The 2006 winners of the Bob Aitken Memorial Trophy
Mercantile/University of Queensland Composite
Bob Aitken Memorial Trophy
This trophy was first presented in 2006 to recognise Rowing Australia's first life member and inaugural elected President of Rowing Australia.
Bob Aitken had a distinguished and successful rowing career as an oarsman, coach, selector and administrator and made a significant contribution to the sport in all these areas.
He was a skillful stroke who won the biggest races of his day.
He had a good eye for rowing skill, how a boat should travel through the water and a good knowledge of training. He was therefore for many years a successful school, club, state and national coach and selector.
In addition to his deep understanding and knowledge of the sport, he had a considerable intellect, unqualified integrity and impartiality and a great sense responsibility. These qualities made him a respected administrator and of course an obvious choice as President of Rowing Victoria and President of Rowing Australia. He was also the inaugural Chairman of both the Victorian and Australian umpires’ panel.
Men's Coxless Four
This event commenced with the establishment of the National Championships in 1962. Prior to that date, test races for Australian representative crews were conducted which were of the nature of National Chmapionships. These were conducted as follows:
1956 - Olympic Trials won by Leichhardt, NSW 7:12.50
1958 -
Empire Games Trials won by Leichhardt / Mosman, NSW 7:26.20
1960 - Olympic Trials won by MUBC, VIC 7:08.00
1967 - Australian Selection Trials won by a NSW composite crew in 6:54.20
This race has always been a very important race at the Championships even though through the 1980-00 period, the coxed four event was the important selection event.
1964 Champions from Mercantile
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Mosman, NSW | Sydney, NSW | Mercantile, VIC | Yarra Yarra, VIC | Banks, VIC | 7:15.0 | |
| 1964 | Mercantile, VIC | Leichhardt / Colleagues, NSW | Sydney, NSW | 6:56.0 | |||
| 1966 | Mercantile, VIC | Mosman / Haberfield, NSW | Sydney, NSW | Yarra Yarra / Banks, VIC | 7:56.5 | ||
| 1968 | Mosman, NSW / Sydney, NSW / Banks, VIC | NSW composite | Corio Bay, VIC | 6:53.20 | |||
| 1970 | Mosman, NSW | Victoria Composite | Nepean, NSW | Sydney / Haberfield, NSW | 6:32.6 | ||
| 1972 | Sydney / Haberfield, NSW | Row over - NTT | |||||
| 1974 | Joondalup No 1, WA | Sydney / SUBC No 1, NSW | Haberfield, NSW | Sydney / SUBC No 2, NSW | MUBC, VIC | 6:43.9 | |
| 1975 | Mosman, NSW | MUBC, VIC | Sydney / Glebe, NSW | 6:42.8 | |||
| 1976 | Mosman, NSW | Joondalup, WA | Sydney Composite, NSW | 6:13.9 | |||
| 1977 | Mercantile / Monash, VIC | MUBC, VIC | Haberfield, NSW | Perth & Collegians / Ascot / UWA, WA | ANA / Joondalup / Perth & Collegians, WA | 6:43.5 | |
| 1978 | Sydney / Drummoyne, NSW | Mercantile / Monash, VIC | MUBC No 2, VIC | 6:53.4 | |||
| 1979 | Drummoyne, NSW | Monash / MUBC, VIC | Sydney, NSW | Mercantile / Monash, VIC | Banks, VIC | GPSOB / Tipparoo / Toowong, QLD | 6:33.0 |
| 1980 | Mercantile, VIC | SUBC, NSW | Sydney No 1, NSW | Sydney No 2, NSW | Drummoyne, NSW | Toowong / GPSOB / Brisbane, QLD | 7:10.24 |
| 1981 | Mercantile / MUBC / Monash, VIC | Mercantile / MUBC, VIC | SUBC, NSW | 6:17.93 | |||
| 1982 | Mercantile / MUBC, VIC | Balmain, NSW | Toowong / UQBC, QLD | SUBC, NSW | 6:38.89 | ||
| 1983 | Franklin / Lindisfarne, TAS | Mosman / Sydney, NSW | Adelaide / AUBC, SA | 6:30.80 | |||
| 1984 | Toowong / UQBC, QLD | Sydney / Balmain / Drummoyne, NSW | See Club Zurich, SUI | Banks, VIC | China | 6:58.10 | |
| 1985 | Banks / Mercantile, VIC | Sydney / Drummoyne / Mosman, NSW | Barwon / Corio Bay / Wendouree Ballarat, VIC | 6:32.9 | |||
| 1986 | Mercantile, VIC / Canberra, ACT / Commercial, QLD | Sydney, NSW | Mercantile / Banks, VIC | Buckingham / Mersey, TAS | Torrens, SA / AUBC, SA / Sydney, NSW | Power House, VIC | 6:22.62 |
| 1987 | Mercantile, VIC | 6:09.91 | |||||
| 1988 | AIS, ACT | 5:51.85 | |||||
| 1989 | No race - cyclone | ||||||
| 1990 | Mercantile, VIC | 7:05.83 |
|||||
| 1991 | Mercantile / MUBC, VIC | 6:04.80 | |||||
| 1992 | Mercantile / MUBC / Banks, VIC | 6:41.47 | |||||
| 1993 | AIS, ACT | 6:04.73 | |||||
| 1994 | VIS, VIC | 6:02.25 | |||||
| 1995 | Mercantile / MUBC, VIC | 5:59.29 | |||||
| 1996 | UQBC, QLD / Curtin, WA / AUBC, SA | 6:26.44 | |||||
| 1997 | AIS, ACT | 6:24.64 | |||||
| 1998 | UTS, NSW | 6:18.41 | |||||
| 1999 | AIS, ACT | 5:53.63 | |||||
| 2000 | UTS, NSW | 5:55.60 | |||||
| 2001 | UTS, NSW | 6:03.59 | |||||
| 2002 | Curtin / Swan River, WA | 6:06.93 | |||||
| 2003 | Swan River / UWA, WA | 6:07.56 | |||||
| 2004 | Mercantile, VIC | Huon, TAS / Swan River, WA / Wendouree Ballarat, VIC / Curtin, WA | UQBC / Commercial, QLD | 6:12.71 | |||
| 2005 | UQBC, QLD | Swan River, WA | Mercantile / MUBC, VIC | UTS / SUBC, NSW | SUBC / UTS, NSW | 6:00.71 | |
| 2006 | Mercantile, VIC / UQBC, QLD | MUBC, VIC | UTS / SUBC, NSW | Swan River, WA | Swan River, WA | Mosman, NSW | 5:56.01 |
| 2007 | Mercantile, VIC / Surfers Paradise, QLD / University of Queensland, QLD | Melbourne University, VIC | Sydney University / UTS, NSW | Sydney University, NSW / Mosman, NSW / University of Queensland, QLD | Melbourne University, VIC / University of Queensland, QLD / Sydney University, NSW | Sydney University / UTS, NSW | 5:55.73 |