The refusal only stirred more action and a petition to His Majesty King George V signed by Captain H.C. Disher, who rowed at number seven of the winning AIF Crew was dispatched to England on 30th October 1920. A reply took seven months and when received it was the desired result. The current distance of 2000 meters was first adopted in 1960 at Launceston. Prior to this the distance was usually 3 miles or approximately 5 kilometres. With the introduction of the National Championships in 1962 and the growth of the National Championship program, the Kings Cup and other Interstate events could be considered glamorous races of days gone by but in fact the opposite is the case.
Interstate events are now more competitive than ever.
Dual Olympic Gold medallist, and multiple World Champion Jim Tomkins, has won the Kings Cup twelve times. We very rarely get a chance to race in eights. There is only one thing better in Australian rowing than lining up at the start in an eight for Victoria and that is crossing the line first for Victoria in the Kings Cup. All rights reserved by various stakeholders.