Held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre, the NSW Small Boats Regatta gives athletes seeking national team selection a chance to race ahead of the NSW State Championships and is also a selection regatta for athletes seeking selection for the NSW team in the Interstate Single at the Australian Rowing Championships. In what is forecast to be a sweltering 36-degree day out in Penrith, the event boasts a field of nine talented scullers in what should be a quality display of racing. From this competitive field, a few key contenders emerge: Cormac Kennedy-Leverett, Adam Holland, Hamish Harding, and Nicolas Mirow.
Cormac Kennedy-Leverett – Sydney Rowing Club
A rowing prodigy who boasts multiple Junior and U23 World Rowing Championship medals, Cormac Kennedy-Leverett is no stranger to international racing. The most recent of which was back in 2023, where he competed for the Australian Rowing team at the 2023 World Rowing Cups as part of the quad and as part of the double at the World Rowing Championships that same season. Domestically, Kennedy-Leverett has been absent from the Australian Rowing Championships for a few years, with his last match-up against this field being at the 2025 NSW State Championships, where he finished a close seventh behind Mirow and Harding. I will be eager to see how he measures up against the competition in this field this weekend.
Adam Holland
The youngest athlete in this event, Adam Holland, will be looking to make his mark in the open field. Adam was the national champion in the U23 men’s single last year and represented Australia at the U23 World Rowing Championships in Poznan as part of the men’s quad, which placed eighth. As a U23 athlete, it is difficult to gauge exactly how Holland will fare against open-age competitors, but he is a tough racer and will be looking to test himself against an experienced field.
Hamish Harding
Hamish Harding, the former elite lightweight rower who has now turned heavyweight, will be a top contender in this event. Hamish boasts international sculling experience both as a lightweight and a heavyweight rower. He competed for Australia at the 2022 World Rowing Championships in the lightweight men’s single before returning to the men’s national team to race as part of the Australian Senior A team at World Rowing Cup One in the men’s double in 2024. As a top contender in this event last season, having taken third place at the Australian Rowing Championships, Hamish will be eager to put in a fierce performance and is likely to take the win.
Nicholas Mirow
Nicholas Mirow has been close behind Harding in the scull in the past, placing a mere second adrift at last year’s NSW State championships, so he will be sure to challenge for the top spot. While not many 2000m regattas are raced pre-Christmas to provide insight into Mirrow’s form, he performed well in the November NSW time trial event raced over 5000m. Although he narrowly missed the A-final in the open men’s single at Nationals last year, Mirow represented New South Wales in the Presidents Cup, the men’s interstate single event, at the 2025 Australian Rowing Championships. With this weekend’s race a key selection regatta for the President’s Cup, Mirow will be keen to secure a victory to gain reselection. A tough competitor in the single and will be a top contender for first place in this event.
Prediction
With the men’s elite single event set to get underway at 12:10pm on Saturday, here’s hoping these athletes avoid the worst of the afternoon heat and that spectators get to watch some top-tier racing. In this field of multiple proven champions, I predict we will see Hamish Harding emerge victorious, followed by Nicolas Mirow in second and Adam Holland in third. However, it would be remiss to rule out the experience of Cormac Kennedy-Leverett as a medal contender in this event. The other notable competitors who may challenge these athletes include Sam Green, Tom Anderson, and Pasha Bevans, who have all performed well over 5000m in NSW High Performance time-trial events throughout late 2025.
