Anticipation is heating up for this year’s annual Australian Boat Race between the Sydney and Melbourne University Boat Clubs after both clubs named male and female boat race crews littered with Olympic stars.
The November 4 race, which will take place on Sydney Harbour, will feature an incredible eight Olympians, seven of whom rowed for Australia at the recent London 2012 Olympic Games.
Sydney Uni’s Francis Hegerty (2008, 2012), Fergus Pragnell (2008), Bronwen Watson (2012) and Monique Heinke (2008) have all been to Olympic Games. While for Melbourne Uni, James Marburg (2008, 2012), Cam McKenzie McHarg (2008, 2012), Josh Booth (2012) and Phoebe Stanley (2012) also competed at various Olympic Games.
The four crews will also have eight 2012 Australian U23 Rowing Team members competing on Sydney Harbour.
One of those is Sasha Belonogoff, who rowed in the successful 2010 and 2011 Sydney Uni Australian Boat Race crews, and feels that his 2012 crew is once again looking strong.
“There’s a great atmosphere in the shed at the moment and it’s really helping our performance as a club this season,” said Belonogoff.
“Just like last year, we’re lucky to have two Senior National Representatives come into our crew as alumni. We all look up to Ferg (Fergus Pragnell) and Frank (Francis Hegerty) and simply having them in the crew makes everyone else lift.”
Each crew may have up to two graduates of their university – all other crew members must be currently enrolled students of their university (attending lectures or engaged in post-graduate study).
The fourth installment of the resurrected match race between eights from the two universities will start at Woolwich at 8.20am with the women’s eights, followed by the men’s match race starting at 9.20am.
To ensure optimum spectator viewing and television coverage, organisers with the assistance of a number of NSW government agencies, have plotted a new 4.3km course. The 2012 race is to be filmed for later broadcast and viewers will see the harbour and many of its landmarks at their best.
The Edmund Barton Trophy (currently held by Sydney Uni) is on the line in the men’s event and the Belinda Guerin Trophy (currently held by Melbourne Uni) is being contested by the women’s eights.
For reports from the 2010 and 2011 races, please click here.
A brunch for the crews, VIP’s, alumni and spectators will be held at Darling Harbour following the presentations.
For more information on the race, please visit the official website.
All spectators, alumni and family are encouraged to follow the race on a “First Fleet” Ferry. To book, please click here.
You can also follow all the pre-race updates on the official Australian Boat Race Facebook page.
The full crew lists for Sydney Uni and Melbourne Uni can be seen below.
18 of the 22 Sydney Uni rowers listed below are either current or former Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness (SUSF) Elite Athlete Program (EAP) scholarship holders.
Sydney Uni Men
Will Raven (BA of Liberal Arts and Science)
Fergus Pragnell (BA of Arts – graduated in 2007)
Sasha Belonogoff (BA of appl.Science/Exercise and Sport)
Ryan Edwards (Master of Commerce)
Peter Koster (Reserve) (BA of Liberal Arts & Science)
Francis Hegerty (BA of Commerce – graduated in 2005)
Alex Lloyd (BA of Engineering(civil) BA of Commerce)
Tom Sacre (BA of Arts)
Kit Cunningham-Reid (BA of Science)
Mark Prater (Coach)
Rick van Hooydonk (Coach)
Ed De Carvalho (Reserve) (BA of Arts)
Tom McClintock (Reserve) (BA of Arts/BA of Law)
Jonny Rundle (Reserve) (BA of Commerce)
Melbourne Uni Men
Mark Douez (BA of Engineering/Commerce – graduated in 2006)
Sean Lake (BA of Science)
Tom Larkins (BA Landscape Architecture)
Sam Hookway (BA of Biomedicine)
Josh Booth (BA of Science)
Cam McKenzie-McHarg (MA of Applied Finance)
James Marburg (JD of Law)
Alister Taylor (Master of Teaching)
George Ellis (BA or Environments)
Alex Henshilwood (Coach)
Jordan Smith (Reserve) (BA of Science)
Sydney Uni Women
Genevieve Fick (BA of Chemical Engineering/BA of Science)
Holly Lawrence (BA of Science)
Coco Bryant (Medical Science)
India Evans (BA of appl. Science/Exercise and Sport Science)
BeatrixSheldrick (BA of Arts)
Monique Heinke (BA of Science, PhD, MBBS)
Renee Kirby (BA of Arts and Science)
Bronwen Watson (BA of Education, Human Movement – graduated in 1999)
Rachael Kiely (BA of appl. Science/Exercise and Sport Science)
Debbie Fox (Coach)
Kelly Parker (Reserve) (BA of Pharmacy)
Melbourne Uni Women
Elly Brown (nc) (BA of Arts, Honours)
Sophie Sutherland (BA of Agriculture)
Emma Webley (BA of Arts)
Phoebe Stanley (BA of Science – graduated in 2007)
Charlotte Sutherland (BA of Agriculture)
Alice McNamara (Dr of Med/BA of Commerce/BA of Science – graduated 2010)
Monica McGauran (Dr of Medicine)
Georgie Watson (BA of Commerce)
Steph Radford (BA of Environments)
Pete Kupcis(Coach)
Anna Traill (Reserve) (BA of Science)
Frankie Rickard (Reserve) (BA of Science)
