Finals day Friday 3rd October at the Australian University Championships saw a gold rush for the Sydney Uni men’s team as they progressively won most of the small boat finals through the morning. The team of eight rowers, 1 sculler , cox and coach Rick van Hooydonk opened the day with Pete Koster and Tom McClintock winning the men’s double scull, soon after SUBC veteran Sasha Belonogoff teamed up with 2013 national junior rep Alex Purnell and Harry Foxton and Ben Scott and steered by Will Raven to take gold in the men’s four. Soon after James Davies, somewhat unexpectedly but decisively crossed first in the men’s single scull and to finish off the small boats Jonny Rundle and Kit Cunningham-Reid then comfortably won the men’s pair.
The coveted Oxford and Cambridge Cup for the men’s eight was the final event for men and our small boat crews combined to face Adelaide, Monash, Melbourne, ANU and Uni of NSW in the final. The result – an all the way win to SUBC crossing the line 7 seconds clear of Adelaide Uni with Monash in third.
The cup is heading towards Sydney for the first time since 2007. The men’s team combined with our women to also win gold in the Mixed Eight and silver in the Mixed Four.
The women’s pair of Ellie Winstanley and Lydia Yerrell won the women’s pair while the Women’s Eight and the Women’s Lightweight Quad won silver medals.
The overall result saw SUBC take out the Overall men’s championship. The Sydney Uni Women’s team was runner up in the Women’s championship and the Sydney Uni teams were declared the Overall 2013 Australian University Rowing Champions.
Congratulations to all team members and particularly to all our coaches and the lead team coaches Rick van Hooydonk and Debbie Fox.