Great Scot April 2019 Great Scot_156_April_2019_Online | Page 52

Sport
SCOTCH’S VERY SUCCESSFUL
AUSTRALIAN ROWING
CHAMPIONSHIPS CAMPAIGN
Scotch wins the Barrington Cup for champion Australian school eight
Scotch has completed a very successful campaign at the Australian
Rowing Championships, with the School awarded the overall points
score trophy for best performed school. Scotch rowers also won gold
medals in the Australian championship schoolboy eight and schoolboy
four, and completed a historic sweep of gold, silver and bronze in the
schoolboy four event.
The Scotch 1st VIII won the schoolboy eight final, winning the
Barrington Cup by 4.39 seconds or around one and a half boat lengths.
This is the fifth Australian title in the past 10 years for Scotch in this event.
After winning their heat in a fast time of 5 minutes 49.03, the crew
advanced to the semi-finals, which were rowed in 40km/h winds with
gusts in neighbouring suburbs recorded at 70km/h. This race was
very challenging, but the crew won the race in 7 minutes 00.27, a very
different time to that of the heat. The regatta was called off for the day
immediately after the race.
The eight crews that reached the A final through the heats,
repechages and semi-finals were unusually representative of Australian
rowing, featuring the Head of the River winners from the five mainland
states of Australia: Queensland (Nudgee College), NSW (Shore School),
South Australia (St Peter’s College), Western Australia (Christ Church
Grammar School) and Victoria (Scotch College). The other three crews
qualifying for the A final were Geelong Grammar, Melbourne Grammar
and Brighton Grammar.
There was a false start, as crews jumped the start. Following a
lengthy delay, the eight crews blasted out from the start, with Scotch
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Great Scot Number 156 – April 2019
gaining about a metre on the tightly bunched field in the first 300m. By
the 500m mark the crew had pushed out to a canvas on the field, with
the giant Nudgee crew from Queensland in second place. By the halfway
mark, the Scotch crew had three-quarters of a length on Nudgee, with
Brighton Grammar School a further three-quarters of a length behind in
third. The Scotch crew continued to push away and had open water by
the 1500m mark, and crossed the line around a length and a half in front,
with Brighton Grammar sprinting past Nudgee by 0.05 of a second to
claim the silver medal.
The Scotch 1st VIII which competed at the nationals was Archie
Gill (Cox), Marcus Cameron (Stroke), James Scott (7), Sam Hobson (6),
Marcus Emmett (5), Josh Hill (4), Tom McPhail (3), Fraser Miscamble (2),
and James Isles (bow), Tom Woodruff was the Coach.
The 2nd and 3rd VIIIs raced in the schoolboy four event. Scotch
took the gold, silver and bronze medals; a feat that we believe is
unprecedented at the national championships in this event, for which 22
crews from around Australia had entered. The stern four from the 2nd VIII
won the event, with the stern four of the 3rd VIII second and the bow four
of the 2nd VIII third. The stern four of the 2nd VIII took control of the race
early, and rowed powerfully to be well ahead of the field.
The 15 Scotch boys from the three fours on the medal dais together
certainly made a favourable impression, and it was a wonderful reflection
of the effort put in by the athletes and their coaches James Murray ('15
- 2nd VIII) and Dylan Richards ('16 - 3rd VIII). The 2019 school four gold