Alice Dymock and Noah Coble have returned from the National Rowing Championships hosted in Tasmania, with each claiming gold rowing for their respective schools. The regatta was held at Lake Barrington in Tasmania over last week. Alice rowed for her school Kinross Wolaroi in the Schoolgirls Coxed 8 and won the final of the event to become Australian Champions for 2026. Her former schoolmate Noah Coble rowed for his school St Ignatius Schoolboys in the Schoolboys Coxed 8 achieved exactly the same result in his event. Noah said it was such an amazing feeling to win at the National Championships. "We had worked very hard and knew we had it in us …. We had so much to prove and nothing to lose," he said, This was back to back Barrington Cup wins for St Ignatius’s College. The College also won the School Boy Points Championship trophy. Winning at Tasmania for was incredible but surreal to be national champions Alice said. "Everything fell into place just when it mattered. It honestly feels like a dream, like something that I could only ever have wished to happen," she said. "Our crew was the first ever crew in Kinross Wolaroi’s history to have received a medal in the Schoolgirl 8 let along win Gold, so it was an amazing feeling to have won something for not only ourselves, but for our school too." "It’s always very exciting going to the national championships as you k now that you’re competing amongst the best in the nation," she said. "It was such a privilege being a part of that crew, as it was a group of lovely girls with highly ranked and experienced coaches. We trained and raced as a unit, having trust in that each other will do it for the crew." Noah Coble and his crew from St Ignatius claimed gold in the National Rowing Championships. For Noah, he said rowing with St Ignatius’ College has been a great privilege. "It’s super competitive and I’ve had to work hard to get my seat and keep it," he said. "It hasn’t always been an easy ride, some weeks I found it hard to be motivated but the crew was always good at holding each other accountable, pushing us on and striving to reach our goals." For both Noah and Alice, and their crews, their training was was heavy and rigorous, with Noah's crew training for this since the end of August last year. "We train seven sessions a week with one day off," Noah said. Alice said their preparations were heavy but also focused on wellbeing and keeping healthy and uninjured to ensure the entire crew was ready to race at their full potential. "Coming into this regatta as a healthy crew was our main focus, knowing it would give us our best chance at success.," she said. Alice and the Kinross crew came into the National Championships following a close loss at the Schoolgirl Head of the River several weeks ago where they came second to Pymble Ladies College. Noah and St Ignatius' crew arrived in Tasmania on Tuesday before they were to race on Thursday. While they were able to have a training session on the water on Wednesday morning due to wind delays and the postponement of their event St Ignatius didn’t race until Saturday. Following their semis, Noah said they went into the finals confident but humble, knowing what they needed to do to complete our race plan in order to give themselves the best chance in winning. Alice said Kinross were originally also entered in the U19 coxed 8 where we had our first race on Wednesday. After that race the next few days were interrupted with wind, and they didn’t get to race until Saturday, where puled from the U19 8 to focus on the Schoolgirl 8. "That day, we had our heat, where we took the lead from the start and then cruised through to the end coming second and making the top four comfortably," she said. On Sunday Kinross competed in the final and were up against seven other really strong crews. After holding their the entire way, Alice said they finished with a gold medal by 0.66 seconds in front of Melbourne Girls Grammar, and third, Loreto Toorak. "We had 100% trust in the entire crew, including the cox, and we executed the race plan perfectly, with everything falling into place at the right time," she said,
