Wearing the green and gold

When University of Adelaide students Nick Andrew and Ned Kinnear were still at school they rowed against each other as captains of their respective eights.

Now, both studying Medicine, they've joined forces to row for Australia, and earlier this year brought home the silver medal in the coxed fours in the Under 23 World Rowing Championships.

The two students--Ned is in second year and Nick in third year--are among the University's more than 40 students recognised as elite athletes. Nicholas Andrew is also the proud recipient of the 2006 Elite Athlete (EASIS) Mutual Community scholarship.

The challenge of combining studies with top-level sport came home for Ned and Nick this April after being selected for the Australian rowing squad ahead of the Under 23 World Championships in July.

With exams looming and eight weeks of term still to go, they faced 35 hours a week intensive training in Sydney from April to mid-July.

With special permission from the Faculty of Health Sciences Executive Dean Professor Justin Beilby to be temporarily absent from the course, the two set off for Sydney and a tough regime of training and study.

"We got lecture notes and problem-based learning notes off the web and studied with our own books," says Nick. "Friends sent me bundles of photocopied lecture notes as well," adds Ned.

At the same time as their peers sat their exams in Adelaide, Ned and Nick did their exams under supervision at the NSW Institute of Sport. The Faculty was not disappointed, with both students modestly saying they "did well".

One of the biggest training challenges was keeping up their weight. "The toughest time during the eight weeks was actually finding enough time to eat," says Ned, with a laugh. "On big days, we were eating for more than two hours." They couldn't believe their luck when their trainer directed them to eat lots of icecream.

With the Sydney stint and their exams behind them, the two flew to Europe for the World Championships. They spent 10 days at a superbly situated training camp at Lake Varese in northern Italy, arriving there to join the partying nation on the night of the soccer World Cup victory. Italian gelati soon made it into their diet.

The Under 23 World Championship itself at Hazewinkel in Belgium was as exciting as the build-up promised. After finishing 3rd in their heat, they won the repechage the next day and then faced New Zealand, Romania, Italy, Great Britain and the US in the final.

The New Zealand team just pipped them at the post to take gold, but both teams beat the previous world record for the event. A month later, in England, the New Zealanders went on to come third in the Open World Championships.

"Although being beaten by the narrowest of margins, we were not too disappointed," says Nick. "We had executed our race plan perfectly and had an excellent row. We felt that we had done the green and gold proud."

Other University of Adelaide rowers also represented Australia in the World Championships, with graduate Amber Halliday taking silver in the Lightweight Womens Double Scull (with Marguerite Houston).

Back in Adelaide, Nick and Ned have resumed their slightly less punishing, but still awesome, schedule: 10-12 training sessions a week starting at 5.30am, university or hospital all day; afternoon training; study; sometimes part-time work; and sleep.

And at just 19 and 20, their careers in both sports and medicine have a long way to go. ■

Story Robyn Mills