Australian Youth Olympic Festival News

Queensland Dominates Rowing Finals

Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith: Queensland dominated the first session of rowing finals at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival held Friday (Jan. 9^th) winning four of the six gold medals awarded. The finals contested were for men and women were the single scull, lightweight double scull and pair.

Queensland won all three women’s races and the men’s pair. The other two finals went to NSW in the single scull and Tasmania in the lightweight double scull. The wind had eased from the morning session with a light cross tail breeze blowing down the Olympic Course.

The first final was the women’s single scull, which resulted in a good win to Tara Kelly from Queensland. Kelly led from the start to beat fellow Queenslander Suzanne Brown and Emma Van Dyken from Tasmania third.

The men’s single scull resulted in an upset with the defeat of World Junior silver medallist in the single scull Eugene Arendsen by NSW sculler Nick Hudson. Hudson took the lead early and was chased by the other seven scullers right down the 2000 metre course. Keeping his rating up in the following conditions Hudson crossed the line in a very respectable 6.57.42 to defeat Arendsen by nearly two lengths.

The men’s pair resulted in a quinella to Queensland. Sebastain Harper and Alex Aventisoff blasted away the opposition to collect the gold. Aventisoff said: “It was a good race, we pushed it really hard through it, we are really happy with it. It is our first row over 2000 metres in a pair.” Western Australians Brenton Jenke and Ryan Green tried to stay with the Queenslanders during the early part of the race, but they paid the price and were overtaken by the other Queensland crew of David Nelson and Peter Winkle for the silver medal.

The women’s pair was another Queensland win with by Sally Kehoe and Liz Brown taking gold and Victoria the silver, just narrowly ahead of the NSW crew.

The victory by Tasmanian Sam Wasley and Casper Hebblewhite in the men’s lightweight double scull continued the excellent development in the small Apple Isle. Hebblewhite who rows for Lindisfarne Club in Hobart dedicated his win to his former clubmate and Australian rower Tim Hawkins who was killed in the Bali bombing. “Timmy has been a big player in Tasmanian rowing, and if there is anyone we need to dedicate this one to it is definitely him.”

The final session of rowing raced on Saturday concluded with Queensland winning all but one of the six finals. However their party was spoiled when New Zealand surprisingly took the women’s eight.

The New Zealand women’s eight spoil the Queensland party…

The Kiwis had a tough battle throughout the 2000 metre race with the highly fancied Queensland crew who had won every women’s race and were looking for a clean sweep by winning the eight. New Zealand had the best of the start holding half a canvas at 500 gone. In the second 500 the Kiwis attempted to pull away however the Queenslanders, hung onto them. With the finish line in sight and the crowd cheering, Queensland were beginning to catch the New Zealanders but the famous black race suits were not going to let their Trans-Tasman rowers past. With a photo finish called for the Kiwis had to wait for some minutes before being declared the winners.” New Zealand Coxswain Abbie Milner said her call was: “quick catches and keep the pressure on.”

In the mens’s eight the last race of the day Queensland stamped their authority on the regatta by storming to the line to win by over a length a head of New South Wales with Western Australia close in third. The winning Queensland coxswain Mitch Rosenlund said: “the whole plan was to keep the intensity up in the first 500 metres, and give it a bit of stick in the middle 1000. Our plan worked well, our emphasis was to hold our length and get sharp around the front.” When asked about the Queensland success of the Regatta he said: “we have a really good sprit in team everyone works together.”

The women’s quad final the Queensland crew, contained Tara Kelly and Suzanne Brown who, collected gold and silver respectively in the single scull on Thursday as well as Melanie Clements and Lucinda James who won gold in the lightweight double scull on Thursday. The quartet lead narrowly off the start ahead of Tasmania and New Zealand. Queensland pushed in the third 500 to establish a half a lengths lead with 500 to go, with New Zealand moving the second. Queensland maintained their lead to win by over a length with New Zealand collecting the silver and bronze to South Australia.

The men’s quad scull final was one of the closest races of the regatta. Two seconds separated all three medal winners. The Queensland crew was stroked by World Junior Silver medallist in the single scull Eugene Arendsen. Arendsen who was surprising beaten by NSW sculler Nick Hudson on Thursday in the single and was hungry for victory. Arendsen and his fellow Queenslanders trailed off the start to arch rival NSW. The Queenslanders had to throw everything at it in the second 500 meteres to go past NSW. Tasmania and Western Australia were battling out the bronze medal. Queensland were able to hang on to win gold, with NSW silver and a photo finish to determine the bronze between Tasmania and a fast finishing Western Australia crew. The WA crew was awarded the bronze by a margin of 0.44 seconds.

The women’s four produced a silver medal to New Zealand with gold to Queensland and bronze to Victoria. The Queensland crew lead all the way to win by over a length. The joyous New Zealand crew worked hard during the seven and half minute race. Jamie Neilson, from Hamilton said: “once you get past the 500 it is really hard, put the blades in the water and push. It is a wonderful experience to row on the Olympic course.” Liz Brown of the Queensland crew put the continued Queensland success to their diet: “squashed bananas”. However their coach Peter Howard said: the success was more due to: “a good bunch of girls, dedicated and willing to train hard they put in all the time and getting the rewards for it.”

The men’s four that has been a premier event over the last 15 years mainly due to the success of the Oarsome Foursome was a close fought battle with Queensland taking Gold Western Australia silver and South Australia bronze.

Queensland won the overall pointscore with 244 points, Tasmania second on 185, New Zealand third with 181. All the athletes enjoyed the experience of competing at an International Regatta similar to what would be held at the Olympics. AOC President John Coates was pleased with what he saw on the water: “I don’t  think we will see too many of them at Athens, but we are certainly in good shape come Beijing from what we have seen here today, and also pleasing New Zealand showed a lot of strength.”

Copy provided by Rowing Australia. For full results visit www.rowingaustralia.com.au