Rowing Downunder: The 2012 Sydney-Melbourne Boat Races

Melbourne on left clearly leads Sydney to the finish for the Women’s Race.

The excitement for the boat race between The University of Sydney (challenger) and The University of Melbourne on Sunday, 4 November was huge and will be talked about by athletes and spectators for years to come, Louis Petrin reports from Downunder. He continues to writes:

The race was revived four years after a rest for well over 100 years. The race is modeled on the great Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, with the difference that the Australian race also has a women’s boat race challenge on the same day as the men’s race.

Ready for racing.

The four crews featured an incredible eight Olympians, seven of whom rowed for Australia at the recent London 2012 Olympic Games.

The day started with the Women’s race starting at 8.20 with fine weather. Visitors to Sydney will know it is a busy harbor with ferries transporting people along with working boats and pleasure craft and yachts. So the challenge was to shut down all traffic for this event.

Water was calm on top with crews feeling the undertows of the river. Melbourne had won the toss and chose the favoured North (bow side) station. After a brief wait the crews were off with Melbourne taking a slight lead racing towards a sweeping 20 degree bend about 200 meters from the start. Sydney was hard pressed to come around from the outside with Melbourne continuing to press their advantage. After 500 meters, it was Melbourne in the lead heading for the finish in another 4 km.

The spectators in ferries, water taxis and boats followed creating a huge wash which fortunately did not affect the race. Cheers were loud from supporters.

Melbourne Women continued their fine race, increasing their lead as they approached an old bridge to mark the last 100 meters of the race. Sydney Women pulled hard and upped their rate but all efforts were matched. The result, another win to Melbourne Women to take the Bella Guerin Trophy for the third time in a row. Melbourne covered the 4.3km in 16 min 54 sec, with Sydney finishing 23 seconds behind.

Melbourne University Women – winners 2012

The spectators turned their boats around and headed back to the start to watch the Men’s Race. This time, Sydney had won the coin toss and chose the same South (stroke side) station that the Sydney Women had started from, which surprising many. Once again the wait was not long and at 9.20 the race was on. Sydney came out rating over 40 and came around the Melbourne to take a lead of about a canvas. The cox from Sydney steered the boat so as to push the Melbourne crew to stroke side, away from the course. Oars clashed a number of times but neither crew had any fear of pressing on their course. The Umpire was quite busy flagging both crews away at various stages. Sydney continued to take the lead steering their boat across to stroke side, forcing Melbourne to fall in behind them. As they approached the finish the boats separated so as to take their lines through separate arches of the old Pyrmont Bridge.

Sydney leads Melbourne to the finish for the Men’s Race.

With about 400 meters to go, Sydney lowered their rate to 32 to take a brief rest and save what little was left in case they had to match Melbourne who made a huge push for the finish. In the end, two boats filled with crews who have just rowed 4.5 kilometers and given everything crossed the finish Sydney University taking the Edmund Barton Trophy in a time of 14min 0.2 sec, to win by 5.35 seconds. The result gave Sydney University Men’s a clean sweep of three wins.

Sydney University Men – winners 2012

The race returns to Melbourne’s home course, the Yarra River, in late 2013.

The Australian Boat Race

Video from the 2011 Australian Boat Race.

Louis Petrin, who is going to be one of the officials at the Australian Boat Race between Sydney University and Melbourne University on 4 November, writes,

The Australian Boat Race is a one-on-one, Oxbridge style match race between the best women’s and men’s rowing eights from Sydney and Melbourne universities. Held annually, the venue alternates between the Yarra River, in the heart of Melbourne, and Sydney Harbour. It encapsulates the long-standing rivalry between two great cities and two great universities.

 The Australian Boat Race is a unique event in rowing and in sport in Australia. Long distance match racing has been absent from competitive rowing in Australia for many years. The popularity of the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race and the Yale-Harvard Boat Race highlight the untapped opportunity in Australia in the sport of rowing. There is always a great interest in a head to head contest in sport between two universities, two cities and two states that have enjoyed a long and natural rivalry. Normally, the two competes in stakes of fashion, food or culture. Now we have rowing to argue who is the best.

Sydney and Melbourne universities are Australia’s oldest and best-known universities. Their rowing clubs were founded in 1859 and 1860, respectively, and are currently the two most successful rowing clubs in Australia, together contributing 18 athletes to the recent London Olympic rowing team.
The two universities first raced each other in four-oar, fixed-seat, string-test gigs in a head-to-head challenge in December 1870, with Melbourne winning the race held on the Yarra River easily, in a time of 31 mins 4 secs. Among the Sydney team in two-seat was a young Edmund Barton, who went on to become Australia’s first prime minister in 1901.

A view of the Yarra River course where the first race between Sydney and Melbourne universities took place on 23 December, 1870. Photo from: http://voice.unimelb.edu.au/volume-7/number 10/1860-rivalry-begins

In 1871, the Melbourne crew again won the 5.6 km race, by 3 lengths in a time of 27 mins 55 secs.

The event was revived in 2010 when Sydney University Men’s Eight won on home waters in Sydney Harbour. In 2011, the 4.2 km race rated right up there with the world’s best, with a winning margin of just ”two inches” to Sydney. So Sydney has twice won the Edmund Barton Trophy for The Men’s Eight.

James Marburg, Melbourne University, with Nick Hudson, Sydney University, the two 2011 Boat Captains. Photo from: www.australianboatrace.com

On the other hand, for the past two years, Melbourne has taken the Bella Guerin Trophy for The Women’s Eight.

Kim Crow, Melbourne University, with Beatrix Sheldrick, Sydney University, the two 2011 Boat Captains. Photo from: www.australianboatrace.com

By the way, Kim Crow (pictured above on left) recently won bronze in the women’s single scull Olympic final, just a day after collecting silver in the women’s double scull with Brooke Pratley.

This year's race will feature an incredible eight Olympians, seven of whom rowed for Australia at the recent London 2012 Olympic Games. Sydney University’s Francis Hegerty (2008, 2012), Fergus Pragnell (2008), Bronwen Watson (2012) and Monique Heinke (2008) have all been to Olympic Games. While for Melbourne University’s James Marburg (2008, 2012), Cam McKenzie McHarg (2008, 2012), Josh Booth (2012) and Phoebe Stanley (2012) also competed at various Olympic Games.

On Sunday, 4 November, 2012, the race returns to Sydney Harbour, racing from Woolwich to Darling Harbour. The two race courses are indeed very different courses, with the Melbourne race being held on the Yarra River, which is notorious for its many bends. The race starts at Victoria docks and finishes 4.2 kilometers upstream, by Federation Square. In the 2011 race, the challenging Melbourne course saw the Men’s oars overlapping as the Sydney cox to advantage of the twists and turns to push the Melbourne boat towards the river bank nearing one bend.

Sydney Harbour, on the other hand, is a relatively straight course but the water can get choppy so it is expected the race will still be quite a challenge. See also Louis's earlier post.