Needing a third place finish in the men’s eight to confirm their team’s victory, the Queensland crew delivered, finishing second behind the strong Western Australia crew.
The Queensland performance this year was commendable, with the team showing great depth and consistency to compete strongly throughout the small and larger boat classes. Their win marks the first time in four years the New Zealanders have not won the Cup – a statistic Australian crews will no doubt be hoping to extend in next year’s regatta.
With the smaller boats racing finished, Day Three (Sunday) was set aside for the Eights. In the Men’s Eight, Western Australia finished ahead of Queensland (with a margin of 3.5 seconds), with New Zealand taking the bronze and NSW finishing in fourth.
In the Women’s Eight, the South Australia crew made sure to finish the regatta with a flourish, taking the gold with an impressive 5.13second margin over Queensland.
Though it had less influence on the overall Cup pointscore, the mixed coxless quad sculls was an event that drew exuberant cheering from the stand. The mixed quad is made up of a combination of rowers from across state borders. This year, Western Australia combined with New Zealand to win the event, with the Queensland//NSW composite crew in second, the ACT/South Australia crew in third, and the Tasmanian/Victorian crew in fourth.
The Kiwi team will fly home having won the most gold medals (6) of any team competing at the Youth Cup. Queensland, however, fly home with the prestigious Rusty Robertson Cup as winners in the overall team pointscore. Though Queensland may not have been able to catch the Western Australian team in the gold medal chase, the team performed with exceptional consistency, rarely finishing outside the medal positions throughout all three days of competition (Queensland finished with 3 gold medals, 8 silver and 2 bronze).
Congratulations are to be extended to all athletes, coaches and officials who participated in the 2009 Australian Youth Cup.