GOLD on The GOLD COAST

The Boat Club Intervarsity Rowing Team joined 400 other Sydney Uni athletes last week for the Annual Unisport National Championships held on the Gold Coast.

The rowing venue was the warm and dusty Wyaralong Dam located about 80 kilometres inland from Surfers Paradise.

Hopefully, by the time the Olympics come to Brisbane, there will be some grass and amenities at this course.

Our team consisted of twenty-one rowers with coaches Don Mclachlan and Alfie Young. Accommodation was sourced at the nearby Kooralbyn Valley Resort.

SUBC performed strongly winning six golds, three silver, and four bronze. Highlights were our wind in both men’s and women’s eights, the mixed eight and four, and in the men’s double scull and the women’s pair.

The Sydney Uni 2023 Intervarsity Rowing Team - with the odd trophy

This year was the 124th running of the Oxford and Cambridge Cup for the men’s eights and our win brought Sydney Uni’s total wins in 124 years to 42. Just one win behind Melbourne University.

The cup was donated for competition between men’s eight-oared crews from Australian Universities in 1893 and was commissioned by subscription by rowing blues of Oxford and Cambridge.

Our women’s eight won the Professor Godfrey Tanner Cup. Unfortunately, this trophy was won pre-covid in 2019 by Melbourne University and they failed to return it for presentation in 2022 (when our women’s eight also won) and this year. Hopefully, they will send it up to Sydney Uni Sport or arrange a suitable replacement soon.

Sydney Uni Women's Team

The Unisport Championship is awarded to the university that wins the most pennants. When the rowing scores were added up our team had won both the Men’s (Bill Webb Trophy) and Women’s (Amanda Young Trophy) Championships and the Overall Point Score ( Centenary Cup) . Congratulations to our team.

Many thanks to our coaches who helped prepare and manage the rowers and to Don Mclachlan and Alfie Young who coached at the event and drove our boats to and from the Gold Coast.

Thanks also to our other coaches, Alan Bennett, Pete Wawn and Tom Laurich.

Our team was:

Henry Blackwell, Tom Anderson, Zoe Bond, Zoe McKellar, Emily Sheppard, Ella Mentzines, Tiffany Botha, Olivia Nattey, Stefanie Preller, Sophia Wightman,

Grace Turner, Elizabeth Bolster©, Charlie Carr, Sam Bristow, Oscar Beregi ,Hamish Danks, Wyatt Batt, Ryan Gibson ,Tom Shaw(c), Ella Cassin, Phoebe Teale.

Coaches (at competition) Alfie Young, Don McLachlan and preparing the team in Sydney, Alan Bennett, Pete Wawn, and Tom Laurich.

Our Coaching Team!