SUBC Crews Claim Riverview Gold Cup

  1. Home
  2. Uncategorised
  3. SUBC Crews Claim Riverview Gold Cup
Uncategorised

The 2018 Riverview Gold Cup suffered from low entries due to timing and a clash with the Schoolgirl Head of the River but this year the races provided more drama than most races over the years.

The 134th Riverview Regatta and the 125th Gold Cup saw SUBC with a strong performance winning both the men’s and women’s open eights for the Gold Cup’s. The club also had a good representation in other events, with the masters women’s eight racing, along with a number of development crews in the b-grade quads and fours.

The women’s race saw two SUBC crews line up against each other, with the younger of the crews having a good start in lane two, however, the power and experience of the elder of the two crews quickly closed that gap and went on to win by a number of lengths. A strong showing from the club’s women’s group. The winning crew will form the bulk of the SUBC U23 Eight for the national Championships with a number of the athletes also doubling up in the NSW Youth Eight.

The new Women’s Gold Cup was presented to the crew and stroke and women’s Captain, Dyone Bettega. This win made it two in a row for the SUBC Women in this event.

In the men’s race, the two favoured entries were Sydney Uni and Sydney Rowing Club. The other entries in the final – Shore, Riverview and Kings withdrew creating a “match race “in lanes 1 and 2 between these two club crews.

SUBC and SRC were in lanes 2 and 1 on the southern (leaning pile) side of the course. As the race got underway SUBC had the angle lead on Sydney. The Sydney crew soon moved over towards the SUBC boat the as the crews clashed blades the umpire’s flags were up urging both crews to move apart.

The crews were neck and neck, ratings were up over forty. As they approached the turn it was Sydney Uni showing out but with the inside lane Sydney made up ground and threw down a real challenge the Sydney Uni.

After absorbing a storming finish by Sydney the SUBC crew pushed out to cross about two seconds ahead of Sydney.

The drama started as soon as the finishing beeps emanated from the judge’s tower. Sydney was protesting the early clash, lodging a protest claiming they had been impeded by Sydney Uni.

The umpires conferred. After five or ten minutes they felt that both crews contributed to the clash and the decision was to re row the race immediately.

The SUBC crew was a younger mix of U23 and U21 athletes while the Sydney crew claimed more experience with seniors like Ed White, Chris Morgan, Kurt Spencer and Alex Lloyd and some U 23 and U21 rowers.

Some of the Sydney crew had not been in full training and could have been considered to be more handicapped by having an immediate second race.

This proved not to be the case –as the second race followed a similar format to the first, with SUBC in lane two starting up on the stagger to SRC in lane one. Both crews showed passion early in the race, with the boats coming close, however, no clashing this time. SUBC pulled away throughout the middle stages, showing great length and accuracy. The young SUBC crew went on to win by just under a length. The crew consisted of seven of the athletes that SUBC will be boating into the U23 Eight for the National Champs, with a number of the crew also representing in various NSW State Crews.’

After three wins in a row, Sydney Rowing Club defended their tile with a lot of determination and courage. The result was a truly great Gold Cup men’s final with Sydney Uni opening up a lead and Sydney fighting all the way in the final straight to cut this back and pass uni.

According to the evergreen President of Sydney Rowing Club, Keith Jameson – it was likely that the last final rerowed was around 1961 and some fifty-seven years later history was repeated.

Congratulations to both crews. 

Watch the Men’s Race HERE and Women’s Race HERE.

Menu