Tom Westgarth and proud coach Nick Hunter after winning single scull
The ACT Rowing Association presents...
Below we have a report on the success of ACT Academy of Sport scholarship holders; a report of Canberra Grammar School's efforts; and a summary of ACT rowers results where they made the finals.
Rowers Tom Westgarth and Taryn Langdon were the ACT Academy of Sport's standout performers at the Australian Rowing Championships held at Lake Barrington last week. Westgarth took out two National titles: the under 23 men's single scull and the U23 men's double scull. ACTAS team-mate, Taryn Langdon won gold in the under 23 quad scull and the under 23 women's four. Gold also went to Jane Robinson in the open women's quad scull. Jane was recently selected to represent Australia in the quad scull event.
The ACTAS combination Ben Southwell, Charles Lundy, Adrian Webster and Ian Mongan rowed a tight race to take silver in the open men's coxed four. A strong finish saw ACTAS lightweight Dan Coombs and Chris Ritchie win silver in the men's under 23 lightweight double scull.
Former ACTAS now AIS athlete Mitchell Punch won gold in the men's open double scull and then teamed up with Craig Jones and Henry Gundry, also former ACTAS rowers to win the men's open quad scull. Donna Martin won two silver medals in the open women's double scull and open women's quad scull.
Tom Westgarth and proud coach Nick Hunter
after winning single scull
[This article was written by Taryn Langdon
and reproduced with permission of ACT Academy of Sport news]
The last week of April saw three Canberra Grammar School crews, the first year 10 quad, the first four and the first eight, head off to the Lake Barrington International Rowing Course in Tasmania for the 2003 Australian Rowing Championships.
All crews performed very admirably with some massive highlights for CGS rowing occurring during this week. Elliot Stephens had an exceptional regatta, highlighted by him winning a spot in the final of the boys under 17 single scull. When combined with partner Christian Stevens, the two of them made a very impressive double scull combination who, on minimal training together, also managed to successfully progress through to the final of the boys under 17 double scull. The year 10 first quad, despite being disappointed with their rows, no doubt gained invaluable racing experience for the future.
The first four of Tim Kent, Chris Smith, Tim Cato, Zeph Barry and coxswain Richard Goward had a good regatta in which they showed themselves to be a very competitive schoolboy four. In a very classy field in the schoolboy fours event, they progressed through to the final without a repecharge, beating many school's 1st eights combinations to be placed seventh in the A final. The cox of this crew, Richard Goward also won a silver medal coxing an elite men's four to a second place in the open men's coxed four.
The undoubted highlight of the regatta through was the performance of the first eight. Despite qualifying for the final of the under 19 eight in the fastest time, the crew did not row to their own expectations in this final and were undeniably very disappointed with their fifth place finish. Unperturbed by this though and with some deep soul searching from the master coach Tony Green, the crew returned to the course the next day focused on the event they had come there for, the championship schoolboy eights. With 10 months of intense training, preparing and dreaming all coming down to 6 minutes of racing, the crew was as prepared as it was ever going to be. 500 metres in, the Shore School had got away to a 2 second lead that they were to keep, but the CGS boys were engaged in an intense battle for the silver and bronze with the Kings School and St Peters. Moving half a length up on Kings at the 1000 meter mark, the boys knew now was the time to respond to coxswain Tristan Dakin and respond they did. They lifted, accelerated and raced the second thousand all the way home to win the silver medal and relegate King's to the bronze. This performance by the first eight was the finest ever by a CGS crew eight. Only the Shore School who finished two seconds in front are able to claim to have a faster schoolboy eight in Australia. This magnificent performance was a credit not only to the crew, but also to their coach Tony Green who inspired, guided and journeyed with them in the up to 18 hours a week of training. A wonderful result not just for CGS but also for the stature of ACT Rowing as a whole.
[This article was written by Jack Chenoweth
for the CGS
Gazette]
The following is an extract from the regatta results. Commentary from someone there, or corrections/additions are welcome.
Interstate Men's 8+: The ACT crew came 5th just 9.78secs behind the winners, Victoria, who won by a very tight 0.09secs.
Interstate Womens 8+: The ACT crew came 4th, 14.49secs behind the winners, NSW.
Interstate Womens 1x: Donna Martin came 4th, 9.33secs behind Amber Bradley of WA.
Interstate Youth Men's 8+: ACT crew 7th (half this crew had rowed a very hard School boys race just over an hour earlier. See result below!)
Interstate Youth Women's 8+: ACT crew 7th.
Open Men's 4x: Henry Gundy, Mitchell Punch and Craig Jones came 1st (AIS). Our ACTAS crew came 5th, and Nigel Collins was in a composite crew that came 6th.
Open Men's 4+: The ACTAS crew came 2nd (Nigel Collins, Charles Lundy, Adrian Webster, Ian Mongan, Ben Southwell and Richard Goward (cox)).
Open Men's 4-: Jamie Fernandez came 3rd in an AIS crew.
Open Men's 2x: Mitchell Punch came 1st in an AIS crew.
Open Men's 2-: Jamie Fernandez came 8th in an AIS crew.
Open Men's 1x: Craig Jones (Canberra RC) came 8th in a close race.
Open Women's 4x: Jane Robinson (Black Mountain RC) came 1st (AIS crew), and Donna Martin (Daramalan RC) was in the 2nd placed (AIS) crew.
Open Women's Lwt 2x: Black Mountain RC came 8th.
Open Women's 2x: Donna Martin (Black Mountain RC) came 2nd in an AIS crew. Kerry Knowler (Canberra Rowing Club) and Jane Robinson (Daramalan RC) came 4th. Canberra Rowing Club (Diana Egerton-Warburton and Sonia Mills) came 6th.
Open Women's 1x: Donna Martin (Black Mountain RC) came 4th. Jane Robinson (Daramalan RC) came 6th.
U23 Men's Lwt 2x: Capital Lakes/ANU (Chris Ritchie & Daniel Coombes) came 2nd.
U23 Women's 1x: Taryn Langdon (Lake Tuggeranong RC) came 7th.
U19 Men's 8+: Canberra Grammar School came 5th.
U19 Men's 4+: Canberra Grammar School came 7th.
U19 Women's 8+: Canberra Girls Grammar School came 6th.
U19 Women's 1x: Sarah Cook (Canberra RC and ACTAS) came 6th.
U17 Men's 4x+: Canberra Grammar School came 7th.
U17 Men's 2x: Canberra Grammar School came 7th.
U17 Men's 1x: Elliot Stephens (Canberra Grammar School) came 7th.
Schoolboys 8+: Canberra Grammar School 2nd to Shore (Sydney), just 3.8secs behind in a time of 6m01.77secs!
Schoolboys 4x: Canberra Grammar School came 7th.
Schoolboys 4+: Canberra Grammar School came 7th.
Schoolboys 1x: Miles Foran of Daramalan College came 5th.
Schoolgirls 8+: Canberra Girls Grammar School came 8th in the A Final to a very strong Pymble LC crew.
Schoolgirls 1x: Sarah Cook and Clare Lutton of St Claire's College came 5th and 6th respectively in the A Final.