This is a big issue that Rowing New Zealand and Secondary School Rowing need to address somehow, with school aged rowers training hard for about five months plus the cost to send them to this regatta.
On the other side it is a fabulous week with the Maadi Parade, gear swapping, hard racing and the safe social atmosphere this fabulous event provides.
The best local result came from a strong race by Whanganui Collegiate School's boys under-17 coxless pair of Matthew Poulton and George Nilsson, coached by Blake Hogan and Tyler Scott, with the girls under-18 coxed eight of Holly Lennox, Jaime Mayberry, Margy Hazelhurst, Alyana day Fresne, Emily McKinlay, Anna Bullock, Gretel Murphy, Lucy Reed and Bella Stevenson-Watt (cox).
They raced a courageous race, fighting for the bronze medal all the way, with a photo finish placing them 4th by .14 seconds. Rangi Ruru won and all the girls eight oar events in a dominant display, with Christ's College smashing the boys under-18 eight and winning the Maadi Cup.
Other A finalists from Collegiate included the girls under-17 and 18 coxed four, the boys under-16 quadruple scull and the boys under-18 single scull of Blake Paynter. Whanganui High School made two A finals with the Dave Dudley-coached girls under-16 coxed quadruple scull of Reece Watson, Victoria Soutar, Awen Emmett, Eliza Maxey and Campbell Monk (cox) placing 6th, less than 3 seconds behind a medal and the boys under-18 novice quadruple scull crew of Dan Guan, Eli Kuehne, Peter Rogers, George Hughes and C Monk (cox) also 6th. A total of 23 out of 24 of my Clifton coached rowers made it through to at least one A, B or C final, with the absolute highlight being the gold medal and new $12,000 Lazslo single scull won by Sophia Hodson, Sacred Heart College, New Plymouth in the girls under-17 single scull, taking the race to them at the 1000m and storming to over a five-second win.
Luke Brock from New Plymouth Boys High School was our other A finalist in the boys under-16 single scull, racing well for 7th place. Rangi Ruru Girls School, Christchurch and Dunstan High School were the South Island Schools dominating the sweep and sculling events, with well guided and planned programmes.
Rowing NZ has made sweeping changes to its High Performance Development programme, with Regional Performance Centres gone and Athlete Development Pathways, which will work closer with regions and clubs, expected to deliver stronger outcomes over time for our youth and the sport.
Whanganui Rowing Association and our clubs will be closely involved in that.
Sophia Hodson (SHGC, New Plymouth) Matthew Poulton, Anna Bullock, Margy Hazelhurst and Bridget Jones Long (cox), all Whanganui Collegiate School, have been selected to trial for the North Island Under-18 team, to race the South Island Under-18 team at Lake Karapiro from April 29-30, 2021.
