‘We act as one’: How St Catherine’s crew took on the world’s best rowers and won

A Victorian private school rowing crew has taken on the world’s best in an exciting international race and claimed glory. Watch the girls’ thrilling win.

A rowing team from St Catherine’s School in Toorak have become international champions.

The team of year 11 and 12 students took out the Prince Philip Challenge Trophy at the Henley Royal Regatta in the United Kingdom.

Pulling out in front of worldwide competition from the US and Europe, the First Eight Rowing Crew maintained a narrow lead throughout the race held on the River Thames.

Boats captain and year 12 student Bronte Cullen said keeping a level head and working as a team helped secure the win for St Catherine’s.

“We just tried to relax as much as possible, stay focused and trust the process,’’ she said.

“We have the most amazing group of girls and just act as one.”

St Catherine’s School rowing team became world champions after winning the Prince Philip Challenge Trophy at the Henley Royal Regatta in the UK. Source: Supplied

Principal Michelle Carroll said she was “thrilled” over the girls’ international success after they spent months training remotely during the lockdowns while continuing their studies.

“It was a demonstration of the most extraordinary grit and determination. The support from their coaches, parents and teachers is also noteworthy and enabled the girls to be calm, focused and to simply enjoy the racing,” she said.

The Henley Royal Regatta is one of the most prestigious rowing events in the world, with St Catherine’s taking over victory from last year’s champions, Headington School in Oxfordshire.

Trinity Grammar students (L-R) Alex Liu, Will Johnson, Andrew Yeang, Alastair Murphy, Ben Noonan, won an international mini-grand prix competition with a car that they made from scratch. Picture: Jason Edwards

Trinity students international F1 champions

The title of 2022 F1 in Schools World Champions now belongs to a group of 17-year-old Aussie students.

Trinity Grammar School team ‘Hydron’ hoisted the Aramco F1 in Schools trophy on July 15, becoming the seventh Australian team to achieve the feat.

The multifaceted competition requires students to design, engineer and race replicas of miniature Formula One cars that compete on a 20m long track, travelling at speeds close to 75 km/h.

Will Johnson, Ben Noonan, Alex Liu, Andrew Yeang and Alastair Murphy travelled to England to race their car against 52 teams from over 20 different countries.

Hydron walked away with the Fastest Car Award and Best Engineered Car Award, as well as receiving nominations for the Scrutineering Award, Best Pit Display and Best Application of Project Management.

Team principal Will Johnson said that sharing the experience at the historic Silverstone Circuit felt like they were “right in the heart” of Formula One racing.

“Hearing our names called out as the world champions for 2022 by David ‘Crofty’ Croft and to actually get up there and have the trophy in our hands was a pretty surreal experience.”

Mr Johnson said that the team began their journey back in year seven and eight not knowing much about Formula One or the F1 in Schools competition.

The 2017 World Championship team ‘Horizon’ also attended Trinity Grammar School and helped guide Hydron throughout their journey.

“You sort of look back and you see the past world champions of the last couple years and you worship them, they kind of became our idols,” he said.

Trinity Grammar is now the only school in the global competition to have three World Championship teams.