The SASI Rowing Program is a National Training Center within Rowing Australia’s High Performance Program and has a senior and junior focus with the aim of achieving national team representation, contributing to podium success at international benchmark events.
SASI has a long history of success. Check out the current and past athletes below.
South Australian Sports Institute Athletes
Simon Albury
Torrens Rowing Club PR2 Athlete Simon Albury was born and raised in Brisbane before moving to Alice Springs when he was 20. He lived and worked in Alice Springs for 15 years before moving to Balaklava in South Australia in 2017. In December that year, Simon had a workplace accident on a farm in which he fell into a hay baling machine and lost both his legs. At the end of 2019, Simon took up rowing as a way to exercise and within two years the father of four was selected in the 2021 Australian Rowing Team in the PR2 Mixed Double Scull. He won the PR2 Men’s Single Scull Championship of Australia in 2021 and has combined with Kathryn Ross in the PR2 Mixed Double Scull to secure a place on the Australian Paralympic Team for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games |
Jed Altschwager
Torrens Rowing Club PR3 Athlete It would come as a surprise to most that Jed Altschwager did very little in the way of exercise before entering the world of Para-sport. Surfing was the extent of his fitness regime, but after losing his lower leg in a workplace accident when an excavator crushed his left foot, sport became an important part of Jed’s journey back to full physical and mental health. Enter CrossFit. Then in 2016, Jed was approached by Paralympics Australia’s Talent Identification Manager and three-time Paralympian Tim Matthews, who had seen a video of him using a rowing machine and recognised his potential in Para-sport. Enter Para-rowing. Jed made his international debut at the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where he won a silver medal with James Talbot, and returned to international waters for the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Ottensheim, Austria, to defend his silver medal, this time with Will Smith (the other Will Smith). Even as a dual World Championships silver medallist, however, Jed is still fighting hard to secure a place on the 2020 Australian Paralympic Team – his medal-winning discipline, the pairs PR3, is not a Paralympic event, which means that he has had to shift his focus and training to one of the most fiercely competitive events in Australian Paralympic sport, the mixed coxed four. |
Nick Blackman
Adelaide University Boat Club U21 Athlete |
Graduated South Australian Sport Institute Athletes / NTC
Alexander Hill OAM
Adelaide Rowing Club Alex Hill won gold with the men’s four at the 2011 Junior World Championships in Eton. He went on to win two silver medals at the 2012 and 2013 U23 World Championships in the men’s eight and pair respectively. Hill also contested the senior World Championships in 2013, taking out the B final in the men’s eight. Hill competed for South Australia at the 2013 Australian Youth Olympic Festival and had the honour of lighting the cauldron at the Opening Ceremony. In 2016, Hill was named in the Men’s Four alongside Josh Booth, Josh Dunkley-Smith and Will Lockwood and raced at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games where he won an Olympic silver medal. In 2017, he was named in the Men’s Four, with Josh Hicks, Jack Hargreaves and Spencer Turrin. He went on to win gold in the Men’s Four at the 2017 World Championships, the first time in 26 years that Australia had won the boat class. In 2018, Hill was once again named in the Men’s Four, where he raced at World Cups 2 and 3, winning gold. He raced in the same boat class at the World Rowing Championships in 2018, winning back-to-back world titles and was later named, with his crew mates, 2018 Male Crew of the Year by World Rowing. He also won the Grand Challenge Cup, stroking Australia’s Men’s Eight at the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, held in July 2021, Hill won an Olympic Gold Medal as the Stroke of the Australian Men’s Four. He joined crew mates Spencer Turrin, Alexander Purnell and Jack Hargreaves for a famous victory that broke Australia’s run of three consecutive Olympic Silver Medals in this boat class. Further, the result came almost 25 years to the day since Australia last won gold in this race at Atlanta 1996. Hill’s favourite place to row is Murray Bridge in South Australia. In November 2020 Hill was honoured by the Mayor of Loxton with the naming of Alexander Hill Drive in his hometown of Loxton, South Australia. In an acknowledgement of his athletic achievements, Hill was named 2021 South Australian Athlete of the Year. For the 2022 international season, Hill was selected as the A.R.T. Men’s Single Scull representative. However, due to some injury challenges faced during the European tour, Hill teamed up with Harley Moore to win a Silver Medal in the Men’s Coxless Pair at the World Cup III regatta held in Lucerne, Switzerland. |
Molly Goodman
Adelaide Rowing Club Molly Goodman made her international debut in 2011 at the Junior World Championships in the quad sculls. In 2013 she was fourth in the final of the women’s eight at the U23 World Championships. Goodman made her first senior A team in 2014 competing at the Lucerne World Cup and the World Championships in the women’s eight. In 2015, Goodman rowed in the Women’s Pair with Genevieve Horton, while in 2016 she was in Australia’s Women’s Eight at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. In 2017, she was named in the Women’s Four, alongside Lucy Stephan, Sarah Hawe and Katrina Werry. She went on to win three gold medals in the season – winning at World Rowing Cups 2 and 3, as well as at the 2017 World Rowing Championships. She rounded off 2017, alongside her crew, by claiming the 2017 Female Crew of the Year at the 2017 Hancock Prospecting Rower of the Year Awards. In 2018, Goodman was once again selected to represent Australia, in the Women’s Four, at World Rowing Cups 2 and 3 and World Rowing Championships. Goodman also stroked Australia’s Women’s Eight to victory in the Remenham Challenge Cup at the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta. Based at the Hancock Prospecting Women’s NTC in Penrith, Goodman is currently studying a Batchelor of Criminology, names Aiguebelette in France as her favourite rowing venue and says her favourite songs to listen to before racing are either ‘Would I Lie to You’ by Charles & Eddie or ‘Lean on Me’ by Billy Withers. Goodman was selected to row in the Women’s Eight for the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The crew made the A-final and finished in 5th place. |
Olympia Aldersey
Adelaide Rowing Club Born during the Opening Ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, her parents named her Olympia and at age 15 she took up rowing in the hope that the sport would see her achieve her Olympic dreams. Aldersey competed at the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympic Games where she won silver with Emma Basher in the women’s pair. Also in 2010 she took bronze at the Junior World Championships in the women’s four. Two years later, Aldersey was crowned as an U23 World Champion in the women’s quad sculls. Still in the quad sculls, Aldersey had podium finishes at all three World Cups in 2013. In 2014, she joined with veteran Sally Kehoe in the double sculls. In the semi-final of the 2014 World Championships, Aldersey and Kehoe posted the world’s fastest time in the double sculls – 06:37.310. They went on to place third in the final and take home the bronze medal. The pair also won gold at the Sydney and Aiguebelette World Cups in 2014. Aldersey is studying a double degree in Law and Health Science at Adelaide University. In 2016, Aldersey competed at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in the Women’s Eight, while also acting as the women’s sculling reserve. In 2017, she was joined the Hancock Prospecting Women’s NTC and was named in the Women’s Double Scull for World Rowing Cups 2 and 3 and World Rowing Championships with Maddie Edmunds. The duo went on to win bronze at the 2017 World Rowing Championships in Florida. In 2018, Aldersey was selected into the Women’s Quadruple Scull to race at the World Rowing Cups 2 and 3 and the World Rowing Championships. In 2019, Aldersey made the switch from scull to sweep rowing – winning medals at the two World Rowing Cups and being crowned World Rowing Champion is the Women’s Four. Aldersey was selected to row in the Women’s Eight for the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The crew made the A-final and finished in 5th place. |
Angus Dawson
Adelaide Rowing Club Angus Dawson is currently studying at the University of California Berkeley, but due to COVID returned to Australia and was consequently selected into Australia’s Men’s Eight in 2021. He’s now based out of the Reinhold Batschi Men’s NTC in Canberra. The young South Australian has represented Australia at Under 23 level, winning gold in the U23 Men’s Coxed Eight at the 2019 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. From rural South Australia, Dingabledinga, Dawson went to school at St Peter’s College, Adelaide. In 2021, he raced in the Open Men’s Pair at the Australian Rowing Championships, winning the title with fellow South Australian, Alexander Hill. |
Ella Bramwell
Adelaide Rowing Club In 2022, Ella was selected in the Australian Rowing Team (ART) Women’s Sweep Squad. At the World Cup III regatta in Lucerne (July 2022), Ella raced in the Women’s Eight that won a historical Gold Medal. |
Oscar McGuiness
Adelaide Rowing Club He started Rowing at the age of 16 under the guidance of Australian dual Olympian, Sam Loch. His father, Tony, is a former AFL player with the Adelaide Crows. Oscar represented Australia in the Men’s Lightweight Single Scull at the 2022 World Cup 3 regatta (Lucerne, Switzerland) and placed 4th in the A-Final. He will team up with Redmond Matthews in the Men’s Lightweight Double Scull for the 2022 World Championships held in Račice, Czech Republic (September 18 to 25).
Off the water, Oscar is studying a Sport and Exercise Science degree at the University of South Australia.
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The SA State Pathway Program, a joint program between Rowing SA, SASI, and South Australian rowing clubs, provides a clear pathway structure for the development of athletes towards SASI High Performance Scholarships and ultimately the National Training Centres.
TALENT PATHWAY
The Talent Pathway Program is led by Christine Maclaren, SASI Talent Pathway Coordinator. A range of program and initiatives are structured to provide quality underpinning programs, to support emerging, existing, talented rowers and to identify raw talent from non-rowing backgrounds. The Talent Pathway Program covers a variety of different programs – the SASI High Performance Scholarship, the SASI Associate Scholarship, the Junior Training Agreement, the Pathway Eights and row4gold. A table of the programs and who to contact can be found here.
For further information, please contact:
Nick Mitchell, SASI Head Coach – nick.mitchell@sa.gov.au
Christine MacLaren, State Rowing Talent Pathway Coordinator – christine.maclaren@sa.gov.au