Olympic gold medallists compete in Inaugural VC Cup Sailing Challenge

On Friday 8 May, students from The University of Notre Dame Australia’s Fremantle Campus competed in Tertiary Sports Western Australia’s (TSWA) first sailing challenge. TSWA conducts inter-university sporting competitions and programs for university students in WA. The Association is governed by a Council, consisting of sport and recreation representatives from the five WA Universities including Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University, Notre Dame and The University of Western Australia (UWA). Competing in the first sailing challenge were one team from Notre Dame, one from Curtin and four from UWA. Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medallists, Tessa Parkinson, represented Notre Dame and Elise Rechichi, represented UWA. First year physiotherapy student, Ms Parkinson really enjoyed representing Notre Dame in the first sailing challenge. “I’m so used to serious sailing, so it was really refreshing to sail for enjoyment. It was also great to get more people involved in the sport. Quite a few students did sailing at High School but its hard to continue once you’ve finished, trying to get a boat and crew. It’s great to have an avenue to pursue to keep going and get back into the sport.” The boats that were used on the day, Foundation 36, were provided by the Western Australian Yachting Foundation. This fleet is used for state, national and international competitions. “The Notre Dame team worked really well together. None of us had any training together or sailed together before,” said Ms Parkinson. The results from the day saw Notre Dame come in second place with UWA in first and Curtin in third place. “It was a real fun and friendly day out on the water,” said Notre Dame Sports Officer, Jaimee Montgomery. “Hopefully having students interested in sailing and wanting to represent Notre Dame means we can continue to grow and develop the sport on campus further. Notre Dame has a lot of talented sporting students and through the help of students like Tessa we are able locate them and work together with them to provide programs that cater for their different needs and skills.” Media contact: Rebecca Cassidy 08 9433 0611, 0408 959 13