Murringo's Harriet Wallace set to represent Australia at rowing world championships

The tiny village of Murringo in the Hilltops region is rejoicing a sporting achievement that’s set to see one of their own represent Australia in rowing in Canada later this month.

Annabel and Tony Wallace know only too well the physical and mental fortitude daughter Harriet needed to muster as she faced selection ahead of the Under 23 World Rowing Championships to be held at Royal Canadian Henley Rowing Course at St. Catharines.

With around 16 athletes vying for a crew of eight, it first meant three weeks of gruelling trials at Princeton University in the United States.

For the 22-year-old, who has been rowing with the University of Texas over the past three years, this marked a second and final crack at making the team, after being omitted in 2023.

The trials – a crucial step for rowers and coxswains aiming to represent Australia – are invitation-only and serve as a platform for the athletes to perform under international competition conditions.

“If you could imagine doing any sort of test or exam every single day, with sessions up to three times a day and to be told at the end of that process you didn’t make the team,” Annabel said. “Harriet has been down that path of trying and not making it, so this was her last year to trial for the Under 23s and just one thing could go wrong – be it a cold, an injury, anything – and you miss out.

“Even now anything could happen,” she said, “the stars just need to align at the same time.”

In May they did, and in a meteoric change of pace, early July the former Canberra Girls Grammar student found herself back on familiar waters on Lake Burley Griffin at the Australian Institute of Sport’s Reinhold Batschi National Training Centre before she and the Australian crew returned to Princeton last week to for a two-week training camp before travelling to Ontario, Canada.

This year marks the first time Australia has entered two eights selected from the US college program in the world championships.

Rowing Australia’s Head of Pathways Jason Lane said he was pleased to see 24 of Australia’s US-based athletes and four coxswains come together at the training camp and selection trials at Princeton University.

“After completing ergometer testing and on-water trials I am excited by the talent that was present and delighted to be able to select a men’s and women’s eight to represent Australia at the U23 World Championships in August,” he said.

Rowing is one of 37 amateur sports offered within the US college system which combines a competitive rowing schedule with a tertiary education, which in Harriet’s case is Asian culture and language.

Back when she was 12, it was a conversation with her father that led her to take up rowing when the former Young Public School student began studying at Canberra Girls Grammar School.

“My dad told me I should try it when I started high school, as it would be a good way to meet people and he also rowed in school,” she said. “I love the team aspect of rowing, and being a part of a crew where you know every single person is pushing to their absolute limit. It’s the best feeling.”

The past nine years have been studded with success, with Harriet representing Canberra Girls Grammar School and then the Australian National University Boat Club, under Nigel Harding, with a hefty swag of titles and team gold, silver and bronze at state and national levels.

It was in the stars, in 2017-18 she was named Canberra Girls Grammar School Oarswoman of the Year, won the 2018 Canberra Girls Grammar Sportsmanship Award and was also selected for the 2018 Australian Capital Territory Pathways Eight program.

With the Longhorns rowing team ranked number one in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), moving to Texas was a no-brainer for Harriet, despite a worldwide pandemic when only five people boarded her flight to the US.

Annabel insists it hasn’t been all applause and accolades.

“I can say for anyone who gets to that level whether that be swimming or anything – the hours of commitment and dedication they put in, the selection criteria, the rejections, I don’t think most of us really know how hard it is; it’s not all just a smooth path and as a parent you feel their pain and their joy at every level,” Annabel said.

“I also think she is very lucky and very blessed,” she said.

Her parents will be travelling to Canada to cheer her on from the shore.

Harriet is joined in the Australian Under 23 team by another former Canberra Girls Grammar student, Zara Collison.

The 2024 World Rowing Championships are scheduled to take place from 18-25 August.

They will showcase about 2500 rowers and para-rowers from over 60 countries across the Senior, U23 and U19 categories.