September News
1 September 2015
Australian's Start Well at the 2015 World Rowing Championships
The Australian Men's Lighweight Sculler, Tim McDonnel racing his Heat at the 2015 World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France
It’s been a positive start at the 2015 World Rowing Championships for Australia. Twelve crews have made it through to their respective Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and A Finals. With the remaining six ready to fight it out in the repechages over the coming days.
The first Australian to race on the opening day (Sunday) of the 2015 World Rowing Championships was Queenslander Tim McDonnell in the Lightweight Men’s Single Scull. Needing a top three finish in his heat to avoid the repechage and make the quarter-finals, the Queenslander was up against Slovenia, Great Britain, Turkey and Iran.
McDonnell, who until a week ago was racing in the Lightweight Men’s Four before an injury to crewmate Perry Ward forced an entry changed, finished in fourth. Thus, McDonnell was pushed into yesterday’s repechage where he performed well, sitting comfortably in second throughout the race and qualifying himself a place in the quarter-finals in a time of 7:14:74.
Yesterday (Monday) morning the Australian Rowing Team continued to make positive progress, twelve crews raced for Australia, including the para-rowing events. The first Australian crew to take to the water was the Lightweight Men’s Pair of Darryn Purcell and Nick Silcox. The Queenslanders, who are coached by Brett Crow, jumped into the boat after Perry Ward’s injury meant the Lightweight Men’s Four would no longer compete in Aiguebelette.
Purcell and Silcox, who are both members of Toowong Rowing Club, sat for the majority of their race in third with Great Britain and Germany pushing out in front. The Australians battled at times with the Japanese crew but it was the Queenslanders who came out on top and booked themselves a place in the semi-finals in a time of 6:50:95.
The Women’s Quadruple Scull including Queenslanders Madeleine Edmunds (Commercial) and Jessica Hall (Brisbane & GPS) along with crew members Kerry Hore and Jennifer Cleary required a first place finish to automatically qualify for the A-Final and avoid the repechage.
The crew, who are coached by Tom Westgarth (QAS), claimed silver at the Lucerne World Cup earlier this year and were up against USA, China, New Zealand and France in the heat. The Chinese were the Olympic champions in Beijing in 2008 and they were fastest out the blocks with Australia and USA hot on their heels. The Australians showed their stamina and pushed into the lead at the halfway mark with USA pursuing them, but rating at 41 the Queensland-based crew got to the line first to book their place in the A-Final.
The Women’s Quadruple Scull were followed by the Women’s Double Scull of Queenslander Sally Kehoe and South Australian Olympia Aldersey who required a first place finish to automatically make their semi-final, otherwise it was to be the repechage. Kehoe and Aldersey were up against Lithuania, South Korea, Great Britain, Cuba and Ukraine.
The race saw tight margins throughout with Australia battling with Great Britain, Lithuania but it was Lithuania who surged at the line to take the win with Kehoe and Aldersey in second. The crew, coached by Jason Lane, will now compete in the repechage on Wednesday this week in a bid to make semi-finals.
The final race of the morning was the Men’s Eight with Queenslander Scott Laidler, who were up against Great Britain, Russia, Netherlands, New Zealand and Italy. The British are the current World Champions in this boat class and had a point to prove over those trying to assume their crown. All six crews went out evenly, however it was then Russia, Great Britain and Netherlands who then pulled ahead. It was to be Great Britain’s race with the crew winning in a time that was eight seconds off the World’s best times, while Australia who had been battling with Italy and New Zealand for fourth, fifth and sixth place finished sixth overall and will head to the repechage in a bid to make the A-Final.
To see full race schdules, results and the World Rowing Live Tracker click here
1 September 2015
Trans-Tasman Regatta
George Lethbridge and Oliver Smith- Under 21 Men's Pair (2)
Round two of the U21 Trans-Tasman Series kicked off on Thursday 27th August at Lake Karapiro, New Zealand. The Australians arrived in New Zealand on Monday following a three-day pre-departure camp in Canberra. Both teams were treated to a traditional Maori welcome by the Waipa District Mayor and Council on Wednesday and Australian team representatives Serena Cox and Queenslander Darcy Wruck responded on behalf of the team. Keen to improve on results from the first round, the Aussies were itching to race.
With day one of racing underway, the morning session saw a tail breeze bring home the Australian men’s lightweight double and single sculls to victory in the heats. Near perfect conditions proved very helpful to the Australians in the afternoon session with wins to the Queensland/ Commercial RC men’s pair of Darcy Wruck and Harley Moore, men’s lightweight double of Oli Cook and Sean Murphy and the men’s lightweight single sculler Blaine Heseltine (University of Queensland Boat Club). Toowong Rowing Club members George Lethbridge and Olly Smith did a fantastic job of improving on their morning race to place second in the men’s pair.
Day 2 of racing saw the athletes jump into their big boats (fours & quads). The Men's Quad came home with a victory, unfortunately the Kiwis got the better of us in the Women's and Men's Fours as well as the Women's Quad.
With New Zealand winning the final points score, they claimed the Rusty Robertson Trophy.
Results:
4 September 2015
Ready for Day Six of the 2015 World Rowing Championships
With day six of the 2015 World Rowing Championships prepared to get underway at 5pm tonight AEST the Australians have endured some intense racing so far.
Australia has dominated the Para-rowing scene with Erik Horrie (ASM1x), Kathryn Ross and Gavin Bellis (TAMix2x) crowned the World Champions for the third year in a row in their respective para-rowing boat classes. This also means they have qualified for next years Paralympic Games.
In addition, the Australian Men’s Quad, Men's Four and Men's Pair have all qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games by making the A Final in their respective boat classes. The Women's Lightweight Quad has also booked a spot in the A Final along with the Queensland Lightweight Men's Pair of Darryn Purcell and Nick Silcox.
The Toowong rowing club members Purcell and Silcox had a cracker of a Semi Final last night, needing to place top 3 in order to progress to the A final, and they did just that. Steady out of the start positioned them fighting for that all important third place against Czech Republic. Consistency from start to finish is what pulled the Aussie Lightweight Pair away from the Czec Republic pair and claim 3rd. Purcell and Silcox will race the A Final tonight at 8.20pm AEST. To watch full video of the Lightweight Men's Pair Semi Final, click here.
The Australian Women's Double Scull of Sally Kehoe and Olympia Aldersey will race the Semi Final tonight at 6.30pm AEST. Up against Belarus, Germany, Poland, Greece and Czech Republic they will need a top 3 spot to progress through to the A Final.
The Women's Quad Scull with Queenslanders Jess Hall (Brisbane & GPS), Maddie Edmunds (Commercial RC), Fiona Albert (reserve) along with crew mates Kerry Hore and Jennifer Cleary secured their place in the A Final on Monday night and will race against USA, Netherlands, Germany, Poland and New Zealand at 10.30pm tomorrow (Saturday) AEST. Top 5 places will qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Toowong Rowing Club member Tim McDonnell will race the D Final in the Men's Lightweight Single Scull early tomorrow morning at 12.30am AEST.
The Men's Eight with Queenslander Scott Laidler in 3 seat will race the B Final Sunday night at 9pm AEST.
Foxtel Broadcast Times:
Friday 4th: Live FoxSports2 @ 7:45pm, Repeat Sat 11am Fox Sports 2
Saturday 5th: Live Fox Sports 3 @ 10pm, Repeat Sun 12pm Fox Sports 3
Sunday 6th: Live Fox Sports 3 @ 9pm
To watch Semi-Finals and Finals already contested, click here.
To see Rowing Australia’s reports and media releases, click here.
To see full results, click here.
September 8
Both Women's Quad and Double Scull Qualify for Olympics
The 2015 World Rowing Championships have come to an end, with Australia snapping up one World Championship title, two silver medals and qualified seven boats for the 2016 Rio Olympics- Women's Single Scull, Men's Double, Women's Double, Men's Quad, Women's Quad, Men's Pair and Men's Four.
The Women's Quad Scull of Queenslanders Maddie Edmunds (CRC) and Jess Hall (Bris & GPS) along with Tasmanian Kerry Hore and Victorian Jennifer Cleary had an unfortunate start, “For those of you who followed our race today and wondered what happened, we had a little mishap with a buoy in the first 150m..” the stroke seat, Maddie Edmunds wrote as part of a post on Facebook. This saw the crew in sixth place at the 500m mark, and potentially out of a qualifying spot for the Rio Olympics.
The Queensland based crew, coached by Tom Westgarth (Queensland Academy of Sport), showed incredible fight as they charged up, through the middle 1000m, into the pack and into fourth place narrowly ahead of Poland and The Netherlands.
A final surge for the line saw Poland get up on the Australians and into 4th by 0.02 seconds, pushing the Australian Women's Quad into 5th place. Bow seat, Jess Hall, expressed her feelings on the race over Facebook “...Yesterday was tough but I am so proud of the girls I am lucky enough to row with every day for their resilience and determination to never give up and our coach who always gives us such incredible support. It has been such a great 2 years together and it was great to qualify our boat for Rio - onwards and upwards for another one in 2016!”
This may not have been the result that they were looking for but the will and strength of these four women sees them qualify for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. WATCH this race here.
The Women's Double Scull of Sally Kehoe (QLD) and Olympia Aldersey narrowly missed out on an A Final spot. Racing in the B Final, they needed a top 5 placing in their race to qualify the boat for next year’s Olympic Games.
At the halfway mark the Australians were leading but the Chinese crew began to make their move and by the 1500 metre mark they had pushed into the lead. The last 500 metres saw France and Belarus move past the Australians. Kehoe and Aldersey did however claim 4th place in the B Final ranking them 10th in the world, which in turn qualifies the boat for the Rio Olympics.
To see Full Results click here
To catch up on the racing, click here to view videos.
September 8
Pine Rivers QLD Premiership Regatta Wrap Up
Brisbane & GPS Rowing Club Win the Medal Count
The Pine Rivers Queensland Premiership Regatta was held on Saturday 5th September at Lake Kurwongbah. Mother Nature produced the goods with the sun shining all day, slight cloud cover and a light following wind.
Racing kicked off at 8am with the Women's Masters Single Scull, Janine Reid of Brisbane & GPS Rowing Club picked up the win for this event, giving the club a great start to the day.
A boat class that hasn’t been seen for a while at this is event is the Men's/Women's Masters Eight. Pine Rivers Rowing Club put together two eights to compete against the Toowong/Dragons composite eight. The Pine Rivers Eight of Zelow, Lakhotia, Henderson, Meech, Fortune, Flockhart, Smith, Newell and cox, Sukova picked up the Gold medal, 6.44 seconds in front of the Toowong/Dragons crew.
Brisbane and GPS cleaned up the medal tally with 9 Gold, 12 Silver and 9 Bronze Medals. Behind them was the host club, Pine Rivers Rowing Club and in third Maroochy River Rowing Club.
For full results, click here
For pictures of the event, click here
17 September 2015
Rockhampton’s Best Rowers to Enjoy Home Advantage
New Zealand Set to Bring Squad Over
Rockhampton Fitzroy Rowing Club and Rockhampton Grammar School will host the 2015 Queensland Schools Rowing Championships at the Rockhampton Ski Gardens this coming weekend.
Competing over four days the Championships will attract some 700 athletes from Townsville to Tweed Heads and across to Auckland, New Zealand.
18 athletes from schools around the Auckland region on the North Island of New Zealand are making the trip to Rockhampton for the Queensland Schools Rowing Championship Regatta.
This regatta is the second largest schools championship regatta in the country behind the Australian Schools Championship.
After already finishing second at both the South and North Queensland Schools Championships this year Rockhampton Grammar School will be looking to improve on their five medals from last year’s Championships.
After a three year break Rowing Queensland Regatta Operations Coordinator Ben Groth said returning to Rockhampton was a welcome decision.
“Talking with School Directors and Coaches I think there are quite a few schools looking forward to the change of scenery.
“The Rockhampton Fitzroy Rowing Club and Rockhampton Grammar School do a great job of pulling together to host this, our largest regatta and the water is always perfect here which is great for racing.”
Rowing Queensland Chief Executive Officer Murray Stewart added that the Championships would not be possible without the help of the Rockhampton Regional Council.
“The Rockhampton Regional Council, through the Community Assistance Program, has been really supportive of the Regatta and with six schools competing out of the Rockhampton area the future of Rowing in Rockhampton is looking strong.”
The Championships will run from Saturday to Monday and are open to the public.
Queensland Schools State Championships
Rockhampton Grammar Schools tops the medal table
The Queensland Schools Rowing Championships have come to an end after an exciting three days of racing with Brisbane claiming the Inter-regional championship and Rockhampton Grammar School winning the medal count. Local Rockhampton boy Alexander ‘Sasha’ Belonogoff attended the championships on Saturday to present the Inter-regional medals.
The Championship regatta was held on the fantastic eight lane buoyed course on the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton. Racing began at 8am, Saturday 19th and concluded with the nail biting final of the Championships Schoolgirls Open Eight at 4.20pm Monday 21st September.
The three days saw some impressive racing and athletes pushed. At age 15 and still eligible for year 10 events, Cormac Kennedy-Leverett of The Southport School won the Open Schoolboys Single Scull by over 12 seconds.
The local squad of Rockhampton Grammar School had a very successful regatta, finishing on top of the medal table with five gold, one silver and two bronze medals. Lucy Blair of Rockhampton Grammar School took home a total of four medals in various events including the bronze in the Schoolgirls Open Single Scull.
The Coomera Anglican College showed the strength of their Schoolboys program by taking home a total of eight medals, all claimed from the Schoolboy events. Including two medallists in the Schoolboys Under 17 Single Scull, Kell Heck claimed gold and Bailey Wagstaff took the Bronze.
St Peters dominated the Schoolgirls Year 10 Four claiming both the gold and silver medals with Somerville behind them in third place. The Schoolgirls Year 8 Quad Scull saw Stuartholme take up the majority of the podium claiming both first and third, with the Rockhampton girls taking home the silver medal. Wallis Russel had a very busy and successful regatta taking home six out of the ten medals for St Margaret's Anglican Girls School, four of those with partner Noemi North.
The final event of the regatta was the Championship Schoolgirls Eight. Nine crews lined up on the windy Monday afternoon to race the 2000m course, including a New Zealand composite crew. Somerville house took out the Championships by 6.16 seconds in front of the Brisbane Girls Grammar Crew. St Hildas came through to claim the bronze medal.
A reminder that athletes and coaches who are under the age of 18 and travelled a road distance of at least 250km from their place of residence to the event location may be eligible for the Young Athletes Assistance Grant. More Information here.
For full results click here. To view official medal tally click here.
