McIntyre Wins Sarah Tait Memorial Trophy

Annabelle McIntyre has collected a gold medal in the women’s pair at the Sydney International Rowing Regatta in Penrith.

Competing with Victorian Jess Morrison, the pair finished nearly five seconds clear of Sarah Hawe and Molly Goodman in a winning time of 7:02.18mins.

They collected the Sarah Tait Memorial Trophy named after the late Olympic silver medallist who passed away in March 2016 of cancer.

Tait was a Western Australian born talent – who later relocated to Melbourne and competed out of the Mercantile Rowing Club, which happens to be the same club that Morrison represents.

“Sarah was from my club, she was such a huge idol – still is. She was an inspirational athlete and racer – this race is in her honour,” she said.

The women’s pair final also saw Western Australian Lilly Tinapple (racing with Georgina Howe) finish in seventh, with retiring West Aussie great Hannah Vermeersch (racing with Leah Saunders) in eighth. The B-Final was won by WA’s Bronwyn Cox, who was racing with Georgina Gotch.

There was another impressive display from West Australian Rowing Club member Hamish Henriques who took the title of U19 Men’s Single Scull champion in 7:10.68, a whopping 8.61 seconds clear of silver medallist Lukas Matic of Mercantile.

The push for third was again thrilling to watch as three scullers came through the finish line in under a second, with Max Von Appen from UTS visibly ecstatic to take the bronze.

WARC member Giorgia Patten rowed an impressive final to take bronze in the U23 single scull. Patten’s time of 7:40.74 saw her finish behind Ria Thompson and Harriet Hudson.

David Watts missed out on a medal in the final of the men’s single scull, taking fourth place behind winner Alexander Hill. In the B-Final WA’s Sam Marsh earned a fifth place finish, whilst Jack Clearly was scratched after picking up a niggle.

Photo © Delly Carr/Rowing Australia