Scotch Oakburn College’s new Director of Rowing, Brendan Long, has big aspirations to bring the school’s rowing program first across the line at the National level and beyond. We met to discuss goals and their latest (blue) SLR additions to the fleet.
For a small state with only 500,000, Tasmania has punched above its weight in the world of rowing in the past.
When the late Sam Le Compte relocated from New Zealand to head up rowing at Tasmania’s Institute of Sport (TIS), he created a solid program throughout the state. Seven of his Tasmanian rowers represented Australia in the Athens Olympics, with eight competing four years later in Beijing and local Scotty Brennan bringing home gold for winning in the men’s double. Scotch Oakburn College Director of Rowing, Brendan Long, was part of both teams and would love to see his school’s rowing program achieve the same results, returning to the state’s former rowing glory days.
With just over 1300 students from early education to year twelve, Scotch Oakburn College has a relatively small student role, but they do have a strong rowing program starting in year six, with some potential stars in the making. Long brings extensive experience on the water and a passion for a sport he has been a part of for the majority of his life. As the previous rowing coach at Tasmania Institute of Sport, he’s ready to develop and grow the rowing program at the school to entice more students to join and build on their strong tradition of rowing success.
Brendan’s point of view: Coming from a background in high-performance rowing, he would like to see a program where they can feed their kids into a national program and build it to include international trips like some of the mainland schools do. Rowing Australia is creating pathways for scholarships in rowing to US Universities and for rowers to compete in the U23 World Championships, so Long sees a lot of opportunity for his young rowers to take their sport much further.
The goals to grow the sport don’t come without challenges. More ‘publicised’ sports like Basketball are shifting boys’ attention away from rowing (due to the state winning the National Championship), and the commitment and discipline involved with early morning training and weekend regattas require time and money for families to support and manage.
But something like the Olympics always helps rowing, especially if a local gets on the podium. So, the school is currently in the rebuilding phase of its boys’ group.
While last year’s senior girl group did well, the school is incredibly proud and hopeful of its year-ten eights girls group. They competed at the 2023 National Championships, achieving fourth place, which is no mean feat for a small school in a highly competitive race against larger schools. Brendan puts it down to the girls progressing together for the past few years and consistent coaching. It also helps the girls enjoy what they do: “They love rowing, being at the boatshed at the end of the day, and you do the sport to enjoy it.”
Long hopes the group will continue to grow their skills and achieve more as they progress through to year 12.
The 2023/2024 season also had success, with some of the boys – with Cameron Parker taking silver in Schoolboy’s Single Scull at the Nationals and collecting bronze with doubles crew member Ollie Dowling racing in SLR.
SL Racing is a relatively new addition to the Scotch Oakburn fleet, with the school taking delivery of two bespoke blue (to reflect their school colours) vessels earlier in the year – a double and an eight. Brendan met Simon through Brett Crow, another Kiwi coaching at TIS, a few years back at National Champs in Sydney.
“I was attracted to Simon’s boats because of the pride he took in what he did and the fact that they’re very well made, very well finished, made by people who care what they’re doing, and I think for me, that was a really big thing”.
Brendan Long, Director of Rowing, Scotch Oakburn College
At TIS, Brendan worked with a handful of different boat brands from around the world. But over time, it became apparent that quality and affordability were an issue. With European boats becoming very expensive, he was looking for alternatives and remembered Simon and SL Racing. “SLR are very well finished, and their riggers are very well made. I found Simon and Hamish to be really good and easy to deal with. They listen to what you’re saying and are responsive to queries and questions. Their customer service is excellent compared to other brands I’ve dealt with. They have a genuine interest in what you are doing beyond the transactional – since we’ve had the boats, they’ve checked in to see how everything is going. That follow-up is a nice thing, as well. “
With some early success racing in SLR – especially in the double scull- Long is looking forward to getting the boats back out on the water to see how they perform. But it’s the strong year-ten girl’s eights he is most hopeful about, believing they can win the local Head of the River Regatta, which Scotch hasn’t won for a few years. There’s also the Nationals on home turn at Barrington to look forward to. “To have a Tasmanian crew in the final, competing at the Nationals on home turf would be an amazing result for our school, so that’s what we’re looking to do”, and Brendan is optimistic that the school has the team and the coaches to do it.
“I think quality craftmanship and passion in what they do are the things that stand SLR away from their competitors.”
Brendan Long, Director of Rowing, Scotch Oakburn College
