The NSW Small Boats Regatta is the first hit out on home waters for (mostly) NSW crews, often following extensive time away from Sydney on summer training camps. For U23-aged crews, the event is often used to evaluate speed ahead of the selection-critical NSW State Championships in a fortnight. The women’s singles only see a handful of entries this year; however, a win here will be hard-fought in a field of well-credentialled Australian representatives.
Ella Spaulding – Sydney Rowing Club
In her first year of U23’s, Tasmanian Ella Spaulding has made the move up north to train with Sydney Rowing Club last year, initially joining as a part of their Wargrave Challenge Cup campaign in 2024. A sculler for some time now, Spaulding has been building over the past few time trials to put herself within striking distance of the leading few in this category. After an extended camp in the snowy mountains, could the altitude benefit be enough to cause an upset?
Sophia Wightman – Sydney University Boat Club
In her final year of U23 eligibility, Sophia Wightman will be looking to cement her place as a candidate for this year’s squad to compete in Lithuania. Having represented Australia at Junior and U21 level in the single scull already, Sophia goes into this race as the fastest on paper, both historically and of late, thanks to several strong performances at recent NSW time trials. Wightman has been the top-ranked U23 sculler in NSW so far this season, but it will be interesting to see if she can maintain that form over the Olympic distance
Zoe Bond – Sydney University Boat Club
Originally hailing from the national capital, Zoe Bond has made her presence known on the NSW scene over the past few years, featuring on two junior Australian teams and the U21 team last year. Over the past two years, Zoe has been building towards an U23 debut, and notably finished narrowly behind 2024 U23 representative Romy Cantwell at the last time trial. Although not the favourite for this race, we could be lucky enough to see some intra-club rivalry on display this weekend.
Prediction
Despite this field tightening over the past six months, I expect it to remain very similar. Sophia Wightman has been the leading sculler in NSW recently, and I expect her to win on Saturday. The race for the minor placings will be interesting, and I will predict an upset with Ella Spaulding narrowly taking silver from Zoe Bond in third.
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