CROSSING LANES
The Olympic rowing hopeful who dreams of a life on the land
Phoebe Robinson lives 2 very different lives. During the day, she’s a Bachelor of Agribusiness student, gaining hands-on experience at UQ’s Gatton campus as she learns the ropes for a future career on the land.
But before that day starts, she’s pushing her body to its limits on the Brisbane River at the crack of dawn with her teammates from the UQ Boat Club (UQBC), as she edges closer to her goal of representing Australia at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
It’s not the typical lifestyle of an elite rower, but it works for Robinson. In fact, it’s what keeps her body and mind fresh.
“My whole heart is with agriculture, and I think I would really struggle with the rowing side of things if I didn't have agriculture in my life,” Robinson said.
Phoebe Robinson feels at home at UQ's Gatton campus. Image: David Kelly
Phoebe Robinson feels at home at UQ's Gatton campus. Image: David Kelly
“It’s like I get the best of both worlds. I understand what my life could be like and I’m narrowing it down to exactly what I want to do, while still pursuing my passion for rowing.
“After I finish training at St Lucia, I drive to Gatton where I’m not known as the rower – I’m just Phoebe, which is so special to me.
“And I've got friends who’ve never even heard of rowing – they've all travelled from 10 hours away to study here, and they talk about bulls and heifers. We don’t talk about training or winning medals.
“I'm really lucky to have these different lives, and coming to UQ was the best decision I’ve made.
“One day I’d love to run and own my own property, but before that I’d really like to explore the many different avenues on offer, such as live export, trading and sustainability.”
While Robinson relishes the opportunity to juggle her elite sporting commitments with her studies, it’s been a whirlwind year for the 22-year-old.
After celebrating a bronze medal with the Australian Under-23s Women’s 4 team at the World Rowing Championships in Bulgaria in July, she was a member of the victorious Australian Women’s 8 team at the Head of Shanghai River Regatta in China in September – an invitational event that also included teams from the University of Cambridge and Oxford Brookes University.
Robinson backed this up with a gold medal at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Barletta, Italy, on October 1, where she partnered UQBC para-athlete Mac Russell in the PR3 coastal mixed double sculls. UQBC teammate Lucy Hope will also represent Australia in Italy after her gold-medal performance at the Australian Beach Sprint Championships at Mooloolaba in July.
UQBC teammates Phoebe Robinson and Lucy Hope.
UQBC teammates Phoebe Robinson and Lucy Hope.
But it was the bronze-medal performance in Bulgaria that narrowed Robinson’s focus on Olympic selection next year.
“Australia has such a strong senior team, so I would have to do something pretty special to force my way into it. But I’m 1,000% looking towards it,” Robinson said.
“I’ve represented Australia on other occasions, but the experience in Bulgaria was the first time I’ve really felt part of that elite national team. And every time someone congratulates me, it hits home – like, ‘Oh yeah, I actually did do that.’
“This was also the first time I put my life on hold and fully committed to rowing. A lot went into achieving this result, so the reward feels a lot greater compared to other years.”
Robinson isn’t exaggerating when she says she put her life on hold. In fact, she even made the difficult decision to leave her family, and her friends at Gatton, for 4 months to relocate to Melbourne so she could train full time with her Australian teammates – Rebecca Pretorius, Sara De Uray and Sarah Marriott – in the lead-up to the World Championships.
Phoebe Robinson (far left) and her Australian teammates after winning a bronze medal at the World Rowing Championships in Bulgaria. Image: Vera Bucsu/Rowing Australia
Phoebe Robinson (far left) and her Australian teammates after winning a bronze medal at the World Rowing Championships in Bulgaria. Image: Vera Bucsu/Rowing Australia
But the foreign environment was just one of the hurdles Robinson and her team had to overcome. On top of having never rowed as a team before, one of her Australian teammates missed more than a month of training after contracting COVID-19.
“Out of all the teams, I would say our boat had one of the toughest runs in the lead-up to the World Championships,” Robinson said.
“Obviously, you can't help COVID and how people react. It was just so unfortunate, but we had to make it work otherwise everything we had sacrificed and worked so hard for would have been pointless.
“Fortunately, things really started to come together once we got to Bulgaria.”
It was a strong start for Robinson and her team, finishing second behind Canada in heat 1 in a time of 06:51.31, before cruising to victory in repechage 1 (06:50.35). The A final was almost 15 seconds faster, with Australia (06:35.80) narrowly edged out by Poland and Chile respectively to claim bronze.
Fellow UQBC members Eliza Bridgefoot, Georgia Montague and Minaya Bishop also represented Australia at the World Championships.
Bridgefoot was part of the Australian Under-19s Women’s Double Sculls team, finishing fourth in the A/B semi final 1 (07:23.21) and winning the B final (07:34.36) to end her campaign in seventh place overall.
Montague and Bishop made up half the Australian Under-19s Women’s 4 team, which finished seventh overall after finishing third in repechage 2 (06:54.36) and first in the B final (07:13.84).
On the other side of the world, UQBC members Lex Tucker, Drew Weightman and Monty Martin were part of the Australian Under-21s team to bring home the coveted Rusty Robertson Trophy from the Trans-Tasman Regatta in Lake Karapiro, New Zealand.
The 3 UQBC rowers formed part of Australia’s Men’s Coxed 8 team, while Tucker and Martin also rowed in the Men’s Coxless 4.
It was a clear victory for the Australian team, with a clean sweep over the 3 days of competition.
The Trans-Tasman Regatta was the first time that Tucker and Martin had represented Australia, and Tucker said rowing with his long-time UQBC teammate made the transition to international competition easier.
“Having rowed together since we were at school gave us a lot of confidence,” Tucker said.
“We trust each other and we knew we had done the work. So, seeing all the hard work we put in – all the long hours – pay off was a great reward.”
Tucker, who is studying a dual Bachelor of Business Management and a Bachelor of Economics degree, admits “there’s something special happening” at the UQBC, with so many athletes making their mark on the world stage this year.
“As the season progressed, everyone started to realise that we have something building here in terms of culture and performance,” the first-year student said.
“We have a really competitive and successful program, and our coaches are doing an awesome job with bringing everyone together and making the club enjoyable to be around.”
Built with Shorthand