Henley Royal Regatta: St Catherine’s rowers keen to make waves in debut appearance

They came into the Australian season as underdogs but now these schoolgirl rowers are preparing for the race of their lives at one of the most famous rowing regattas in the world.

The St Catherine's rowing crew. Pic: Supplied

The St Catherine’s Waverley crew are so tight knit their chief motivation this season was to make each other proud.

Now they are in the UK preparing to race at one of the most famous rowing events in the world - the Henley Royal Regatta.

The crew are one of two from Australia to pre-qualify for the event on their NSW and national results and will race for the famous Prince Philip challenge trophy with Melbourne Girls Grammar.

At Henley they will face top under 19s crews from the UK, including national champions Headington, with crews from the US, The Netherlands and China also racing.

“It really is so exciting. We didn’t know if we were going and when we finally got the news we are just over the moon,’’ said Madeleine Swain from Kingsford.

The St Catherine's rowing crew have had a breakthrough season. Pic: Supplied

“This is only our second year of the first eight and we didn’t expect to do as well this season. It’s a complete shock.’’

Crewmate Maddie Manins, 17, and a year 11 student, believes the success of the crew is down to how close they have become on and off the water.

“I like working together for a common goal. It’s really rewarding seeing the hard work paying off and the improvement,” she said.

“I like being part of a big team and at Saint Catherine’s we are really close.”

Two boats racing from Temple Island which marks the start of the course at the annual Henley Royal Regatta.

Chelsea Baker said wanting to do each other proud has helped the crew this season.

“I think a big part of it for us is the team aspect. Training can be quite painful but you get through it with all the others around you,’’ she said.

“The ultimate goal is to win but for a lot of us the experience will really help us if we do something similar later in our lives.

“We also want to get a good reputation for our school.’’

Coach Jarrod Watson said success in rowing is fairly new to St Catherine’s.

“We only competed at our first Head of the River 11 years ago and this is our first year with a first eight,’’ he said.

“They’ve been training extremely hard and balancing schoolwork.’’

The Henley Regatta this year boasts 723 entries from 17 countries – the second largest entry in history.

These numbers also include double the number of female athletes – up from 700 in 2019 to 1400 in 2023.