The radical Experiment that Rowing Australia adopted with a centralized model for High Performance looks to have reaped rewards in the first international Regatta for the programs based in Canberra (men) and Penrith (women).
Wins for both the women and men in their four oared boats against their respective dominant Olympic sweep oared Nations (USA for the women and Great Britain for the men) indicate a major leap forward for Australian International rowing. The win for the women’s crew (Goodman, Werry, Stephen and Hawe) is a great result in this Olympic event that the Americans would expect to win.The four is an event that the Americans expect to dominate at the Tokyo Olympics. This is a great result for coach Tom Westgarth who is a former Canberra rower and coach, now based at the Women’s High Performance Centre in Penrith.
The win by the men’s four is similarly spectacular against the Olympic Champions from Britain. This is the first time for several Olympic cycles that Australia have beaten the dominant British high priority boat coached by Jürgen Gröbler. Coach of The Australians, Ian Wright has put together a winning culture in Canberra and his crew of Hicks, Hargreaves, Turrin and Hill have responded to their Kiwi coach’s strategy with an impressive result.
The silver medal for the Australian women’s quad scull of Cronin, Sanders, Meredith and Horton reflects the depth that is coming through this young Australian International program. Head Coach of the women (John Keogh) has also changed the expectations that Australian supporters have for their International crews. Apart from the former Tasmanian Keogh, Tom Westgarth and Ellen Randell were both originally ACT rowers and coaches who are contributing significantly to the Women’s High Performance program.
The women’s pair of Goodwin and Hawe doubled up after their fours race to come third behind a kiwi pair of Prendagast and Gowler who set a new world’s best time. Again a great result against the best in the world.
In the men’s double scull, the Australian crew of Canberran Luke Letcher and David Watts finished fourth just out of the medals behind an impressive Kiwi crew, with Olympic legends Norway and Poland. Luke and David are close to getting medals and will look to improve in the next World Cup regatta.
In the women’s double Edmunds and Aldersley came third also behind an impressive Kiwi crew with China second. Another great result for Australia, but again showing that the Kiwis are very hard to beat.
So great racing for Australia in the first year of this High Performance experiment with a centralized program similar to the kiwis and British pace setters.
