News from the Rowing Sheds

Australian Rowing Championships – The Nationals

The Australian Rowing Championships concluded on Sunday with SMC rowers, both current and alumni, performing extremely well. An estimated 1,200 boats were housed on the ‘trees’ ready for competition during the week – a sign of how big this event was.

The U16 squad competed in several events early in the week, starting with a race at 8.15am on the Monday morning. All races at the Nationals are 2000m long!

Meila Bromfield took on the U17 Single event, finishing a solid 5th in her heat. There were a total of 49 competitors in the heats of the Single races. In the repechage, Meila finished a worthy 4th, which qualified her for the quarterfinals, where she finished 4th again and missed out on a semi-final berth.

Doubles crews competed against 32 other crews in the initial heats. Unfortunately, none of the crews were able to place and get automatic entry into the semi-final draw. In the repechage:

• Lucy Pinelli and Lucinda Washington finished 3rd
• Meila Bromfield and Grace Coad finished 4th
• Hayley Owens and Imogen Croall finished 6th
• Molly Brown and Haily Wasala finished 6th

Sadly, only the first two placegetters were able to qualify for the semis out of the repechage.

By mid-week, our U16 rowers moved onto the quad boats. Unfortunately, none of the crews were able to place and get automatic entry into the semi-final draw. Then, against very strong competition in the repechage, they were not able to qualify for the semi-final here either.

Medal presentation

SMC Rowers were offered the opportunity to assist with the medal presentations on Day 4 and Day 5. Our rowers were able to present to competitors from all around the country. They also met many dignitaries, including former Olympic Rowers, senior members of Rowing Australia and Rowing Tasmania, and Life Members of Rowing Australia. A highlight was being part of the ceremony to present Gold Medals to St Mary's College alumni, Sophie Robinson (Class of 2020) and Phoebe Teale (Class of 2021).

• Sarah Thomas competed in the School Girl Single, where there were 51 entries. She progressed through the heats, repechage, quarter-final, semi-final and into the A Final, where she placed 8th. An amazing effort on top of her other events during the week.
• Sophie Robinson (Alumni) also performed extremely well, winning two Gold Medals in the Open Lightweight Eight and Interstate Lightweight Quad.
• Phoebe Teale representing Sydney University Boat Club, was crowned rower of the Championships for her bag of medals, including Gold in: Open Lightweight Double, Open Lightweight Quad, Open Lightweight Eight, U23 Lightweight Single, Interstate Lightweight Quad, along with a Bronze medal in the U23 Eight.
• Another SMC alumna, Olivia Walter (Class of 2024) competed in the U21 Single race, going through the heats and repechage to qualify for the final. Olivia also qualified for the Open Women’s Quad Sprint, finishing 4th in the Final.
• Imogen Stewart also represented Tasmania in the Interstate Lightweight Quad, winning Gold.

An amazing effort from our current and alumni rowers. Our SMC community should be very proud of these young athletes and their performances on the national stage.

Nationals 2026

We now look forward to training and competing to the best of our abilities in readiness for the Australian Rowing Championships 2026, commencing March 23, 2026.

If you would like to be a part of this very successful, hard-working group, we would love to have you join the SMC Rowing Program. 

A Try Rowing Day will be held this Sunday 6 April from 8.00 am to 10.00 am for Year 7 to Year 11 students. A day for current Year 6 students will be held later in the year.

If you have not already registered and are interested, you can do so here. Please register by close of business tomorrow, Thursday 3 April, to ensure that we can accommodate everyone.

We will also be running a Winter Program which will incorporate off-water gym sessions as well as on-water skills practice.