The Disher Challenge Cup is awarded to the winner of an annual eight oar rowing boat race held over a distance of approximately 3 miles at a regatta between three tertiary institutions in the Australian Capital Territory:
Cecil Leventhorpe McVilly MC, was an Australian representative rower and WWI military officer. He was a three-time Australian champion sculler and the first sculler to represent Australia at an Olympic games, rowing at the 1912 Summer Olympics; in 1913, he won the Diamond Challenge Sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta. As an AIF Lieutenant in the Tasmanian raised 40th Battalion, he saw action on the Western Front and later in Mesopotamia and the Defence of Baku. He was awarded the Military Cross for his leadership at the 2nd Battle of Messines.
Sydney Albert 'Syd' Middleton DSO, OBE was an Australian Army officer and national representative rugby union player and rower. He won a gold medal in rugby at the 1908 Summer Olympics and competed in rowing at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Duncan Seth Free is a retired Australian rower and Olympic gold medallist. He is 4-time Olympian and two-time world champion who represented Australia at four world rowing championships in both sculls and sweep oared boats. He was a six-time Australian national sculling champion.
The Australian Rowing Championships is an annual rowing event that determines Australia's national rowing champions and facilitates selection of Australian representative crews for World Championships and the Olympic Games. It is Australia's premier regatta, with states, clubs and schools sending their best crews. The Championships commence with the National Regatta - men's, women's and lightweight events in open, under 23, under 19, under 17 and school age events. Rowers at the National Regatta race in their local club colours with composite crews permitted. The Championships conclude with the Interstate Regatta - currently eight events competed by state representative crews or scullers selected by the state rowing associations. The states compete for an overall points tally which decides the Zurich Cup.
Henry Denis Hauenstein, MM was an Australian national representative rower and a World War I infantry officer. He was a three-time Australian national champion rower who competed for Australasia at the 1912 Summer Olympics in the men's eight. He was a member of the Australian men's selection eight which won the Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta of 1912. He saw active service on the Western Front where he won the Military Medal and was a member of the AIF crew which at war's end, won at the 1919 Peace Regatta and brought the King's Cup to Australia.
The King's Cup is Australia's blue riband annual rowing race for men. Since 1878 it has been contested by state representative senior heavyweight men's eights at the annual Australian Interstate Regatta. Since 1973 the Australian Interstate Regatta has been conducted on the final day of the week-long annual Australian Rowing Championships. The King's Cup is the final event of the Australian Championships and the Interstate Regatta.
Harry Ross-Soden was an Australian rower who competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Frank Mark Cummings was a rower who represented Australia at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Waldemar Herbert "Walter" Pfeiffer, listed by one source as William Pfeiffer, was a South Australian rower. He was a three-time national champion who represented Australia at the 1924 Summer Olympics in the men's eight.
Arthur Valentine Scott was a South Australian rower and an AIF artilleryman who saw active service on the Western Front in World War II. He was a four-time national champion who represented Australia at the 1924 Summer Olympics in the men's eight rowing crew. He was a member of the AIF #1 eight which won at the 1919 Henley Peace Regatta and brought the King's Cup to Australia.
William Melville Sladden was a South Australian rower. He was a four-time national champion who represented Australia at the 1924 Summer Olympics in the stroke seat of the men's eight.
Ciona Wilson is an Australian national representative rower from Tasmania. She is an Australian national champion, was a medallist at the 2018 World Rowing Championships and won the Remenham Challenge Cup at the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta.
Keith Heritage MC was an Australian national champion and representative rower and a 1st AIF officer who fell on the Western Front in WWI. He is credited with being the first Australian to volunteer for the AIF at the outbreak of WWI and as one of the last Australian officers to leave Anzac Cove at the end of the Gallipoli Campaign. As a rower he was twice an Australian national champion and he won the Grand Challenge Cup in an Australian representative eight racing as Sydney Rowing Club at the 1912 Henley Royal Regatta. He saw action in WWI in German New Guinea, Gallipoli and on the Western Front and was awarded the Military Cross.
Harold Clive Disher, was an Australian Army officer who served in the First and Second World Wars, a medical practitioner, a champion rower, and a pastoralist. He stroked the first AIF eight which won the championship race at the 1919 Henley Royal Peace Regatta, and received the 1919 Helms Award for the most outstanding amateur athlete from Australasia. During the Second World War, he was in charge of medical services during the Battle of Bardia and the Battle of Buna-Gona.
Albert Smedley was an Australian artilleryman who saw active service in World War I. He was a club level rowing coxswain who steered the First Australian Imperial Force #1 eight to victory at the 1919 Henley Peace Regatta and brought the King's Cup to Australia.
Archibald Ronald Robb was an Australian artilleryman who saw active service in World War I. Before and after the First World War he was a Tasmanian state representative rower and a 1914 Australian national champion. At war's end he rowed in the AIF #1 eight to victory at the 1919 Henley Peace Regatta and brought the King's Cup to Australia.
George William Mettam was an Australian artilleryman who saw active service in WWI. Pre and post WWI he was a Western Australian state representative rower. At war's end he rowed in the AIF #1 eight to victory at the 1919 Henley Peace Regatta and brought the King's Cup to Australia.
Thomas McGill MM (1893–1969) was an Australian infantry officer who saw active service in WWI. At war's end he rowed in the AIF #1 eight to victory at the 1919 Henley Peace Regatta and brought the King's Cup to Australia. Post WWI he was a New South Wales state representative rower.
Russell Hookway is an Australian former representative lightweight rower and coach. He made six representative appearances for his state of Tasmania, was twice an Australian national champion and represented Australia at the 1984 World Rowing Championships.
