The best emerging rowers from the U23 Australian men’s eight are travelling to China this weekend to compete at the 2023 Head of Shanghai River Regatta on the 15th, 16th and 17th of September taking place on the iconic Suzhou Creek.

“It’s obviously a huge privilege and we’re all very stoked to be invited and have an opportunity to go and race with each other and against some of the best crews in the world like Cambridge and Oxford Brooks and the Chinese national team,” NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Nikolas Pender said.

There are three main races in the rowing gala event, including a two kilometre race at the regatta course and a time trial through the centre of the city, with money prize on offer to the winners.

“There is a one -on -one 500 meter race in a little canal right in the centre of the city. It only fits two boats so it will be quite extraordinary. And there’s a bit of bit of prize money on offer for first place only – no podium spots just first.”

The longest event, a gruelling 4.2km requires different strategies for optimal performance. Pender, who grew up on Sydney’s northern beaches and started rowing in Year 7 at St Augustines, will stroke the men’s eight at the gala event and will be adjusting his tempo to meet the demands of each race.

“The longer racing you can’t rate as high so you can’t do as many strokes per minute, so you bring that down a little bit. It will be a consistent pace the whole way. It’s a different format to side -by -side racing as you can push off each other in the time trials and you’ve really just got to go like flat stick the whole way.”

The aspiring Olympian, who played rugby, water polo and touch footy, before trying rowing, has never been to China and is extremely excited about the impending experience.

“We are literally racing right through the center of Shanghai. It should be good fun and they are expecting a crowd of millions to come and watch. It’s seems like a pretty big event in China, all of their universities go and its televised in China,” Pender said.

“It’s pretty exciting. As stroke I’m sitting at the front of the boat, so everyone’s got to try and follow you. You’ve got to try and be pretty even and steady with your movement so it’s easy to follow.”

Not necessarily the team captain, Pender sees himself as the team moral captain.

“We have some older guys who are probably more role models,” he said. “I’ve always looked up to them when rowing, so they probably lead me around off the water a bit more.
They’ve taught me a lot. I’ve ridden with Torben Do you have his surname since I was 15 and so we’ve obviously had a bit of history together. I’ve ridden the pair and everything, raced overseas together.”

In a sport that rewards hard work, Pender anticipates the excitement of a great race and predicts the Australian crew will give some of the stronger boats a run for their money.

“I think the Chinese national team will be strong as always, a little bit older than us. And then Cambridge and Oxford Brookes are obviously the two of the premier programs in England, which is the premier rowing country at the moment.

“We’ll give it our best shot. I’m sure we’ll be pretty rearing to go and pretty on it, so it should be a good race.”

Pender has been on scholarship at the Institute since 2021 and credits the experts who have supported him on his high performance journey thus far as integral to his success.

“It’s tough training and doing university but if you need help getting time off or you have exams then NSWIS can help. And then obviously all the other facilities like the gym, the strength and conditioning coaches, physiotherapists, doctors and the like are free to use for scholarship holders, which is just like amazing.”

Pender loves the strong sporting culture in Australia, watches as much sport as he can and has aspirations to row at the Olympics.

“I love the Olympics, I’ll just turn it on, it doesn’t matter what’s on any sport, it’s just the best. Long term, I’d love to row at the Olympics. Paris next year is probably a bit out of the question, but hopefully LA 2028 would be nice. I love a big fast moving boat, but anything I can get into, I’d love to be in.

Frances Cordaro NSWIS

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