SUBC Mixed Eight Competes in Busan, Korea

Last week a team from our high-performance squad attended the World Class Universities Rowing Festival in Ulsan, Korea. Alongside SUBC, teams from universities across 8 other countries participated like Yale, Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and MIT, amongst others. Across the 7 day tour the team endured a jam packed program ranging from training, cultural experiences, performances and UNESCO world heritage listed sights all before the two day competition began! All while living the life of a Ulsan National Institute of Science & Technology (UNIST) student as we stayed on campus in the dormitories, ate in the cafeteria and utilised their gym facilities to carry out training.

In the early days of the tour we had the opening ceremony where we experienced performances from renowned Korean groups, from Taekwondo to beat boxing to choir and instrumental works. This in conjunction with the International gift exchange night, allowed us to meet the other competing teams and organisers in fun environments. 

Over the 2 day competition the team competed in the Open Women’s Coxed Four, Open Men’s Coxed Four and came together in the Mixed Eight. With 14 universities participating in the Regatta each event involved a heat, semi and a final, competing over the 750m course. The course was in the heart of Ulsan’s city, showcasing the stunning city scapes and surrounding bamboo forests.  The Saturday saw the Open Women’s Coxed Four of Steffi Preller, Alex O’Brien, Alice Macready, Alyssa Fikkers and coxed by Lilee Lunney win their heat and semi, seeing them through to the A Final. Followed by the Open Men’s Coxed Four of Fin Mitchell, Tom Anderson, Trephon Stambolie, Sam Basha and coxed by Lilee Lunney also win their heat and semi, seeing them through to the A Final. To close up the day, the team joined forces into the mixed eight seeing Gus Ciesiolka, Tom Anderson, Trephon Stambolie, Sam Basha, Alice Macready, Alyssa Fikkers, Steffi Preller, Alex O’Brien and coxed by Lilee Lunney win the heat. Sunday day 2 of the regatta had the semi and A Final of the mixed eight and the A Finals of the Open Women’s Coxed Four, Open Men’s Coxed Four. With all respective crews taking early leads in their races to then claim victory in all 3 events. At the conclusion of racing on Sunday we received the overall point score championship trophy as the winning university. This was celebrated in an incredible banquet dinner, where we got to celebrate with fellow athletes from the other universities.

A big shoutout to our program buddy Taemin, who was paired with our team for the week to be our assistant and team leader. As well as the volunteer workers at the course everyday making sure we had everything we needed to succeed and handle the heat and humidity!

Beyond the racing, the team immersed themselves in Korean culture exploring the Ulsan Museum, the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard, the Taehwa River National Garden and the Bangucheon Petroglyphs. As well as taking part in the mentoring program where the athletes spent quality time with Ulsan high school students providing advice on studies beyond high school. Which was both a touching experience for both SUBC athletes and Ulsan students.

We want to extend a large thank you to coach Alan Bennett for taking the team on tour and providing his expertise in competition. As well as the executives and people who made this experience possible!