Australia’s premier head race is a unique beast. 8000m against the stream from the Melbourne CBD to Hawthorn Rowing Club, navigating bridges, trees, slower crews, and the treacherous Big Bend, is a test of coxswains and rowers alike.
Last year, extreme heat stretched the organisation of the finish area to the absolute limit, resulting in a disappointing cancellation of the race. That cancellation came after flooding and COVID had called off the entire event three years in a row from 2020 to 2022.
Despite the nuances of the Yarra, it’s been a happy hunting ground for those travelling from interstate in the years the race has run, with Sydney having won every running since 2017. With National Training Centre athletes returning to their home clubs for the event this year, the field has been thrown wide open, and hopefully, we’ll see the tightest result yet in 2025.
Kand Rowing Club
From the simple beginnings of ‘Tin Shed Rowing’, Kand has grown into a powerhouse of the sport, producing world and Olympic medallists over the past few years. Undoubtedly the strongest offering from the Sunshine State, Kand is yet to chalk up a significant result at this event, but will arrive in Melbourne this year with its best crew yet. Headlining the crew list is New Zealand Olympic Silver Medallist Logan Ullrich, returning to his Aussie roots for this event. He’s joined by National Training Centre athletes Patrick Long and Mitch Salisbury, as well as several other stalwarts of the club. Cox Thomas Coogan will have his work cut out for him this weekend, as he navigates the bends of the Yarra for the first time. Should he guide them on a strong course, expect this crew to be at the pointy end of the timesheets.
Melbourne University Boat Club
The hometown favourites have thrown everything they can at this lineup; Melbourne University will feel they have a point to prove this weekend. The last time this race was run, in 2023, they came agonisingly close to overturning Sydney’s dominance, overtaking them before the halfway mark. Ultimately, Sydney was able to sneak past at Big Bend, MUBC receiving a ten-second penalty in the process.
Every single member of this crew has represented Australia at some level, including three at Olympic or World Rowing Championship events. Importantly, they have Tokyo Olympic Coxswain James Rook on the strings, who knows this course like the back of his hand as both a coach and a cox. With a combination of this pedigree, Melbourne University will be eager to get past Sydney as early as possible in Saturday’s race and return this title to Victoria after a long nine-year drought.
Mercantile Rowing Club
A club on the rise, after last weekend’s Melbourne Head, it would be foolish to discount Mercantile. Despite a lacklustre few years for one of Australia’s oldest clubs, the addition of coach Scott Rowe has appeared to pay dividends, taking a close win on the 3500m course over Melbourne University. With the addition of Olympians Angus Widdicombe, Fergus Hamilton, and Jack Robertson, as well as Austin Reinehr from this year’s men’s four, this crew will be a force to be reckoned with.
Sydney Rowing Club
Between COVID, floods, and extreme heat, Sydney has managed to retain the title of ‘Head of the Yarra Champions’ since 2017, despite only having raced the event four times in that period. That being said, this year’s combination is one worthy of defending that crown. Despite not having as many headline names as some of the Victorian clubs, Sydney does have the ace up their sleeve of being the only crew with two previous winners on board, in Alex Nichol and cox Teresa Harris. Mirrow, Bevan, and Bell will provide a good base of horsepower to get this crew up the river as well. Comparing this lineup to the rest of the field makes me recall the men’s open eight in Tasmania this year. There, a crew of club and U23 rowers took the fight to a Victorian crew made up almost entirely of NTC athletes – and came out on top. This seems like a very similar prospect. Whether this crew can do the same over the 8000m course remains to be seen – but we could be in for some interesting conversations next week if they do.
Prediction
As alluded to in the introduction, the addition of National Training Centre athletes to these crews has created a fascinating mix this year, making 2025 truly anyone’s game. It’s worth mentioning Sydney University and UTS, which are also likely to field strong crews, but I think they’ll have a hard time matching the pace of the front-runners.
It’s hard to go past the international experience of Melbourne University, but I’m going to pick Sydney to retain their title by a whisker over MUBC, with Mercantile holding off Kand for third. As always, though, this is a race where anything can happen. Collisions are a regular feature of the Head of the Yarra, and with a field this tight, we’re sure to see sparks fly.
