Rowing: Wind causes delays and protests in Maadi Cup regatta

TWIZEL - Seven past winners of schools rowing's most prestigious title, the Maadi Cup, will contest the final - wind permitting - at the national secondary schools championships today.

But there are no guarantees around the racing schedule given a week of winds from various directions which had organisers pulling their hair out.

Having got up to speed with the completion of repechages and semifinals by around lunchtime yesterday, just one B final was able to be completed in the afternoon.

In the following A final - the under-16 boys double scull - Christchurch's St Bede's College crossed the line first, but the race was red-flagged by officials due to wind.

That leaves about 80 A and B finals to be squeezed into today, with tomorrow reserved as a backup date.

The Aon-sponsored regatta, colloquially known as the Maadi Cup, is actually the trophy contested for by the boys under-18 eights.

And when that race starts, Hamilton Boys' High School - winners in four of the last five years, and runnersup in 2006 - and Westlake Boys' High School will be warm favourites.

The pair were impressive in winning their heats to progress directly to the final, Hamilton's 6min 14.38s for the 2000m, 1.73s quicker than the time posted by Westlake.

Times are irrelevant in racing, but give an indicator.

It is likely the other six finalists - Auckland trio Sacred Heart, Kings College and Auckland Grammar, Hamilton's St Pauls Collegiate, Christ's College and St Bedes - will be chasing the bronze.

Sacred Heart won through by winning one of the two repechages on Thursday night.

Kings College won the other repechage with a strong performance.

The girls equivalent event, for the Levin Jubilee Cup, has Christchurch's top notch Rangi Ruru eight defending their title. However Marlborough Girls College should offer a strong challenge.

There were several protests yesterday as nor'westerlies swirled down the course about the fairness of racing across the eight lanes with claims that the winds affected some lanes more adversely than others. All were rejected.

In a bid to keep working through the schedule, some races were halved to 1000m, despite the season's training had been predicated on 2000m racing.

Other blue-riband finals today include the under-18 coxed four, the boys racing for the Springbok Shield, the girls for the Dawn Cup.