Over the holiday break Aidan Sullivan (12/JN) represented Sydney Rowing Club (SRC) at The Henley Royal Regatta in England where he stroked the coxless quad. He was a member of a very young crew who were up against some formidable international crews in the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup (Under 23’s).

In this prestigious regatta only two boats enter each race with the loser being knocked out and the winner progressing to the next round. There was a total of 16 crews in The Prince of Wales Challenge Cup.

The regatta took place on The Thames which is an extremely difficult course to steer – so narrow that at one point the crowd on the banks of The Thames are closer to the end of the oar then the rowers themselves. Aidan had his work cut out for him in steering his crew on such an arduous course.

On the first day of racing the younger team convincingly won against the Nottingham RC and Loughborough RC by 3 3/4 boat lengths. A terrific start to the regatta.

Day two of racing and the quad from SRC were up against the Welshman from Cardiff University, a far superior team who had two of their rowers in the current Under 23’s Wales Quad. With a perfect start the SRC boys were leading the race by the 650 metre mark and they were challenging the more experienced Welshmen. However, the conditions that day suited the heavier opposition with their greater height and horsepower and they took the lead in the strong headwind and stream currents. The Welshman were pushed right to the end and were forced to race the 2112 metres to only just beat the younger SRC Quad by less than a boat’s length.

The end result had the SRC Coxless Quad ranked fifth.

Congratulations to Aidan for such an impressive achievement at his first international regatta!