Whanganui High School's girls under-16 coxed quad sculls (from left) coach Dave Dudley, Morgan Wood (coxswain), Addison Jenkins, Bailey Barnett, Ruby Bullock and Caralie Hanna won gold at the 2025 Maadi Cup.
Whanganui High School's girls under-16 coxed quad sculls (from left) coach Dave Dudley, Morgan Wood (coxswain), Addison Jenkins, Bailey Barnett, Ruby Bullock and Caralie Hanna won gold at the 2025 Maadi Cup.
Whanganui school rowing squads competed in a combined 21 A finals and won 11 medals at the Maadi Cup at Lake Karāpiro.
Eleven of the crews had podium appearances, with WHS claiming nine medals and WCS taking home two.
Fourteen WHS crews featured in A finals, winning one gold, three silvers and five bronzes.
The sole gold medal was won in the girls under-16 coxed quad sculls, with the WHS crews finishing ahead of St Paul’s Collegiate School by just under two seconds, getting revenge after losing to them at the North Island Secondary School Championship in early March.
WHS director of rowing and head coach Axel Dickinson said it was the most satisfying medal won by the school, given the history as well as the colour of the medal.
Whanganui High School's girls under-16 coxed quad sculls won gold at the 2025 Maadi Cup in Karapiro.
Dickinson was pleased with his crews’ efforts.
“We’re really proud of the squad, I think they performed to the best of their ability and I couldn’t be prouder of how they came together and worked together at our pinnacle regatta,” he said.
Other notable performances were by the girls under-15 coxed quad sculls who claimed bronze at Maadi after finishing fifth at the North Island champs, along with Jake Newton and William Herd claiming silver in the boys under-18 double sculls.
Newton and Herd broke the national record in the boys under-18 double sculls, which was set by Sacred Heart College Auckland in 2019, but fell short to Wakatipu High School’s Harry Lightfoot and Sebastian Watson by two seconds.
WCS took home one gold and one bronze medal and featured in seven A finals.
The girls under-17 coxless pair oars Ottalie Morrah and Eva Van Der Zouwe won bronze, while the boys under-15 coxed quad sculls (Anthony Jones, Harry Sherrit, Charlie MacIntyre, Levi Swanepoel and Angus McConnell) won gold after clocking a convincing 6m 49.5s, beating second-placed Wakatipu High School by three seconds.
Whanganui Collegiate School's boys under-15 coxed quad sculls crew (back from left) coach Matt Gissen, Anthony Jones, Harry Sherrit, Charlie MacIntyre, Levi Swanepoel, coach Mitch Karatau; (front) coxswain Angus McConnell with the Bill Eaddy Memorial Trophy after winning gold at the Maadi Cup 2025. Photo / Mark Bullock.
WCS master in charge/manager of rowing Gus Scott said he was proud of his crew’s effort considering they lost some “key rowers” last season.
“You always want more. After such a good year last year, it was always going to be difficult to match but we tried,” Scott said.
“We made some fast boats and got the rewards. Some others weren’t quite as fast as we’d hoped but they did their best.”
Only eight crew members of the 37-strong squad did not feature in an A final.
WCS will lose about five athletes from this season, whereas WHS is losing 17, which is half of the crew.
“It’s been an incredible journey with that lot coming through, there’s some really great leaders and great characters amongst that group,” Dickinson said.
“It is certainly very sad to see them go from the junior side of our programme but I hope that their performances at the Maadi Cup and the times that they’ve had have inspired them to keep going post-high school.”
