Australian Rowing Set for its Biggest Nationals Ever
The inaugural Sydney International Rowing Regatta (SIRR) has attracted record number of athletes for the open national championships, which includes the 2013 Australian Open Rowing Championships, the Australian Open Schools Rowing Championships as well as the King’s and Queen’s Cups Interstate Regatta. Entries for these events closed this week.
A record number of over 2,000 athletes will be racing in 110 events, which is approximately 3,600 “seats”, with the Under 17 Women’s Single Scull event drawing the most number of entries at 45. 74 Clubs and State Institutes as well as 93 schools from across the country will participate. This will make the Sydney International Rowing Regatta the biggest national championships ever.
In addition, eight international teams are taking up the opportunity of an early hit out ahead of the Samsung World Rowing Cup I and have entered the Australian Open Rowing Championships as a lead up event. Crews from Czech Republic, China, Estonia, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, USA and France are amongst the international entries. The USA are coming to SIRR with a strong team of 22 athletes and will line up with 14 Olympians, including six Olympic gold medallists, against Australia’s best.
International participation will also spice up the Australian Open Schools Rowing Championships. The U.S. crew from Saratoga, NY and Italian school Gavirate will both contest the National school girl’s eight. Gavirate, South Africa’s St. Stithians College as well as Ireland’s St Joseph’s Galway College will take on the best Australian crews in the national school boy’s eight.
The Sydney International Rowing Regatta will kick off in a couple weeks’ time on Monday, 18 March 2013 at the Sydney International Regatta Centre in Penrith and will be Australia’s biggest rowing spectacle since the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. SIRR will also include the opening round of the 2013 Samsung World Rowing Cup, with entries closing on the 11the of March (CET).
As first International team announcements indicate, the World Rowing Cup will add more than 250 international athletes from over 20 countries, including many 2012 London Olympians and Olympic medallists, to the overall record participation.
Rowing Australia Events Director Matt Draper said that the numbers of competitors at the Sydney International Rowing regatta will bring rowing to a whole new level in Australia: “It is very exciting to see these numbers at our inaugural Sydney International Rowing Regatta with its unique event format, including four different events into a week long festival. The Sydney International Rowing Centre is a world-class venue and it will be great to see the international crews race against Australia’s best. I am sure, all athletes competing across the week will produce some exceptional racing. The Queen’s and King’s Cups Interstate Regatta on Saturday will definitely be a highlight. And what an amazing opportunity it will be for every school rower to race their Championships finals just ahead of the World Rowing Cup finals on Sunday.”
The Australian Open Rowing championships will culminate with the Interstate Regatta on Saturday, 23 March, as athletes get the rare chance to wear their State colours and race for the Rowing Australia Cup. The two feature events, the Queen’s and King’s Cups, will see Victoria and NSW aim to continue their stranglehold on the two eights races. The SIRR host New South Wales has been victorious in the last five King’s Cups and will aim to keep a Victoria at bay once again on their home waters.
Australia’s World Rowing Cup team members will also be out in force at the Australian Open Rowing Championships as well as at the Interstate Regatta to represent their clubs and states before they will line up in the green and gold for the Samsung World Rowing Cup later in the week.
The Sydney International Rowing Regatta will combine the Samsung World Rowing Cup 1, the Australian Open Rowing Championships, the Australian Open Schools Championships and the premium domestic events, the King’s and Queen’s Cup Interstate Regatta into a weeklong festival.
The Sydney International Rowing Regatta will be hosted at the Sydney International Regatta Centre in Penrith and will start on Monday, 18 March 2013 with the Australian Open Rowing Championships running through the week. The King’s and Queen’s Cup Interstate Regatta will be held on Saturday 23 March. The climax will be the finals of the Australian Schools Rowing Championships and the Samsung World Rowing Cup (22-24 March) on Sunday 24 March.
It is the first time the Samsung World Rowing Cup is coming to the Southern Hemisphere. It is one of three World Rowing events which will lead up to the annual World Rowing Championships, this year to be held in Chungju, South Korea 25 August – 1 September 2013.
– Rowing Australia