India Hobbs
Last month, SUBC Women were given the incredible opportunity to go and race in Shenyang, China for the 6th Shenyang International Open Regatta. SUBC took a quad with the crew of India Hobbs, Sky Froebel, Taylor Caudle, and Gemma Campbell, coached by Alan Bennett.
Shenyang Regatta Competitors Touring the City
Shenyang is a major city in the northeast of China. Located just north and west of the North Korean capital of Pyongyang Shenyang is a major transport hub for northern China with close access to Russia. The city has traditionally had a heavy industry base but has now grown into an important science centre and commerce has expanded into automobiles and electronics.
Shenyang is home to Northeastern and Liaoning Universities – both ranked among the most prestigious in China.
The city is around 10 million people with a population of 23 million in the metro areas.
After a long flight, we were greeted at the airport by our translators and team organisers Aubrey and Julian. Our first day consisted of a training row to understand the course as well as time to explore the city. That evening we had an opening ceremony where each team was introduced, and had performances including dancing and music. We also had time to meet everyone over dinner.
Saturday was our first race - the 1000m Quad heat. This was a great race to see where we were against the rest of the field and gave us confidence with a win to go into the Sunday finals. Our first final for Sunday was the 1000m race and we came away with a win. A few hours later (and quite a bit hotter) we had our 4.5km race around the island. The time trial style island race was great fun with many spectators spread around the course. We came 1st in the Island time trial, with the third-best time across all boat classes and genders! To cap off the end of the racing weekend there was a medal ceremony to celebrate everyone’s achievements.
Our Sydney Uni Women's Quad in Shenyang
On our final full day in Shenyang, we were taken for a cultural tour around the old city. It began with a bus trip to the former President’s residence and the Shenyang Imperial Palace. Both places were absolutely remarkable. We were then taken to Shenyang’s famous dumpling house where we all ate our body weight in dumplings and other foods. As guests we were also each given a special dumpling reserved for ‘VIPs’ which of course was delicious and very special. Later in the day, we were then taken for a tour around Liaoning University, where they showcased many of their sporting clubs as well as witnessed the signing of an agreement between the University and Shenyang Rowing Club.
We are very thankful to the organisers for inviting and hosting us at this regatta. We are also extremely grateful for AB taking and coaching us on this trip (as well as ordering us snails for dinner)!