett |
| 2x | Centenary-QAS/Uni of QLD – E. Bridgefoot and S. Malcolm | Marist College – D. James and J. Rosin |
| 4x | Sydney University | Radford College |
| 2- | Not Raced | Not Raced |
| 4+ | Queenwood | Uni of QLD Composite |
2023 School Events
| Event | Female Winner | Male Winner |
| 8+ | St Catherine’s NSW | St Ignatius |
2024 Under 19 1x
46 entries line up in the women’s under 19 single scull, a massive field from which to find three medallists. All of last year’s previous finalists have moved on apart from Tierney from Sydney, so expect to see her at the sharp end of the results this year. Following on from the small boats regatta results in January, we could well see Yabsley, Sypher and Stevenson up in the medals, making it a quartet of rowers from Sydney to look out for. Notable U17 rowers stepping up to the top junior age bracket for the first time include Thomas, Bourke, Bragg, Turner, Gerrand and Metzger, as well as a strong contingent from Brisbane & GPS. Lastly, Binns from Adelaide Uni will be looking to put a marker down in the U19 single after some consistently good results over the years.
In the men’s event, L. Free returns from last season’s podium in U19 having won a bronze medal. He will be looking to move up two steps to the gold medal, but will face some strong competition from fellow returning finalists Routley and St Pierre. Similarly, the winner of the NSW small boats regatta – Scheel Gamborg from Mosman – will come in with ambitions to snatch the gold medal for himself. Expect other strong challenges to come from Hoskin from Adelaide, Davey from Essendon  and Chanter and Cameron. A possible outside bet for an A final appearance is Murfett from Wendouree Ballarat Rowing Club. Despite less entries that the women’s event, the men’s event will still feature some high-level racing.
Under 19 2-
An event not raced in 2023, the U19 pair again throws up some exciting racing. The men’s event sees a straight final featuring eight boats, with the gold medal up for a number of competitors. Purdie from Hunter Valley Grammar recorded a strong result at the NSW small boats regatta, whilst Pender from St Augustines has achieved strong results in the past as well. Keep an eye as well on the two Kings pairs, who will be keen to secure internal and external bragging rights. This could be a cracker of a race.
The women’s pair features a slightly larger field of 12 boats, with a similarly high standard across the entry. With four states represented there is likely to be some fierce racing. Keep an eye out for the Nagambie/Mercantile composite, the Brisbane & GPS pairs, especially the Toowong composite and for the Townsville and JCU boat.
Under 19 2x
Event 66, the male U19 double scull sees 23 boats entered from a variety of different states. Whilst last year’s gold medallists are not present in the draw, the silver medalists from Mosman Scheel Gamborg and Hansson will go into the events as very slight favourites. They will however be pushed hard by Griffith Uni Surfer’s Paradise (surely the best-named rowing club in the world), Sydney and UTS. Expect the medals to come from those entrants and the rest of the field to scrap it out for the remaining A-final spots. Interestingly for a male sculling event, there are inine Victorian entries, a state traditionally dominated by sweep rowing for boys.
In the female event last years winners have again moved on, opening the race for some up-and-comers. Sydney’s Tierney and Sypher look a good bet for a strong result on the podium, as do Fremantle’s strong offering. Roles and Yabsley are the pick of the composites, along with Spencer and Binns. Rowing historians will be interested to pick out the name Crawshay from MLC Kew, who could potentially be related to Australian Olympian David Crawshay.
Under 19 4x-
The first entry for junior coxless racing in Australia, the U19 quad at the NSW champs is always a testing ground between potential U19 junior team composite crews and Schools and Clubs that want to look at possible Henley combinations. As such the level of racing is always high, and a cut above the Schoolgirl and Schoolboy coxed quads.
Last year’s winners in the women’s event was the club/school combination from Sydney University and Queenwood. One of this crew returns in 2024, again racing for Sydney University and promises to be a strong boat pushing for the win. Like 2023, they will be pushed hard by the Sydney composite crew, this time featuring the Townsville double of Bourke and Bragg. This event is likely to be a showdown between the composite crews and Sydney University, with St Catherines a possible outside medal shot.
In the men’s event, all four of Radford’s gold medallists have moved on, so we will see a new bunch of faces on the top step of the podium. Look out for the boy’s from St Joseph’s, St Augustines and the Newcastle University, UTS and University of Queensland composite. Those three are the pick of the likely medallists.
Under 19 4+
Last year’s winners from Queensland are absent from the U19 coxed four this year in the men’s event. Fresh from their victory down at the Barwon Regatta in the Schoolboy Eight, expect St Ignatius to produce some strong coxed four performances. Traditional powerhouse Ballarat Clarendon will be keen to give them a run for their money, as will the top four of Brighton Grammar’s first eight.
In the women’s event there are a number of strong composite offerings to look out for including UQ and Adelaide, UTS/Sydney and Brisbane & GPS/Toowong. These composites are joined by strong crews from Queenwood (aka Sydney University in some events), Commercial and Canberra Grammar School. I would expect the winner to come from one of the composites or Queenwood.
School Eights
The school eights are a strongly-contested event always, and this year they are almost going to be a proxy for the national championships. Due to clashes between Victoria’s APS schools head of the river and the nationals, this will be one of the only times that the crews from Vic line up against those from other states. Accordingly in the men’s eights, expect strong performances across the board, in particularly from St Ignatius, Brighton Grammar, Kings, Scotch, St Josephs, St Kevin’s and Xavier. I think this will be one of the races of the weekend, with a slight favourites tag going to the St Josephs and St Ignatius crews. Regardless, this is one not to miss.
In the schoolgirl eights, last years winner St Catherine’s have two boats entered. The girls from NSW will be keen to retain their crown, but will be pushed hard by a variety of interstate crews especially Brisbane & GPS, UQ, MLC and Loreto Toorak. As always, Queenwood 1 will be a strong contender as well, so long as they have the depth from rowers five to eight.
Outside of the above events, there promises to be more fantastic racing across the elite categories, para categories, and remaining under-age events.
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