[1] Conrad's grandfather Maurice Grace from the North Shore Rowing Club in Sydney raced the Australian coxless pair at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and placed fourth.

He was first selected to represent Queensland in the men's youth eight which contested the Noel F Wilkinson Trophy in the Interstate Regatta within the 2001 Australian Rowing Championships.

[7] They contested those same national titles in 2006 and in a composite selection trial crew with Drew Ginn and David Crawshay from Mercantile they won the Australian men's coxless four championship and were presented with the Bob Aitken Memorial Trophy in its inaugural for that event.

[11] For the 2004 World Rowing Championships Conrad made his first appearance in a senior Australian representative crew when he stroked a coxless four to the A final, but a sixth-place finish.

[11] In 2005 he was picked to stroke a coxed pair at the 2005 World Rowing Championships in Gifu, Japan with Hardy Cubasch at bow and Marc Douez up front.