King’s and Queen’s Cup Preview
The 2015 King’s and Queen’s Cups Interstate Regattawill take place this weekend at the Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith as part of the 2015 Sydney International Rowing Regatta.
The event is the pinnacle and closing event of the regatta and will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 4 from 8am Perth time on 29 March 2015.
The event has historically been dominated by Victoria, with the state lifting the Rowing Australia Cup a record 11 times, while Queensland have won it twice in 2003 and 2014, while New South Wales have lifted the cup three times.
The King’s Cup, donated by British monarch George V and won by the Australian Imperial Forces No.1 crew at the Royal Henley Peace Regatta in 1919 following the end of World War One, is the trophy that is the Eight-oared Men’s Championship race.
Current champions New South Wales are drawn in Lane 6 and the race is always one of the high points of the event. The race to claim the King’s Cup should again come down to the two most prolific winners of the ornate trophy, Victoria and New South Wales.
NSW will be looking to extend their state record winning streak to eight in a row stretching back to 2008, also held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre. Both crews will field crews almost exclusively filled by members of the recently announced Australian Rowing Team, making them truly world-class. South Australia will certainly feature after their stunning race for silver in 2014, but it will be tough for them to push past the crews from Victoria and NSW.
The Victorian crew for the Queen’s Cup this year is formidable to say the least. The crew features six members of the Australian Women’s Eight, one member of the Australian Women’s Quad plus the 2013 World Rowing Champion in the Women’s Single Scull, while the ninth member of the squad was in last year’s U23 Australian Rowing Team.
It is hard to see any of the other crews chasing Victorians who are on a 10 year winning streak, however South Australia are looking strong again after their 2014 silver medal, while New South Wales’s young crew will potentially challenge Queensland for a podium finish.
Alexander ‘Sasha’ Belonogoff for NSW comes in as the reigning champion of this event and the New South Welshman will come in as the favourite to retain his title, especially having both won bronze at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in the Men’s Double Scull and having recently been named in the Australian Rowing Team.
Rhys Grant (WAIS), Max McQueeney (TAS) and Chris Morgan (SA) all return from successes in the last few years, while Luke Letcher of the Australian Capital Territory will make an appearance in his first President’s Cup, and like his fellow competitors will be keen to emulate Grant’s heist of the event in 2013.
The history of this event has changed significantly in the past three years – prior to 2013, Queensland had never won the Penrith Cup. Now, with back-to-back victories and a crew that includes three of the four athletes in the Australian lightweight men’s four (Darryn Purcell, Nick Silcox and Tim McDonnell) a triumvirate of victories looks to be on the cards.
New South Wales, Western Australia and Victoria all look to have built strong combinations this year, however spectators will be hard-pushed to not think the men in maroon will claim the Penrith Cup once again.
Tasmania are traditionally strong in lightweight events, and reasserted their authority in 2014 to reclaim the Victoria Cup after Western Australia snapped up the trophy in 2012 and 2013. With an almost unchanged line-up, including World Rowing Cup medallist Ella Flecker, the Victoria Cup is looking likely to head back over the Bass Strait.
After a few years of building momentum the strongest challenge looks likely to come from New South Wales, who have named two members of the 2014 World Championship silver medal winning crew in the LW4x, Sarah Pound and Laura Dunn.
-RowingAus