A night to celebrate sporting excellence saw Marcos Ambrose and Brendan Long inducted into the Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame.
Motor racing since the age of 10, Ambrose was a four-time junior state karting champion and won the national crown in 1995 before progressing to the Australian Formula Ford Championships where he finished second in 1997.
After winning the European Formula Ford Championship in 1999, Ambrose transitioned into Supercars, claiming rookie of the year honours in 2001 and a pole position at the Bathurst 1000.
A dedicated Ford racer, he made 147 V8 Supercar starts in Falcons for 66 podium finishes and 28 victories including consecutive Championships in 2003 and 2004, winning the coveted Barry Sheene Medal in both years.
A long-held dream of racing in the USA’s high-profile NASCAR series yielded three Nationwide series wins before a breakthrough victory in 2011 at the Watkins Glen road course, which he repeated the following year.
Also hailing from Launceston, Long carved a distinguished international rowing career as a sculler. Having begun with St Patrick’s College aged 12, he honed his craft at Tamar Rowing Club and progressed to two Olympic Games.
From 1999 to 2009, he dominated Australian championships, securing eight titles in the double and quad sculls.
Making his first world championship appearance in 1999, he went on to claim an under-23 quad scull bronze medal in 2001 and finish fourth in the senior event two years later.
After a 12th-place finish in the double sculls at the 2004 Athens Olympics, Long teamed up with Chris Morgan, James McRae and Dan Noonan in the quad sculls at Beijing in 2008. Having set a world best time of 5:36.20 in the heats, the crew finished an agonizing fourth in the final.
Since retiring from elite competition, Long transitioned to coaching at the Tasmanian Institute of Sport and then Scotch Oakburn College.
Celebrating the state’s sporting heritage, the Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame now has 146 members. Click here to visit the virtual Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame.
Hall of Fame Members - Elizabeth Jack, Justin Boocock, Belinda Goss, Marcos Ambrose, Brendan Long, Dean Lampkin, Donna MacFarlane, Brendan Hanigan