After qualifying for 15 of the 16 A finals at the Australian University Rowing Championships in Ballarat, ANU’s rowers went on to win 7 medals, equalling the highest number of medals that ANU has ever won at the Championships.

The athletes battled rough conditions and a tricky cross wind on the final day at Lake Wendouree to notch up their tally of 1 gold and 6 bronze medals.

The gold medal was in the mixed four (Dave Wright, Riley Owen, Jacqui Williams, Emily Caudle and Renae Domaschenz), and the bronze in the women’s pair (Sarah McFadden and Hilly Salmon-Krone), men’s pair (Richard Young and Matt McCormack), women’s four (Jacqui Williams, Emily Caudle, Hilly Salmon-Krone, Sarah McFadden and Siobhan Tobin), men’s lightweight four (Dylan Conolan, Nathan Ryan, Ben Morgan and Mark Dawkins), men’s lightweight single (Dylan Conolan), and men’s double scull (Dave Wright and Riley Owen).

The result placed ANU third of the nineteen participating universities in the overall regatta point score, just behind Sydney and Melbourne.

The result was a tribute to the ANU Boat Club coaches who have worked all through the Canberra winter to prepare the team, including Renae Domaschenz, Ben Adams, Tom Watkins and Avril Baker. Thanks also to the pre event logistics planning of Anthony Pardy and other members of the club committee.

The result was also a product of invaluable equipment and funding support from ANU Sport, and of funding from the Australian National University through a Student Extracurricular Experience Fund grant.

Nick Hunter
President
Australian National University Boat Club