2010 Australian Rowing Championships & Interstate Regatta

By Lauren Pokrzywa | Published 7/03/2010 3:55:04 AM UTC

Much to the surprise of the home crowd, New South Wales destroyed Victoria’s hope of a win in the final event of this week’s competition.

The crew of  James Chapman, Samuel Loch, Nicholas Hudson, Dominic Grimm, Nick Purnell, Matthew Ryan, Fergus Pragnell, Daniel Noonan and cox Toby Lister never faltered in their determination to secure the Kings Cup for the third consecutive year.

For Chapman this is a perfect end to a great comeback after taking a year off following the Beijing Olympics. As he made his way up from the pontoon he was glowing with pride, a feeling that was clearly emanating throughout his crew.

 “After a few years we’ve set up this culture and camaraderie. It’s a great feeling to be part of this campaign.”

“We started so well and just kept driving away and driving away. Once you start to get a little bit of a lead you get a lot of confidence out of that.”

Victoria rose to the challenge and pushed them through the first 500. With just 0.64 of a second separating the Champion laden crews the Victorian's were unable to hold on as Lister demanded and received an incredible lift leading up to the half way mark.

With a phenomenal middle 1000, the New South Welsh men charged through the final leg of the course in the lead as the grandstand erupted with excitement.

As they tore across the finish line, the crew in light blue could hardly control their excitement, clocking a time of 5:27.95.

No matching records found.