Whanganui rowers frank their rep selection form by helping North beat South over Easter

Whanganui Collegiate NZ North Island Under 18 reps Phoebe Collier, left, Blake Hogan, Charlotte McKinlay and Tyler Scott (girls sweep coach) help North beat South over Easter Weekend.

Whanganui rowers already rewarded for their Maadi Cup efforts franked that form by helping to take the North Island team to a rare victory in the Under 18 North V South regatta on Lake Karapiro over Easter Weekend.

The 2019 New Zealand Under 18 North versus South Island regatta was held in conjunction with the final few days of trials and naming of the 2019 NZ Junior World Championship owing team to race at the 2020 Olympic venue in Tokyo, Japan on August 7-11.

As mentioned previously six Whanganui Collegiate rowers were named as triallists following the 2019 Aon Maadi Cup New Zealand secondary school regatta.

Those six were Charlotte McKinlay, Phoebe Collier, Alyana Du Fresne, Blake Hogan, Leo Hanna and Samuel Yorsten.

They undertook three days of trials, involving 2000 metre erg tests, 1500 metre single or Coxless Pair time trials and a series of 1000m seat racing trials.

Last Tuesday McKinlay, Collier and Hogan were named in the North Island team after some tough and close selections. They stayed at St Peters School in Cambridge and had two and a half days to train in their selected boats with the South Island team joining them after mirror trials in Twizel.

They then raced Easter Friday and Saturday over 2000 metre's in Girls and Boys Eights and Quadruple Sculls, breaking down to Coxed Fours, Coxless Pairs and Double and Single Sculls with three 2000m races over the two days.

As I understand it the The North Island team hasn't won the regatta for over five years, but totally dominated this regatta in winning 13 out of 16 races and only losing the Girls Single Scull and Boys Quadruple Scull races.

The North Island Under-18 rowers record a rare win over their southern cousins in the annual North V South regatta on Lake Karapiro over Easter Weekend.

Unfortunately, Harry Fitzpatrick in the North Island Quad and Double got quite sick and couldn't race the second day, so the stroke of the North Boys 8 had to jump from the Eight's race and race the Quadruple Scull 30 minutes later, which didn't help the North overturn a two second deficit on the first day, but it was still the closest race of the regatta with just 2 seconds between crews.

Blake Hogan was in the North Quadruple but managed to win the Double Scull with Fitzpatrick before he got sick.

Charlotte McKinlay (stroke) and Phoebe Collier were part of the dominant North Island Girls' Eight and Coxed Four, winning both races handsomely on Good Friday and although the South crew pushed them to the 1000 metre mark on the Saturday, they still won by an impressive 7 seconds.

The experience of the trial and the regatta for those selected, and being immersed in the Rowing NZ High Performance atmosphere and mixing and eating with the NZ Junior triallists was invaluable experience for these young rowers and most of them will be eligible for NZ Junior Trials (Under 18 on 1/1/2020.

Most school and senior rowers will have about one month off after the season and depending on winter sport commitments they will spend the winter period developing their strength, endurance and core strength, adding in a few events to keep the enthusiasm and muscle memory intact.

The Legion of Rowers Masters Regatta is being held this Saturday at Lake Karapiro and the Men's Squad from Aramoho is attending with possibly some rowers from Union Boat Club.

These races are over 1000 metres with all boat types raced in 5-10 year age groups.

Winter racing officially starts with the 2019 Blinkhorne and Carroll Whanganui Winter Series, with Race 1 on Sunday, May 12 over 5km and being hosted by Aramoho Whanganui Rowing Club and Jane Detwailer, Aramoho's new head coach, is holding a learn-to-row six week adult course from today, April 24. To find out more email: trainwithjane10@gmail.com