Open + Club
The Club and Open women’s eight race will be interesting to watch at this weekend’s RNSW Reindeer regatta, with a range of ages and experience levels across the six crews competing.
Sydney Rowing Club
Sydney will be the only crew competing in the Open Women’s Eight category; regardless, they will undoubtedly want a good hit out. All crew members were in attendance at last month’s ill-fated Head of the Yarra, and will be keen for another opportunity to represent their club at a calendar-staple regatta. Stern-paired by Remy McKay and Lila Anderton, who put down an impressive performance at the last NSW High Performance Pathway Time Trial, this duo are backed up by the reliable power and experience of Isabella Scammell in the middle of the boat, and the technical capability of Laura Sypher in the bow. This eight will be one to watch.
The second of the Sydney crews will compete in the club category and is still full of names familiar to Rowing NSW regattas. The experienced stern three will set the boat up well to challenge their open club compatriots, with a range of international and domestic racing success between them. It’s probably safe to assume they will want to put up a good fight with their club’s open crew, which will certainly make for an interesting race.
St. Peters, Cambridge
Making the trip across the ditch for Reindeer, the crew from St. Peter’s School Cambridge will compete for the club eight title. The school has been training out of the Shore School rowing facilities since their arrival and has made regular appearances at Reindeer in the last decade, although this will be their first race at the regatta since the pandemic. The crew is formed from several athletes who raced at last season’s Maadi Cup; known for being the largest school sporting event in the southern hemisphere. Their experience in racing such an event will surely bring them confidence as they face the local clubs on an unfamiliar race course.
University of Queensland Boat Club
The University of Queensland Boat Club have habitually attended Reindeer in the last few years, adding some interstate racing to their calendar early in the season. The Queenslanders usually bring their younger athletes to this event, adding to their experience racing away from home at a relatively low-stakes regatta. Holly Flemming moves to UQ after picking up a silver medal in the U17 women’s coxed quad at last year’s National Championships, and Sophie Crane and Astrid Coates return from last year’s Nationals U19 eight, which fell four seconds short of a medal in the final. The returning girls will no doubt be keen to push their new crewmates early on with a potential goal of going one better this season.
Prediction
It’s safe to put the Sydney Rowing Club crews up for the one-two positions, although I would lean towards the Open boat coming out on top. The girls from the University of Queensland Boat Club are in a good position to come third, although their age and relative experience will probably solidify a Sydney lead over the race. Although the Kiwi’s capabilities remain fairly unknown, with relatively few results in the last few weeks from St. Peter’s Cambridge and similar demographics throughout the boat, they could put up a fight to challenge the Queenslanders for third.
U21
The U21 Eight will see a fierce match up between school and young club crews, with familiar opponents and former teammates coming together again.
Sydney University Boat Club
The Sydney University Boat Club crew comprises several schoolgirl athletes and recent graduates with a variety of domestic and international experience for their relative age. Alex O’Brien joins the crew for her second year at the club, reuniting with coxswain Chloe Jureta, who raced together at the 2023 U19 World Rowing Championships in the women’s coxed four while they were both at Queenwood School. A number of younger athletes in the bow bring international experience to the crew after attending the US-based Selection Development Camp in San Diego over the Australian winter this year. The crew will be well supported by Alice Macready who moves to the club with a 2024 Virtual World Championship to her name in the W17-18 500m event.
St Catherines
St Catherines will boat two schoolgirl eights at SIRC after missing last weekend’s Sydney Girls High Regatta to break up the busy schedule of racing in a similar fashion to many other top-contender schools. The squad had a rocky start at the season’s opening All Schools Regatta, compared to their undefeated previous season, finishing third in the division one and two races. To be fair to the athletes, the ASR schedule is infamously jam-packed, and the squad’s first eight put in an impressive effort to overcome Pymble Ladies College and Loreto Normanhurst on the final day of the Loreto double-header regattas the following weekend. The eights entered this weekend comprise younger athletes who have been appearing in the Year 10 eights of late, as well as the Schoolgirl Second Eight.
Newcastle Grammar
A relatively new addition to the schoolgirl eights roster, under the new leadership of Brad Smith, Newcastle Grammar School will field an eight for possibly the first time at SIRC. Alice Macready is one of the school’s most recent successes, continuing her rowing career at Sydney University and racing her former schoolmates in this event. It’s incredibly exciting to see further schoolgirl rowing development outside Sydney’s well-established metro hub. This crew recently raced at Head of the Yarra in Melbourne, where they finished eighth in the Female C Grade Eight, certainly against competition much older than themselves. That experience racing in all conditions, against any kind of competition, will prove invaluable as they continue to front up to the entrenched powerhouses of schoolgirl rowing from Sydney’s centre throughout the season. Regardless of the outcome, it’s fantastic to see development in the sport in the form of higher participation from girls outside the metropolitan region.
Prediction
It could be argued that Sydney University have enough of an edge in the inclusion of some older athletes to overcome the St Catherines crews, although it’s entirely possible their scratch combination could put them at a disadvantage to the girls from Waverley. I would expect a close first 1000m between St Catherines and Sydney University, but ultimately, expect Sydney University to come out on top. The St Catherines crews could finish in any order relative to each other, but I believe their combined sweeping experience should be enough to hold off Newcastle Grammar this time.
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