Archive Rowing News
St Paul's boys selected for NZ U19 Rowing Team
Alex Mason and Zach Oliver have both been selected to represent the NZ U19 Team to race at the Junior World Rowing Championships in Czechoslovakia later in the year.
Aon Maadi Cup National Secondary Schools’ Rowing Competition 2010
19 March 2010
The week was not kind to the rowers this year as high winds played havoc with the races causing delays all week. Teams would prepare for a race only for the wind to come up and put racing on hold. All the stop-starting made it difficult to prepare. Despite this St Paul’s rowers kept their heads and had a fantastic week’s rowing, with 40 out of the 42 rowers finishing up with at least one, two or three finals.
This amazing week’s racing for all crews produced 12 finals overall, seven B finals and five A finals, which is a brilliant effort from a club of our size.
Highlights were:
Boys U16 4 – Silver Medal
Hamish Mahon, Izak Eksteen, Luke Wyllie-Miln, Joseph Velzian coxed by Jesper Mansson
Boys U18 4 – Bronze Medal
Alex Mason, Zach Oliver, Luc Rodwell, Maxwell Stuart-Jones with cox Zac Laurich
Coming third was the pinnacle of the under 18’s rowing careers as they have trained five years for this.
The prestigious Maadi cup race featuring Izak Eksteen, Grayson Croasdale, Lucien Nabbs, Maxwell Stuart-Jones, Luc Rodwell, Zach Oliver, Alex Mason, Hamish Mahon and cox James Pickford had raced an outstanding heat to finish in second place and going straight through to the A final. This in itself was a great result as it meant that the eight was placed in the top eight crews in New Zealand. The squad had a good race, in relatively choppy conditions, to finish sixth in a very quick and competitive race.
The icing on the cake, for this successful week, was the announcement that Max Stuart-Jones, Hamish Mahon have a trail for the U18 North Island Crew and Zach Oliver, Alex Mason and Luc Rodwell have a NZ Junior trial early April.
Maadi Cup 2010
Click an image to enlarge
New Zealand Club Championships 2010
From Tuesday, 16th to Friday, 19th February, St Paul's senior rowers competed in the New Zealand Club Championships, which is the final regatta for all clubs throughout New Zealand. The racing endured by the senior rowers was challenging as many had to compete against much older men or women. The first event of the week was the Under 18 IV of Alex Mason, Zach Oliver, Luc Rodwell and Maxwell Stuart-Jones, coxed by Zac Laurich. The crew raced in the heats and progressed through to the final for the Men’s Club IV. In the final they had a messy row which earned them sixth place.
Following the fours race was the Men’s Under 21 Pairs race, which the two Under 18 Pairs entered. The pairs consisted of Mason and Oliver in one, and Rodwell and Stuart-Jones in the other. Both pairs raced in two separate heats. Mason and Oliver came down the course placing fifth, while Rodwell and Stuart-Jones placed 8th. Both pairs qualified to make the Pairs Repecharge and were competing against older rowers, so both did very well. Mason and Oliver placed a very close fourth in the race, narrowly missing a final. Rodwell and Stuart-Jones placed fifth.
Lucy Travis competed in the Woman’s Club Single. She placed a close eighth and did very well, as she raced against older women. In the repecharge Lucy came down the course to place fourth, missing out on her final.
The Under 17 IV of Hamish Mahon, Lucien Nabbs, Grayson Croasdale and Izak Eksteen, coxed by Zac Laurich, were entered into the Men’s Under 19 IV event. They were placed in a very competitive heat racing Hamilton Boys’ High School’s top Under 18 crew. They needed to place in the top four to proceed to the final but narrowly missed out, coming fifth in the final sprint.
Cambridge Town Cup Regatta 2010
30th & 31st January 2010
Authors: Luc Rodwell (Captain of Rowing) and Zac Oliver
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday all the St Paul's rowing crews competed at the Cambridge Town Cup Regatta at Karapiro. This was an important regatta as it is one of the stepping stones on the way to the Maadi cup in Twizel in late March. Crews performed relatively well considering the very hot conditions on Friday and Saturday, and the strong wind, pouring rain and choppy conditions on Sunday, all of which made racing very challenging.
Friday and Saturday were heats for the crews and most crews took the opportunity to qualify for either the A or B Finals on Sunday. Early Sunday morning, Luc Rodwell and Maxwell Stuart-Jones raced in the B Final of the Men’s U18 Pair. They raced well and crossed the line first. Zac Oliver and Alex Mason also raced as a pair to compete in the A Final and crossed the line sixth overall. In the Men’s U17 Double Scull event, Grayson Croasdale and Michael Hodge finished seventh in the B Final. Racing was extremely challenging in the small boats due to the poor water conditions.
The girls had a good day making the B finals in the U17 and U18 Quads. In the U18 Quad they finished a creditable fourth. This race was then followed by the Men’s U17 Quad in the A Final who placed eighth. Later on Sunday afternoon, as the weather was deteriorating, the Men’s U18 IV took to the water and had a good race to place fourth in the A Final. Straight after this race, the Men’s U17 IV, stroked by Hamish Mahon, came flying down the course to finish an excellent second in the A Final.
Then the lightning and thunder came with heavy rain, which put paid to any more racing. This was disappointing as the U15 VIII had won their heat on Saturday and were hoping to do well in their A Final. But there was so much rain that the roads were flooded. One club even launched a rowing boat on the flooded road and took a few strokes for a laugh. Lucy Travis in the Single Scull and the Novice VIII also missed out on their finals.
All crews gained vital racing experience from the regatta.
A big thank you to Mr Foot, Mr Varney and other coaching staff that made it a highly organized and successful regatta.