The Australian Defence Force Academy
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ADFA Rowing Team Compete with the Best
4 October 2006
The Australian Defence Force Academy Rowing Club recently competed in the Australian University Championships – Rowing, held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre in Penrith NSW. A number of crews entered over 3 days of competition, including the Men’s Coxed Eight (M8+), Men’s Coxed Four (M4+), Men’s Lightweight Single Scull (ML1x), Women’s Double Scull (W2x) and Women’s Lightweight Single Scull (WL1x). Excellent results were achieved by all crews.
The M8+ (OCDT Matthew Buchtmann, OCDT David Hastie, MIDN Michael Gordon, OFFCDT Christopher Lowe, MIDN Scott Jarman, MIDN Aaron Schurink, OCDT Tom Cregan, OCDT Matthew Fletcher, cox: MIDN Karina Wall) placed as the fifth overall fastest university crew in Australia with a 2000m time of 6m08s in the “A” final. Comprising of members of the Navy, Army and Air Force from all year levels, the M8+ have been training for this event since April. They are coached by Mr Darrel Ninham, a defence civilian with decades of rowing experience, and train up to four mornings a week in often cold and dark conditions on Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin, before returning to ADFA for academic and military classes. Endless hours of training on and off the water paid off when they came over the finish line within seconds of some of the fastest university crews in the world.
The W2x (MIDN Sally Blackmore, MIDN Allison Murray) also received good results, coming second in their “B” final. The M4+ crew (OCDT Lachlan O’Kane, OCDT Nathan Schubert, OCDT Charles Ford, MIDN Michael Bradshaw, cox: OFFCDT Lena Hyunh) defeated Newcastle University in their “B” final, and OCDT Lyndsay Nelson and OFFCDT Darren Klaus were also successful in the lightweight single sculls.
The ADFA Rowing Club has been operating since 1986 with crews competing in local and interstate regattas on a regular basis. The president of the club, MIDN Karina Wall says “I am very proud of the results of all our crews in this year’s Uni Champs. Our rowers have proven to be competitive on a national level and we look forward to a podium finish in the 2007 Championships in the Gold Coast.”
2006 has been a very successful year for the club. The M8+ broke records in the local time trial series when they rowed the 3.8km course in 13m02s. The complex skills and extremely high levels of fitness required for a competitive crew take years to acquire and the calibre of ADFA rowers has been proven this year against very tough competition. In mid October ADFA will compete in the Disher Cup - a contest between ADFA, RMC Duntroon and the Australian National University (ANU) - over a 4km course on Lake Burley Griffin. ADFA hasn’t won the Disher Cup in over 5 years, and all crews are focused and confident going into this year’s race after an excellent performance at the University Championships.
