New South Wales has equaled its longest ever winning streak in the King’s Cup with a one length victory at Champion Lakes Regatta Centre in Perth.
New South Wales has equaled its longest ever winning streak in the King’s Cup with a one length victory at Champion Lakes Regatta Centre in Perth.
Their fifth straight victory equaled the feat achieved by New South Wales between 1974 and 1978 and handed the sky blues their 33rd victory in the famous men’s eight interstate race.
Stroked by Dan Noonan, the crew which also featured Fergus Pragnell, Matt Ryan, Nicholas Purnell, James Chapman, Francis Hegerty, Sam Loch, Nicholas Hudson and cox Toby Lister saw Victoria lead through 500m before they turned the deficit around by just 0.3 of a second at 1000m.
The lead had stretched out to over a second entering the sprint to the end and New South Wales powered to the line to finish in 5:49.23, a length clear of Victoria, with South Australia third.
The Victorian crew (Joshua Dunkley Smith, Drew Ginn, Tom Swann, Joshua Booth, James Marburg, Sam Hookway, Will Lockwood and cox David Webster) had to settle for second place once again and will need to wait until 2013 to add their 66th title in the interstate men’s eight.
Noonan said the harmony within the crew had played a major factor in New South Wales’ success.
“That would be our most memorable from the last five years as there was a load of pressure going into the race,” Noonan said. “We knew the Vics would be the best they had been for a few years but the race went to plan.
“We didn’t get out as quick as we have in previous years but we stuck to our guns and had a couple of good pushes through the middle.
“That might be the last race for a few of us for New South Wales and we made mention of that earlier that we didn’t want to let that opportunity go.”
Victoria was awarded the Rowing Australia Cup as the champion state of the Interstate Regatta finishing with 51 points, with Western Australia and New South Wales joint second on 40 points.
Earlier in the Interstate Regatta Victoria won both Interstate single sculls races through Kim Crow and David Crawshay before Western Australia won the lightweight women’s quad scull and Tasmania retained their title in the lightweight men’s four.
New South Wales won both the women’s and men’s youth eights, while Victoria won their eighth straight Queens’s Cup in the women’s eight.
The King’s Cup concluded the 2012 Australian Rowing Championships with attention now turning to the 2012 National Selection Trials at the Sydney International Regatta Centre from March 23-April 1.
Rowing Australia