Rowing: Win completes clean sweep for Otago women

The Otago University women's eight powers past a pagoda on the Fen river in Linfen on the way to...
The Otago University women's eight powers past a pagoda on the Fen river in Linfen on the way to victory in the university race. Photo supplied.

The Otago University women's crew has completed a clean sweep of its series in China and crews from the institution now have their sights set further afield.

After winning the first two races in Xinjn City and Wuhan City, Otago had plenty of confidence going into the final race in Linfen, in Shinex province.

The Otago eight won the preliminary race and got off to a strong start in the main race, moving out to a canvas over the first 100m.

From this point onwards, Otago controlled the race and continued to move away from the rest of the field.

A much improved Yale crew put in a valiant effort to challenge the Paris crew right to the finish line.

Otago took the win by a length, by just under four seconds, in 2min 49.96sec, with Paris coming in at 2min 53.4sec and Yale at 2min 54.7sec.

The win stretches Otago women's winning streak in China to nine wins over the past two years.

The crew has not been beaten at home or overseas since 2012 but two of its senior members, Lisa Owen and Kirsty Thompson, have now finished their university rowing careers.

Other Otago crews have contests all over the globe to look forward to.

The Otago University novice women's eight will compete in China against Xian Jiaotong University next month.

The crew was invited to compete after winning the novice eights at the national university rowing championships.

Otago will also send a development women's eight to Melbourne and the senior men's eight will compete in Russia against the Russian university champions, St Petersburg State University.

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