Sydney University rowing swept the major trophies and the overall championship at the Australian University Games rowing at the Hinze Dam on the Gold Coast last Friday 28th September. Rowing concluded by 12.30 pm and became the first win of the day for the Sydney Uni overall Games team. Steadily through Friday afternoon until around 5.30 pm reports of wins in gold medal games and wins in bronze medal playoff came through until by the conclusion of play among the 6,700 athletes it was clear that once again Sydney University was at or near the top of Australian University Sport. The task of winning the overall games had been made more difficult by some competitors fielding larger teams and entering more sports.
When the final announcement came at 6.30 pm it was Melbourne third with 611, Monash second with 701 and Sydney University first with 728 points.
The rowing finals day started well with 2006 World Double Scull Champion, Liz Kell taking of the Women?s single. Sydney University sent a strong team with a number of national open and U 23 representatives. The team was also well balanced with new recruits in the Youth category competing and working with our more experienced rowers. This combined with a coaching group of Phil Bourguignon, Alan Bennett and Mark Prater who worked closely as a team to form a winning combination. With a well balanced team most athletes did not have to ?over race? on finals day and wins and solid placings across the board racked up the points for Sydney Uni rowing.
For the fourth year in a row SUBC took out the Oxford and Cambridge Cup ? only the second time we have sone so in its 111 year history. The crew led all the way and crossed a solid 2.5-3 length ahead of rivals Adelaide and Melbourne.
For the first time ever Sydney Uni completed the eights double with our women?s eight victorious by two lengths. In the closest contest of the day Sydney Uni Women won the overall ? Amanda Young? trophy by a small margin from Melbourne University. The Sydney Uni men won the overall men?s pointscore and the team won the overall Centenary Cup trophy which we had relinquished in 2005.
For the first time in five years Sydney Uni reclaimed the Sir Fred Schonell Trophy for Lightweight Fours with Ed White, Cam Girdlestone, Joe Power and Ed Alexander leading most of the way to a clear water win.
National Men?s Eight cox Marty Rabjohns made the trip to the Gold Coast to steer both eights and a number of other of our crews to victories. It was good to see the team benefit from the experience that members like Marty, Liz Kell and Terrence Alfred could bring.
Overall this was our best balanced team at Intervarsity Rowing in many years and our strongest overall result. Winning the point score by over 100 points was an indication of the strength of the team and the coaching staff. The detailed results will be posted on this website later this week along with the final point score.