Three Distances, One Champion: Golden Oar 2026 Reviewed
Three Distances, One Champion: Golden Oar 2026 Reviewed
For the second year running, the Golden Oar heads west. The WARC Composite of Star Rose Miller, Giorgia Patten, Nick Blackman and Alex Rossi stopped the clock at 1:15.81 to beat the Sinković brothers’ HAVK Mladost crew by 1.12s. Only a few hours earlier, they had been the last crew to scrape into the eliminators. For Patten, Blackman and Rossi, it was a title defended.
Behind the racing sat a small town’s worth of effort: 325 competitors, 130 volunteers and 25 food and rowing vendors at Black Mountain Peninsula, with 47 sponsors backing the event.
Presented by Red Shed and Canberra Airport, the second edition ran over three days this year, this time with over $200,000 in prize money on offer. The open quad carried the richest purse: $50,000 to the winners. The Golden Oar format asked every crew to be three different boats in one weekend. Saturday’s 1500m divisions reward raw speed. Sunday morning’s 3km time trial, with two sharp turns, rewards stamina and a tidy line. The afternoon’s 450m finals reward nerve. Get the first two right and you earn a spot to win some serious money in the sprint finale.
Winners List
| Event | Winner | Final time | Margin to 2nd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Mixed 2x | Scammell / Hamill (Waikato/Sydney) | 1:16.21 | 0.19s |
| Open Mixed 4x | WARC Composite-NTC | 1:15.81 | 1.12s |
| Masters Mixed 4x | Corio Bay Composite | 1:37.90 | 2.36s |
| U19 Mixed 4x+ | Canberra Composite-ACT | 1:19.94 | 2.19s |
| Club Mixed 4x | UTS 2 | 1:18.83 | 0.27s |
| PR3 Mixed 2x | Lutze / Stunell (Adelaide/Mercantile-NTC) | 1:26.01 | 0.50s |
| Club Mixed 8+ | Mercantile | 1:14.12 | 0.55s |
| Corporate Novice 4x+ | JEGA | 1:51.60 | 22.44s |
| Corporate Open 4x | Elevated A | 1:17.32 | 0.54s |
| Pro-Am 8+ | Athens | 1:19.24 | 1.89s |
Every time and placing in this recap comes from the official Golden Oar and Red Shed Spring Fling results sheets. The race-day colour comes from JRN’s commentary-box wrap.
Event 7 — Open Mixed Double Sculls
Friday night’s experiment worked, and nobody made more of it than Isabella Scammell and Finn Hamill. The Sydney–Waikato double was the quickest crew in the heats, quicker again in the semis, and quicker still in the final. Their 1:16.21 in the final held off Viktorija Senkutė and Johnson Daubney by 0.19s, a sliver of time worth $15,000, the gap between first and second prize.
Heats. The rules were simple and unforgiving: 29 pairs, six heats, top two through. Every international man rowed with an Australian woman, every international woman with an Australian man, and the remaining Australians were drawn at random. Run your eye down the third-place column and you find a who’s who of world rowing. Giorgia Patten and Fintan McCarthy, Lucy Spoors, Philip Doyle, Karolien Florijn and Valent Sinković all landed one spot short of the semis. Spoors and Patrick Long missed out by just 0.32s. Scammell and Hamill set the early benchmark with 1:17.71, with Sophia Vitas and Dom Frederico close behind on 1:17.95.
Semi-finals. Scammell and Hamill found more, winning the first semi in 1:17.02, with Senkutė/Daubney and Brooke Francis/Marcus Della Marta following them into the A-final. Simona Radiș and Alex Rossi took the second semi in 1:19.82. For Martin Sinković and Sophie Houston, the evening fell apart. Fourth-fastest in the heats, they finished last in their semi and last again in the B-final.
Finals. In the A-final, Senkutė and Daubney cut the gap to 0.19s, but the finish line arrived just in time for the Sydney–Waikato pair. The B-final was a blanket finish: Paige Barr and Harry Manton (Mercantile) won in 1:21.94, with Adriana Adam/Alex Nichol (+0.49s) and Juliane Faralisch/Angus Dawson (+0.85s) all inside a second.
| Place | Crew | Time | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isabella Scammell / Finn Hamill (Waikato/Sydney) | 1:16.21 | — |
| 2 | Viktorija Senkutė / Johnson Daubney (Swan River/Trakai) | 1:16.40 | +0.19 |
| 3 | Sophia Vitas / Dom Frederico (Mercantile/NY Athletic) | 1:17.36 | +1.15 |
| 4 | Simona Radiș / Alex Rossi (WARC/Steaua Bucuresti) | 1:17.73 | +1.52 |
| 5 | Catherine Khan / Martin Mačković (Danubius 1885/Sydney) | 1:19.21 | +3.00 |
| 6 | Brooke Francis / Marcus Della Marta (Mosman/Waikato) | 1:20.54 | +4.33 |
Event 1 — Open Mixed Quad Sculls
No crew walked a finer line to the Golden Oar than WARC. On combined Saturday and time-trial times, they were the sixth and last crew into the eliminators, just 1.28s clear of Danubius 1885. By the end of the afternoon they had beaten everyone, winning the A-final in 1:15.81, the fastest quad time of the regatta, and with it the $50,000 winners’ cheque.
Saturday divisions. Mercantile fired the first shot. Emmie Frederico, Austin Reinehr, Dom Frederico and Paige Barr, a combination with years of shared mileage behind it, set the fastest 1500m of the 16 crews in 4:48.05. The Waikato Composite (Brooke Francis, Lucy Spoors, Angus Dawson, Alexander Hill) followed in 4:50.24, then WARC in 4:52.25. The star-studded HAVK Mladost Composite (Tara Rigney, Laura Gourley, Martin and Valent Sinković) took Division 4 in 4:52.30. The three-quarters-Irish Lee Composite (Ella Cossill, Philip Doyle, Fintan McCarthy, Mags Cremen) took Division 2 in 4:53.37. The ASR Nereus Composite (Senkutė, Hamill, Ben Mason, Florijn) won Division 1 by almost 12s, yet its 4:58.14 ranked only tenth overall.
Sunday time trial. ASR Nereus answered emphatically, posting the fastest 3km in 10:33.46, ahead of Waikato (+2.51s) and Mercantile (+3.37s). The real tension sat further down the sheet. After 3km, just 0.11s separated Danubius 1885 (10:44.24), Fremantle/Adelaide-NTC 1 (10:44.27) and WARC (10:44.35) in sixth to eighth. Fremantle/Adelaide paid dearly for a crab on the final turn: on combined time they ended up 2.83s short of the eliminators and were sent to the B-final.
Eliminator 1. The Lee Composite won in 1:21.31, but the story was in lane two. ASR Nereus, the morning’s time-trial winners, lost Senkutė’s blade to a crab barely 100m into the race and crossed 14.64s behind the winners in 1:40.69, their regatta over. Mercantile also lost a blade to a crab, yet sorted it out fast enough to finish fifth and stay alive.
Eliminator 2. HAVK Mladost won in 1:17.92, from WARC and Mercantile. For the Lee Composite, winners of the first eliminator, the second was a cruel reversal. Their line drifted in the final strokes, every metre off course was a metre added, and Waikato beat them to the last place in the final by 0.47s.
Final. Mercantile made the early running, but the pace proved too hot to hold. HAVK Mladost were first to pounce. WARC, out in lane four, kept the best for the back half and crossed 1.12s clear.
| Place | Crew | Time | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WARC Composite-NTC (Miller, Patten, Blackman, Rossi) | 1:15.81 | — |
| 2 | HAVK Mladost Comp (Rigney, Gourley, M. Sinković, V. Sinković) | 1:16.93 | +1.12 |
| 3 | Mercantile (E. Frederico, Reinehr, D. Frederico, Barr) | 1:17.85 | +2.04 |
| 4 | Waikato Comp (Francis, Spoors, Dawson, Hill) | 1:18.77 | +2.96 |
Event 2 — Masters Mixed Quad Sculls
In the Masters, the clock tells only half the story, and the Corio Bay Composite (Tanja Nishibata, Justin Negri, Gregor O’Nians, Justine Tonner-Joyce, band E) won both halves. The Victorian-based crew topped the age-adjusted rankings on Saturday and again on Sunday morning. Then it crossed the line first in the A-final, in 1:37.90, 2.36s clear of the St George Composite.
Saturday divisions. Nineteen crews, spanning age bands B to H, made this the biggest event of the regatta, and host club Black Mountain brought eight of them. On the raw clock, the Lake Macquarie Composite (band D) was quickest in 5:33.88. Corio Bay was 1.74s slower, but once age was factored in, its 90.4% of the gold time was the best performance of the day.
Sunday time trial. Corio Bay did it again, rating 81.6%, with St George and Black Mountain 8 locked together on 81.4%. Yarra Yarra (band D) set the fastest raw 3km, 12:17.93, but slipped to fourth once the percentages were applied.
Finals. Simply getting the A-final away was a contest in itself: a cross-wind made aligning six boats a struggle, and a false start meant doing it all again. Once racing, Corio Bay coped best with the conditions and claimed the winner’s cheque.
| Place | Crew (band) | Time | % of gold | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corio Bay Composite (E) | 1:37.90 | 93.0 | — |
| 2 | St George Composite (G) | 1:40.26 | 96.5 | +2.36 |
| 3 | Lake Macquarie Composite (D) | 1:41.85 | 87.5 | +3.95 |
| 4 | Yarra Yarra (D) | 1:42.90 | 86.6 | +5.00 |
| 5 | Black Mountain 8 (H) | 1:43.51 | 97.8 | +5.61 |
| 6 | Canberra (H) | 1:52.29 | 90.2 | +14.39 |
Event 3 — U19 Mixed Coxed Quad Sculls
The home crowd had its champions. The Canberra Composite-ACT (Charlotte Bowen, Isabella Henderson, Samuel Bredell, Harrison Braithwaite, cox Isla Morgan) arrived as the previews’ pick and left without losing a round, capping the weekend with a 2.19s win in the A-final.
Saturday divisions. Seventeen crews raced four divisions, with Kinross Wolaroi and Marist College combinations fielding four boats each. The Canberra crew wasted no time living up to its billing, clocking 5:20.08, 7.44s faster than anyone else on the lake. Mosman (5:27.52) and Sydney (5:28.53) were next best.
Sunday time trial. Over 3km the gap only grew. Canberra won in 11:29.22, 11.14s clear of Mosman, with Sydney University third. Further down, the Black Mountain Composite was only eighth in the trial, but on combined times it slipped into the last A-final place, 1.56s ahead of Gippsland Grammar.
Final. Canberra won with daylight to spare, and Black Mountain turned its narrow reprieve into a silver.
| Place | Crew | Time | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canberra Composite-ACT | 1:19.94 | — |
| 2 | Black Mountain Composite (Owen, Pentony, Storgato, Wrathall, cox Loukes) | 1:22.13 | +2.19 |
| 3 | Sydney | 1:22.97 | +3.03 |
| 4 | Sydney University | 1:23.31 | +3.37 |
| 5 | Kinross Wolaroi 1 | 1:31.42 | +11.48 |
| 6 | Mosman | 1:39.42 | +19.48 |
Event 4 — Club Mixed Quad Sculls
Blink and you missed it. UTS 2 (M. Swain, A. Wood, M. Manins, M. Thompson) won the Club Mixed Quad by 0.27s from the Canberra Composite-ACT, with clubmates UTS 1 just 0.52s off the winners in third. The title stays at UTS for a second year.
Saturday divisions. Eight crews raced two divisions; the Uganda Rowing Federation entry does not appear on the results. The Canberra Composite-ACT (Z. Turner, G. Barrera, C. Schmidt, J. Robson), loaded with ACT high-performance athletes, set the pace in 5:02.50. Behind them, the UTS family feud began early, with UTS 2 edging UTS 1 by 0.43s. Sydney won Division 1 in 5:11.76.
Sunday time trial. Sydney came alive over 3km, winning in 10:55.36, 2.10s ahead of the Canberra Composite-ACT, with Canberra/ANU third. UTS 2 was only fourth, while UTS 1 and Mosman finished a mere 0.02s apart.
Final. Three boats reached the line inside half a second of one another, and UTS 2 was the one in front when it counted.
| Place | Crew | Time | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UTS 2 | 1:18.83 | — |
| 2 | Canberra Composite-ACT | 1:19.10 | +0.27 |
| 3 | UTS 1 | 1:19.35 | +0.52 |
| 4 | Canberra/ANU | 1:20.79 | +1.96 |
| 5 | Sydney | 1:21.53 | +2.70 |
| 6 | Mercantile | 1:22.81 | +3.98 |
Event 5 — PR3 Mixed Double Sculls
The PR3 double was a weekend-long duel. U23 world champions Susannah Lutze and Sam Stunell (Adelaide/Mercantile-NTC) and local pair Isobel Egan and Cormac Hayes (Canberra/ANU-ACT) traded blows across three rounds. When it mattered most, the world champions won by 0.50s.
Saturday division. Round one went to the locals. Hayes and Egan gave the home crowd something to cheer early, winning the five-crew division in 5:31.07, 2.61s ahead of Ella Marshall and Flynn Wilkinson (Sydney/Mersey). Lutze and Stunell were a distant third, 14.18s back.
Sunday time trial. Then the champions found their rhythm. Fourteen seconds behind on Saturday, they beat Egan and Hayes by 1.55s over 3km, clocking 12:58.66.
Final. The decider went the same way by just half a second, one of the closest finishes of the regatta.
| Place | Crew | Time | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lutze / Stunell (Adelaide/Mercantile-NTC) | 1:26.01 | — |
| 2 | Egan / Hayes (Canberra/ANU-ACT) | 1:26.51 | +0.50 |
| 3 | Russell / Russell (Uni of QLD) | 1:30.39 | +4.38 |
| 4 | Marshall / Wilkinson (Sydney/Mersey) | 1:33.09 | +7.08 |
| 5 | Browning / Nichols (Newcastle Uni/UNSW) | 1:39.44 | +13.43 |
Event 6 — Club Mixed Eight (1500m)
Mercantile made the Club Mixed Eight look like a procession until the very last race, and even then they would not be caught. They won all three rounds, and their 1:14.12 in the final, 0.55s ahead of Sydney, was the fastest 450m clocked by any crew all weekend.
Saturday divisions. Six eights raced two divisions. Mercantile (M. Pugh, G. Simcox, R. Gioulekas, S. Reinehr, M. Laburn, S. Chin, H. Reinehr, J. Simpson, cox S. Chapman) laid down 4:46.28, 4.56s clear of Sydney. Sydney University won the second division in 5:04.20.
Sunday time trial. Over 3km the gap became a gulf. Mercantile won in 10:48.40, 9.69s clear of Sydney, with UTS third ahead of Sydney University.
Final. The 450m sprint squeezed the field back together, with just 1.18s covering the top three. Mercantile still had enough in hand to complete the clean sweep.
| Place | Crew | Time | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercantile | 1:14.12 | — |
| 2 | Sydney | 1:14.67 | +0.55 |
| 3 | Sydney University | 1:15.30 | +1.18 |
| 4 | UTS | 1:19.61 | +5.49 |
| 5 | Canberra Grammar | 1:24.56 | +10.44 |
| 6 | ADF Rowing/Mosman | 1:34.70 | +20.58 |
Red Shed Spring Fling Corporate Regatta
The biggest winning margin of the whole weekend didn’t belong to an Olympian. It belonged to JEGA, whose novice coxed quad won its final by 22.44s. Elevated A edged a thriller in the Open Quad Scull.
Novice Coxed Quad (Friday). JEGA (Fu, Toole, Boughton, O’Connell, cox Nash) signalled its intent in Heat 1, winning in 1:57.94, 8.18s ahead of Canberra Airport, the regatta’s naming-rights partner. CapCorp won Heat 2 in 2:14.58. Come the final, JEGA found more than six seconds of improvement, stopping the clock at 1:51.60 and leaving the rest of the field to fight over second.
| Place | Crew | Time | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JEGA | 1:51.60 | — |
| 2 | CapCorp | 2:14.04 | +22.44 |
| 3 | Canberra Airport | 2:24.51 | +32.91 |
Open Quad Scull (Friday). Construction Control (1:30.62) and Elevated A (1:32.86) won the two heats, and the final delivered the corporate regatta’s closest finish, with 1.07s across the podium. Elevated A (Beswick, Roland, Fox, Jolly) won in 1:17.32, from Construction Control (+0.54s) and Nikias Diamond (+1.07s). Elevated B started the final but has no recorded time.
Red Shed Spring Fling Pro-Am Coxed Eight
Six eights, each named for an Olympic host city, mixed corporate rowers with regatta athletes; Paris even had a Sinković on board. Athens won by 1.89s with a crew built around the Construction Control quad (Kearney, Broe, Barnier, Hill). A day after Elevated A pipped them in the quad final, they finished three places ahead of the Sydney eight carrying Elevated’s Beswick and Fox.
| Place | Crew | Time | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Athens | 1:19.24 | — |
| 2 | London | 1:21.13 | +1.89 |
| 3 | Paris | 1:22.94 | +3.70 |
| 4 | Sydney | 1:23.72 | +4.48 |
| 5 | Tokyo | 1:26.73 | +7.49 |
| 6 | Atlanta | 1:33.87 | +14.63 |