Rowing News
Rowing Awards Dinner
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Prizegiving 2011
At the rowing dinner on Friday 13th May, trophies were awarded to the following rowers:
Les Varney Trophy
Most Improved Novice rower Sam Tipping and Brook Daly
Coxswains Cup
Best Coxswain Jesper Mansson
Veterans Trophy
Best support from a rowing member Zac Laurich
St. Paul’s Shield
Most improved rower-all age groups: Lucas Martin
School Oar
Most successful Team of the Year U18 2x of Sam Tipping and Brook Daly
The “ERG” Trophy Hamish Mahon
Highest erg score in a season 6 mins 29.4 secs
Womens ERG Trophy Danielle Lesueur
Highest score for women in a season 7 mins 22.0 secs
(new school record)
1x Trophy-
Best Sculler in all grades Grayson Croasdale
The Arkell Cup(new award, donated by the Croasdale family)
Best Lightweight Grayson Croasdale
Seath Cup
Best rower in all Grades Hamish Mahon
Presidents Cup (CF)
For outstanding leadership Alex Wilson & Grayson Croasdale
CAPS:
Caps may be awarded to rowers involved in the school’s premier, senior rowing teams, (this is not easy in rowing because there are so many divisions that could be considered premier( Eg U18, U18 Lightweight, U 18 Novice) Caps are also at the discretion of the coaches. Like with the rest of the sporting disciplines within the school they are intended to acknowledge not only outstanding achievement but also regular participation. The minimum participation for boys is three seasons and for girls is 2 seasons. This therefore excludes novices from gaining caps
Our premier crews for this year were: Girls U17 4+ and Girls U 17 2x, Girls U18 Eight, Boys U 18 4+, Boys U18 Eight, Boys U18 L/W Four. Rowers who have participated to a very high level and fulfilled the length of time participation and are therefore to be awarded caps for 2011 are:
Grayson Croasdale , Hamish Mahon, Max Stuart-Jones, Lucien Nabbs –reawards
Luke Wyllie-Miln, Jepser Mansson, Theresa Steiner
The coaches too, would like to exercise their discretion and in recognition of the success of the two novice boys, Brook Daly and Sam Tipping in both the U18 Novice 2x (2nd) and U18 2x, where they finished in the top 10, it is agreed that they too should receive their caps.
Brook Daly and Sam Tipping
Rowing Awards Dinner- Certificates
Certificates Most improved Best Rower Best 2km erg Most determined
U15 Quinn, (David), Ed Johnstone Johnstone 7:07.8 Reeves,(MacDonald)
U16 Martin/Robinson (Shicker), Dale Dale 6:46:6 Bartley
U17 H. Mahon 6:29.4
U18 L/W G. Croasdale 6:45.3
W16: Brittany Smith T Steiner/Louise L. Ford 6:44.7 A. Anda
WU17 D. Lesueur: 6:22.0
Cox Gus Black
Nov cox (Te Wake), Brown (Jefferies)/ Posa
Novice (trophy) Tipping/Daly Tipping 6:59.2
Maadi Cup Report
In Week Ten of Term One (March 28th to April 2nd), our 48 rowers joined 1,879 athletes from 122 schools from around the country at Karapiro to compete in the world’s biggest Rowing Regatta. Impressively, given the size of our Rowing Club, five crews made ‘A’ finals (i.e. the same as in 2010), ten crews made ‘B’ finals and impressively, 11 of our crews finished in the top 12 in the country – amazing given the number of talented competitors in each category.
We went into this competition, the highlight of every secondary school rower’s calendar, with real confidence given our four medals in the NISS event. Although the competition stepped up to a new level, we acquitted ourselves impressively with only three of our rowers not experiencing an ‘A’ or ‘B’ final.
The highlight of the Regatta was undoubtedly Sam Tipping and Brook Daly winning a silver in the Novice U18 Double Scull. Both Year 13 boys combined just nine weeks before and followed up their gold in the NISS regatta, by also finishing tenth in the Boys’ Open U18 division, beating many experienced crews that had rowed for three or four years together. The Boys’ U18 light-weight quad (fourth), Boys’ U18 quad (seventh), Girls’ U18 Double Scull (eighth) and Girls’ U17 quad (fifth) also had impressive results in their ‘A’ finals.
A listing of ‘A’ and ‘B’ finalists at the 2011 Maadi Cup are as follows:
Boys’ U16 4X+
‘B’ final – placed 17th in New Zealand
Crew: SPLH 1 – Keiran Dale (stroke), Tom Schicker, Matthew Husband-Dravitzki, Jack Kelly + Gus Black (cox)
Boys’ U18 2X (Novice)
‘A’ final – placed 2nd
Crew: SPLH 1 – Sam Tipping (stroke) and Brook Daly
Girls’ U17 4X+
‘A’ final – placed 5th
Crew: SPLH 1 – Louise Ford (stroke), Danielle LeSueur, Theresa Steiner, Brittany Smith + Grace Gatenby (cox)
Boys’ U18 4+ (Light-weight)
‘A’ final – placed 4th (6:58.95)
Crew: SPLH 1 – Will Guest (stroke), Grayson Croasdale, Lucas Martin, Cameron Rowland + Jesper Mansson (cox)
‘B’ final – placed 10th in New Zealand
Crew: SPLH 2 – Cameron Bartley (stroke), Callum Windley, Connor Roycroft, Alex Hargreaves + Samantha Jefferis (cox)
Boys’ U15 8+
‘B’ final – placed 12th in New Zealand
Crew: SPLH 1 – Edward Johnstone (stroke), William Reeves, David Hsiao, Quinn McKay, Tyler Gyde, Sam Rush, Jason Liddell, Tim Husband-Dravitzki + Jackson Brown (cox)
Girls’ U18 2X (Novice)
‘B’ final – placed 11th in New Zealand
Crew: SPLH 1 – Fiora Stewart (stroke) and Antonia Anda
Boys’ U18 4+
‘A’ final – placed 7th (6:55.32)
Crew: SPLH 1 – Hamish Mahon (stroke), Lucian Nabbs, Maxwell Stuart-Jones, Luke Wyllie-Miln and Jesper Mansson (cox)
Boys’ U16 2X
‘B’ final – placed 11th in New Zealand
Crew: SPLH 1 – Jack Kelly (stroke) and Matthew Husband-Dravitzki
Girls’ U18 4X+
‘B’ final – placed 14th in New Zealand
Crew: SPLH 1 – Fiora Stewart (stroke), Alex Wilson, Julia Frick, Anjena Singh + Samantha Jefferis (cox)
Boys’ U18 2X
‘B’ final – placed 10th in New Zealand
Crew: SPLH 1 – Sam Tipping (stroke) and Brook Daly
Boys’ U15 4+
‘B’ final – placed 15th in New Zealand
Crew: SPLH 2 – Edward Johnstone (stroke), Quinn McKay, William Reeves, Sam Rush + Zachary Posa (cox)
Girls’ U17 2X
‘A’ final – placed 8th
Crew: SPLH 1 – Louise Ford (stroke) and Danielle LeSueur
Girls’ U18 8+
‘B’ final – placed 11th in New Zealand
Crew: SPLH 1 – Louise Ford (stroke), Alex Wilson, Theresa Steiner, Danielle LeSueur, Anjena Singh, Antonia Anda, Fiora Stewart, Brittany Smith + Grace Gatenby (cox)
Boys’ U18 8+
‘B’ final – placed 11th in New Zealand
Crew: SPLH 1 – Hamish Mahon (stroke), Maxwell Stuart-Jones, Luke Wyllie-Miln, Lucien Nabbs, Keiran Dale, Tom Schicker, James Atherton, Grayson Croasdale + Jesper Mansson (cox)
The powerful performances by our crews are a reflection of the many camps (i.e. October, December, January and March), early morning training sessions by crews and coaches. Participation in rowing is a huge commitment and we wish to pay tribute to the crucial contribution of coaches, Messrs Ewan Atherton, Brett Smith, Scott Keane, Alex Mason and Miss Flo Cormack-Lloyd, along with the input of Club Manager, Mr Martin Ewen and Mr David Hargreaves, President of the Rowing Club and their team of dedicated supporters. Special thanks go to Mr Les Varney and Mr Chris Foot for the huge time, effort and energy that they have put into Rowing, in addition to their teaching duties. It has been a real team effort and we are proud of the achievements of our rowers on what is a tough and highly competitive secondary school sports’ arena.
North Island Rowing Chanpionships
On Friday the 11th of March, 2011 St Paul’s Rowing Club attended the North Island Secondary Schools’ Rowing Championships. The squads went into the regatta hoping to get a firm idea of where they are placed on a national level as they quickly approach Maadi. The Club came out of the regatta with some of the best results achieved in recent years – four medals in total.
Highlights of the Regatta:
The first race on finals day was the Boys U18 Novice Double. The St Paul’s crew consisted of Sam Tipping and was stroked by Brook Daly. The boat shot out of the starting blocks, with the ambitious crew sprinting from the outset, by the 1km mark they were half a boat length of clear water ahead of 2nd place Nga Tawa. The boys continued to picked up the pace and flew over the finish line with a time of 7.09mins.
The very next race with a St Paul’s crew in it was the Girls U17 Coxed Quad, with the crew consisting of Brittany Smith, Theresa Steiner, Danielle Le Sueur, stroked by Louise Ford and coxed by Grace Gatenby. This crew came out of the starting blocks, only to have a false start, and the race had to be re started. Tension was high among the crew on the second start, but they shot out of the blocks and held with the pack, and maintaining a strong finish to come in third, securing the bronze medal. They were only two seconds off silver, with a time of 7.33mins.
The next final of the day was the boys U18 Lightweight Four. The rules for this boat is all crew members must be under the weight of 72.5 kg’s to race. The crew consisted of Cameron Rowland, Lucas Martin; Grayson Croasdale stroked by William Guest and coxed by Jesper Mansson. This crew went into the final having never rowed together prior to this regatta. They came out of the start in fifth place, and pushed up on all the crews for the whole raced. They made a massive final push called by Jesper in the third 500m pulling them into second position – maintaining this strong finish to secure the silver medal in a time of 6.55mins.
The next final of the day was the boys U16 Coxed Four rowing an A Final to finish seventh in the North Island.
The boys U18 Novice Eight was up next with a crew of Hsaio, Reeves, Rush, Laurich, Robinson, Tipping, Daly stroked by Johnstone and coxed by Posa. This crew is a relatively small crew compared to the others and moved up the course, with many crabs caught on the way. They finished 6th in the A final.
The next final was the Girls U18 Novice Double with the crew consisting of Toni Anda, and stroked by Fiora Stewart. These girls steamed down the course in true from, and showed the other crews how its done, they crossed the line without a sweat on their brow and easily secured the bronze medal as if it were a Sunday stroll, in a time of 8.18mins.
The next A Final was the Boys U18 Four with the crew of Wylie-Miln, Nabbs, Stuart-Jones stroked by Mahon and coxed by Mansson rowed a strong race and finished in sixth position,
The Boys U16 Eight finished in 6th place.
The Girls U18 Quad with the crew of, Stewart, Frick, Wilson stroked by Singh and coxed by Gatenby rowed a strong race, finishing in the A Final.
The girls U17 Double of Le Sueur and Ford rowed a hard race and just missed bronze in their double, finishing in 4th place.
The last A Final of the day the woman’s U18 Eight, this the first time St Paul’s has had a Woman’s Eight Crew, and so this is an achievement in itself. The crew consisted of Smith, Frick, Stewart, Steiner, Le Sueur, Anda and Wilson stroked by Ford and coxed by Laurich. They rowed hard to finish a strong 8th in the North Island.
The girls have shown that they are no longer the minority of the club, and the proof is the results from the North Island finals.
Overall the club did exceedingly well, improving on last years North Islands where we got no medals.
In total we participated in 11 A finals and 8 B finals.
It was great to see all the support at the regatta. With even Mr Lander getting amongst it, helping carry up the oars, and telling everyone to cheer louder out by the tent.
March 18 – 21 we will have our final rowing camp of the season at Mangakino, and for some of us our last rowing camp ever, as we have our final prep before Maadi week. Also congratulations to St Andrews rowers for their awesome results in the regatta. You have definitely raised heads, coming from the South Island and doing so well in the North Island Champs.
Port Waikato - Fitness Day and December Regetta
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St Paul's Rows at the Opening Ceremony of the World Rowing Championships
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New Zealand U 19 World Rowing Representatives
Our school with only 600 students had two rowers in the U19 World Rowing Championships in Racice in the Czechoslovakia Republic this year.
Following selection from the New Zealand Junior trials in April, Alex Mason and Zach Oliver immediately embarked on a six month campaign of training. This meant a life of early starts, seven days a week, at Karapiro, pulling out 180k of rowing each week with a rest day “every now and then”. Most days saw the boys out training in the morning and for Zach it was back to school briefly in the middle of the day before being out on the water again in the afternoon.
The team departed for the World Championships, from Karapiro, to the Czechoslovakia Republic, on 21 July. Their journey began with an 11 hour flight to Singapore and a five hour stop over. This was followed by a 12 hour flight to Frankfurt and a one hour flight to Prague. Racice is about 40 minutes drive from Prague.
The first thing the boys noticed was the 51OC heat. Certainly a different heat to that experienced in New Zealand with first day unbearable and never ending search for shade. However they say they adapted pretty quickly. The beds were like boards with mattress on top but having been to Tihoi, the St Paul’s boys were able to comment that the Tihoi beds were luxury compared to the ones in Racice.
The first morning of training was equivalent to rowing at 3.00am New Zealand time and felt a bit strange. The lake was a man made and made for international world class kayaking, rowing and canoeing events. However, the water in the lake was polluted water so rowers were told not to put their head under. As well, there was a big nuclear power station overlooking the lake.
The accommodation was in a village next to lake, surrounded by fields of sun flowers and other cropping activities. The only local shop was a small dairy.
The team trained twice a day for two weeks prior to racing. During the “rest time” they ventured out to Melnik and Prague for day trips. The rest of the time was based at the lake preparing for racing. The preparation in Racice was different to home with a lot of focus on eating the right food – lot of food like duck, rabbit and lots of chicken.
When the other European countries began arriving at the lake it was quite distracting with everybody trying to train at same time in a small area.
Racing
Race 1
The boys were nervous as they had not raced any of the countries so they were all a real unknown. They were up against 2009 reigning champions Germany. The New Zealand team led from the start until the last 50 metres when USA got across the line 0.2sec ahead. The New Zealanders were happy with this effort.
Semi finals 2 days later
In the semi finals the first three boats to the A final and rest to B final. New Zealand had a good race and came in third behind Australia and Italy. There was a 2 second margin between New Zealand and the 2 winning crews.
Finals Day
NZ went into the finals with the fourth fastest time . However, there was a general stomach bug going through the New Zealand camp and crew so the rowers were not feeling 100%. Despite this they hunkered down and raced the best they could to place sixth. Placing six out of 49 countries competing was an impressive finish.
Winners in podium order: Switzerland, Italy Australia, Ukrane, USA, NZ
Highlights
• Atmosphere of world champs
• First two days of racing
• Prague is great city
Lowlights
• Illness
Zach Oliver and Alex Mason sincerely thank coach Bruce Holden, parents and supporters for making this experience happen. They say of Bruce “He was an excellent coach and good support for the team. He helped us to gel quickly and hunker down and get on with the job”.
Both Alex and Zach are enjoying a break from rowing. Alex is currently doing some rowing coaching whilst deciding where to from here. Zach is back catching up with schooling and plans to go to AUT to study Design next year and plans to row again at a later date.