Months of training on and off the water came to fruition for The Armidale School’s rowers last weekend, returning from the season-ending NSW Schoolgirl and Schoolboy Head of the River with gold and silver medals.
More than 2000 rowers from 50 schools took part in the two regattas, held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre.
Isabelle Coddington and Georgia Henderson completed their medal-winning form at recent regattas to finish first in the Schoolgirl Year 10 Double Scull over 2000m in a time of 7:55:60. Going into the final having won their heat, the pair crossed the line in the final more than eight seconds faster than the next boat, and were the only entrants to record a sub-eight minute time. It was their third gold medal in the event, the pair also snaring first place at NSW All Schools Championships last November and PLC/King’s/Rowing NSW Regatta on 22 February.
“We’ve been training really hard and were both focused on doing our best, so it was very exciting that it all paid off,” said Georgia.
Isabella Henderson again put in a gruelling performance in the final of the Schoolgirl Single Scull over 2000m, winning a silver medal in a time of 8:26:10.
In other crews, TAS came fourth in the final of the Year 9 Coxed Quad Scull (Ruby Menkens, Mila Wright, Harriet Coupland, Momoka Williams, coxswain Poppy Post), TAS ultimately finishing the regatta in equal 12th, of 35 schools competing.
On Saturday at the NSW Schoolboy Head of the River, TAS rowers made it through to the finals in all but one of the six events. The Year 10 Second Coxed Quad Scull (Wiley Tombs, Cody Uebergang, Dustin Uebergang, Jack Rogers and coxswain Chloe Dennison) and Year 10 Third Coxed Quad Scull (Ryder Cush, Clancy Munsie, Julian Jenkins, Saxon Muirhead, coxswain Cybelle Bradford) finished fourth in their finals in what was their best result of the season.
“It was a great way to end the season,” Rowing Captain Beatrice Thibault said.
“All the rowers really committed to training which wasn’t just on the water, but ergs and crossfit as well. We had many successes at different regattas, but it was also the way the rowers developed. For many of them, especially the junior boys, it was their first season and Head or the River was a good wrap up to showcase the talent and commitment of all the crews.”
Head of Rowing Ben MacDougall agreed.
“TAS was well represented across the two days with our squad of 66 athletes comprising two single scullers, four double scull crews and eleven quads. All rowed the best they had all season, and they should all be proud and satisfied with the result of their effort and commitment.”
While it is the end of the season for most of the squad, medallists Isabella Coddington, Georgia Henderson and Isabelle Henderson will continue to train at Malpas Dam and TAS ahead of the Australian National Rowing Championships at Lake Barrington, Tasmania, on 24-30 March.
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