The 2008 selection regatta was held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre (SIRC), Penrith from 11th ? 20th April. The selection for 2008 Australian crews consists of 9 days of racing and trialling. It begins with 3 days of racing in pairs and singles against the best selected athletes in Australia, followed by trialling in medium and big boats if invited to continue.
Twenty Six athletes from SUBC (18 Men, 8 Women) and 4 coaches were invited to trial for positions in the 3 available teams (Junior, World Universities, U23 and Senior A. All athletes made it through the first round of trials and were invited back to take part in crew rotations with ?The home of rowing? being very competitive and being noticed as from previous years.
The Men?s and Women?s Junior Team selections were the first to be run and announced by Rowing Australia. Two SUC athletes were in contention and were both named in the team to race in Linz, Austria. Both Ashleigh Peppernell and Ryan Edwards are young athletes, school leavers of 2007. They have had a great year of training and competing and their efforts were repaid by being selected for the first time to represent there country at the the Junior (U19)World championships.
Despite some problems arising in the early rounds of rotations, all SUBC athletes hung in and produced some great racing, more so from the women?s squad. In sweep and scull, this group, being the most competitive in many years, all athletes stayed In touch almost right through to the end of the trialling. This strength of this group is due to some great recruitment and development of athletes from Women?s coaches Alan Bennett and Phil Bourguignon. There work is greatly appreciated by all involved in the women?s program. In the final analysis Ailsa Tremayne and Tash Bolsin were unlucky to miss out on the women’s U23 four. Due to illness their rivals did not rotate with the lower ranked athletes which our pair had already done.
The men?s squad of sweep and scull was a story of some up?s and down?s across the entire board. Terrence Alfred, Fergus Pragnell, Francis Hegarty and Matt Ryan had some tight contests for the remaining positions on the Olympic team and the Coxless Pair to race at the Senior A Non-Olympic World Championships. SUBC Captain Nick Hudson displayed some great racing for the position in the Men?s Quad Scull, Double Scull and Single Scull. He displayed the hunger that is needed to be competitive in the Senior A ranks and was fighting every time he came down the course at SIRC. Nick displayed great leadership and character for younger members of SUBC to aspire too.
The men?s U23 squad found this years racing very tough, the standard of racing in this category across heavyweight and lightweight was very competitive. The lightweight pair of Ledgerwood and White found the racing tough and no doubt inexperience cost them when they steered a poor cousre in the first rotation.. For a young combination they raced very well and will definitely be a crew to watch in the coming season. The heavyweight squad which consisted of 4 pairs found they were off the top pace from the start of racing of. Some quick plans had to be put in place after the heats of the small boats to try and stay in the top group of crews. With a number of State and Australian Squad members in this group, seats in the national team were very tough to come by. This was a ?dogfight? for all athletes concerned.
The final outcome of both selection regattas for SUBC was: 6 Men Olympic or Senior A team, 3 Women Olympic or Sen A team, 4 Men U23 team, 2 Women U23 team, 1 man , 1 woman Junior Team 5 Men World Universities team, 4 Women World Universities team, 1 Coach U23 Team.
Congratulations to our selected members and best wishes for your overseas competition in 2008.
Full List of crews shown below:
Senior A Team: Marty Rabjohns – Cox Men’s Eight Jeremy Stephenson – Men’s Eight Liz Kell – Women’s Eight Brooke Pratley – Women’s Eight Bronwen Watson – Women’s Lightweight Quad Terrence Alfred ? Heavyweight Sweep Reserve Pair Francis Hegerty ? Heavyweight Four (Still to qualify for the Olympic Games) Matt Ryan – Heavyweight Four (Still to qualify for the Olympic Games) Fergus Pragnell ? Heavyweight Coxed Pair (Non-Olympic World Championships)
U23 Team:
Toby Lister ? Coxswain Men?s Eight James Goswell ? Men?s Eight Richard Allsop ? Men?s Eight Justin Quigley ? Men?s Eight Renee Kirby ? Women?s Double Scull Charlotte Walters ? Women?s Double Scull Phil Bourguignon ? Coach Women?s Double Scull
Junior Team:
Ryan Edwards – Men’s Pair Ashleigh Peppernell – Women’s Four
World Universities Team:
Edward Boyce ? Men?s Heavyweight Sweep Squad Will Townsend ? Men?s Heavyweight Sweep Squad David Neuhaus ? Men?s Heavyweight Sweep Squad Toby Ledgerwood ? Men?s Lightweight Four Edward White ? Men?s Lightweight Four Chloe O?Regan ? Women?s Double Scull Emma Costello ? Women?s Double Scull Natasha Bolsin ? Women?s Coxless Four Alisa Tremayne ? Women?s Coxless Four