The Rowing NSW Reindeer Regatta is often considered a slightly more relaxed event, where crews decorate their boats for one last hit-out before the Christmas break. This year, however, following the cancellation of the RNSW Spring Regatta and Head of the Yarra, we’ll see a whole host of crews champing at the bit to get their first race of the season underway. Competitors will have to manage themselves, though, with temperatures forecast to reach 35 degrees under the relentless Penrith sun.
In the eights this year, we’ll see two categories new to this regatta: club eights are offered for athletes who have not represented Australia in the past two years, and U21 eights make their debut for athletes under the age of twenty-one as of 31 December 2025. Due to early-season entry numbers, these two events will be run alongside the open race, gifting us on the bank the privilege of watching nine crews battle it out for the first win of the season.
Open Eights
UTS Haberfield
The men from Iron Cove, UTS Haberfield, will make up half the field in Saturday’s combined contest, undoubtedly looking to feed off each other’s teal energy to propel them within their own races. Their open eight contains an almost unchanged lineup from their Head of the Yarra entry, which was unable to race and will no doubt be bolstered by the added firepower of U23 silver medallist Nik Pender. The last time UTS and Sydney faced off in the eight was at the Riverview Gold Cup, where a similar lineup took UTS’ first win in over twenty years. With names like Wood, Glackin, Ungemach, and Wilson in the crew, they’ll go into this event as narrow favourites.
Sydney Rowing Club
With an eight entered in each of the three events being run in this race, Sydney Rowing Club will be keen to get as many crews on the podium as possible on Saturday. The boys in light blue were denied a chance at defending their Head of the Yarra title two weeks ago, so they will arrive with a point to prove in their first real round of the season. The crew has international experience across the boat, including U23 coxed four contenders Miles Harrold, Alec Hoskin, and Tess Harris, as well as a 2017 World Rowing Junior Championships quad representative in Pasha Bevan, who makes his return to the sport this weekend after a few years away. Sydney will be extremely keen for a win in this race given the amount of time they’ve spent in eights; however, will need to fight to the line to best UTS.
Club Eights
UTS Haberfield
In the first running of this event at a state level, we have a match race between the top two at last year’s national championships. UTS Haberfield had to settle for a silver medal in that race and start the new season with an almost entirely new lineup. The exception is Terry O’Hanlon, the NSW Rowing stalwart who was instrumental in the design of the Sydney International Regatta Centre before the 2000 Olympic Games. The rest of the crew consists primarily of athletes in their first few years of club rowing, in addition to Peter Waldersee in the six-seat, where the former NSW Penrith Cup lightweight will look to inspire his younger crewmates.
Sydney Rowing Club
Crowned National Champions for the past two years in this event, Sydney Rowing Club will line up for this race brimming with confidence. Last year’s gold medal performance was nothing short of dominant, taking the line almost five seconds clear of their closest rival. Torun Olsson and Mac Bucknell were members of that crew and the combination that won in 2022. A mix of youth and experience will join these two. Jack Harlow has moved from the UK, where he won the The Fawley Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta for The Windsor Boys’ School, an experience which may prove crucial in this two-horse competition. Adding some horsepower to the boat will be two-time U23 silver medallist for New Zealand Sam Jones. With a good amount of power and experience, this Sydney crew will be looking to dispatch UTS early in the race and see if they can hang with the faster Open crews.
Under 21 Eights
Sydney Rowing Club
Since winning the Colleagues Cup for U21 Eights at the NSW State Championships in 2019, Sydney Rowing Club has never been far from the lead in this event. They’ll be looking to continue that form with an all-new lineup in its first run outside a championship regatta. As last year’s crew progress to senior age groups, this is the first test of a much younger U21 squad from the Abbotsford club. The standout name in this combination is Ambrose Hennessey, the freshly-crowned junior world champion in the coxed four, to complement his dominant campaign as a part of the 2023 Riverview eight. He’ll be joined by several other recent school leavers in Henry Pursehouse of Scots, Tommy Poulton of Kinross, and Maxim Moloney of Joeys. This entry represents a fresh start in the U21 category for SRC, and it will be very interesting to see how this squad develops as they settle into life after schoolboy rowing.
UTS Haberfield
Whilst not the incumbent champions, UTS Haberfield will undoubtedly go into this race as the favourites, bringing three of the crew that missed out on last year’s win by less than a length. Those three are Jack Power, Will Clubb, and Brandon Smith. Brandon also featured in the NSW U21 Eight that secured last year’s win in the Interstate Regatta; he’ll be joined by Oscar Beregi, the Old Ignatian who secured bronze in last year’s U21 Single Scull National Championships. With Ryder Taylor in the coxing seat, who secured an U19 World Rowing Championships title in 2022 at the age of thirteen, it’s hard to see this combination being too troubled by Sydney at this stage of the season.
The Scots College
The only school entry in this race, The Scots College will certainly be one to watch in this contest. The boys from Bellevue Hill have brought both their eights to this event, having achieved reasonable results at early-season schoolboy regattas with both crews. At the most recent regatta, the first eight finished second, with the second eight crossing the line third in their event. If the first eight’s coach, two-time Olympic Champion Mike Mckay, has found a little more speed in his crew and they can improve upon the 6:03 they posted in November, they should find themselves right in the mix with the second UTS crew, and potentially even Sydney.
Prediction
I predict it will be tight in the open eights, with less than a length between UTS Haberfield in first and Sydney Rowing Club in second. After that, it’ll be interesting to see if the club eights can hold off the Under 21s. The Sydney club eight will take third across the line to win the club eight, but only narrowly ahead of the UTS U21s. Sydney’s U21s will likely struggle for pace in the race’s second half but should have enough in hand to hold off the UTS club eights, who will be locked in a fierce battle with the Scots crews.
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