1980 – Royal Canadian Henley, St Catharines CAN
Robin Poke in his history of Australian rowing summed up their performances as follows:
In August came news from Canada that Australia's lightweight women had emulated the performance of the previous year's squad and won gold and silver medals in the lightweight fours and pairs at the 98th Canadian Henley.
The gold medal winning crew were Barbara Phelan (bow), Gwenda Bennetts, Barbara Griffiths, Lesley Cummins (stroke) and Allison Davidson (cox) who were coached by Brian Dalton. Janell Williams and Kim Brown also won gold in the pairs. They were coached by the versatile John Welch, who also mentored silver medal winning sculler Sandra Rourke.
Women’s Lightweight Four - Gold
Bow: Barbara Phelan (VIC)
2: Gwenda Bennetts (VIC)
3: Barbara Griffiths (VIC)
Str: Lesley Cummins (SA)
Cox: Allison Davidson (VIC)
Emergency: Bernadette Mahony (VIC)
Cch: Brian Dalton (VIC)
Women’s Lightweight Pair - Gold
Bow: Janell Williams (NSW)
Str: Kim Brown (NSW)
Cch: John St Vincent Welch (NSW)
Women’s Lightweight Scull - Silver
Sandy Rourke (NSW)
Cch: John St Vincent Welch (NSW)
Sources
- Looking Back, Rating High: A History of Australian Rowing, by Robin Poke, published by Walla Walla Pres in 2021
- Interview with Barbara Fenner