ROWING It was another very busy summer for the rowing club, culminating in the NZSS (Maadi Cup) championships at Lake Karapiro where, once again, College rowers had some great successes, including the U16 eight having an outstanding race to claim the national title. Over the summer break, College rowers had three rowing camps and regattas. The Otago Championships took place before Christmas, followed by the Canterbury Championships in early January. Unfortunately, both regattas were affected by weather. At the end of January, the rowers were in Twizel for their third camp, which led into the South Island club championships. Rowing conditions were good on the Saturday, but the wind played its part for the finals on Sunday. At the end of the regatta, College rowers had achieved six medals. The U16 eight and U16 four were third, the U17 came eighth, the U19 quad and novice eight both
came second and the U19 eight achieved first place. The first schools’ regatta held at Lake Hood was the Canterbury Schools’ Championship. After a weekend of racing, College achieved firsts in the U16, U17, U18 eight and the U18 quad. College crews also won three silvers and two bronze medals. Cold and damp conditions at the South Island Schools’ Championship in Twizel made it tough on spectators, but the lake was flat and the racing competitive. In the eights, College was third in the U16 race, finished 0.4 seconds behind CBHS in the U17 race, and the top boat was second in the last race of the day. In other events, the U16 four achieved third and the U18 quad came second. The U15 crews raced well and the octuple boat was unlucky to miss out on a medal when the rowers finished fourth in the A final. The Maadi Cup regatta was held at the end of March at Lake Karapiro. After a week of racing, College had
10 boats in the Top 10 nationally, and five crews achieved podium finishes. The U18 coxed quad and Over15 lightweight coxed received bronze medals. The U17 coxed eight won a silver medal and the U16 eight had a great race taking the national title. In this race, the top three boats were separated by just over one second. The crew was composed of Erik McBride, Jamie Batchelor, Tom Vincent, Alex Todhunter, Lachie Hazlett, Jack Elvy, Zac Cran, Will Chaffey and Fin Smith. The Maadi Cup final was an outstanding race, with College taking a late lead, only to have St Andrew’s sneak ahead to take the title. It was a thrilling end to a successful week for the club. After the regatta, Josh Wade was invited to take part in a NZ Junior trial, with Jamie Batchelor, Louis Batchelor, Max Goodwin, Sam Aitken, Sam Darry and Zac Cran chosen to trial for the South Island U18 team to take on the North Island.
College Issue 32 2017
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