The 2015 Australian University Rowing Championships were held at the West Lakes course in Adelaide last week 30th Sept – 2nd October. The Mixed Eights and Fours were held on Thursday with SUBC winning both events – our club has dominated these two events since they were introduced. The finals on Friday were held in magnificent clear weather with a stiff headwind moderating as the morning wore on. The first event saw ANU winning the men’s double scull stroked by national U23 rep Luke Letcher winning well from UTS and Sydney. Exciting for SUBC was the debut of David Bartholot who with Alex Purnell finished a strong third. David started at Sydney University in March this year and has not rowed before. David finished second to Luke Letcher in the men’s single scull. The women’s single scull final saw a star field of current national representatives racing with SUBC’s Liz Kell returning to national competition for the first time since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The winner was Melbourne Uni’s Jen Cleary with Cara Grzeskowiak of second, Olympia Aldersley, Adelaide in third and Liz Kell in fourth. In the men’s events outstanding performances were David Bartholot in the men’s single scull finishing second to 2014 national U23 champion Luke Letcher and our men’s eight taking out the Oxford and Cambridge Cup by 11 seconds over Adelaide and Monash.
Sydney University continued their domination of the mixed eights and mixed fours winning both events (the eights by around two lengths plus).
A significant moment at this regatta was the final appearance of Alice McNamara for Melbourne University. This regatta was Alice’s tenth year representing Melbourne and she dominated in lightweight events winning the single and the quad scull. Our men’s team won the point score and retained the Bill Webb Trophy and our women’s team finished second to Melbourne with Melbourne being the overall points score winners for 2015. The men’s eight (Crew: Cox Will Raven, Stroke Andrew Judge, Jake Bicknell, Campbell Watts, Alex Purnell, Tom Whitehead, Tobi Wehr-Candler, Angus Robinson, Jack Cook. Coaches: Tom Sacre, Mark Prater) retained the Oxford and Cambridge Cup with an eleven second victory. This made it three wins in a row and seven wins in the last twelve years in this event and moves SUBC to within three wins of Melbourne as the 118th race was concluded. Next year rowing will be part of the Australian University Games in Perth with the rowing competition taking place at Champion Lakes.