Guest of honour Mahe Drysdale captivated the large gathering of Wanaka Rowing Club (WRC) members and supporters who attended the club’s annual prize giving event last Sunday (August 23).

WRC coach David Ayers said it was really good having a motivational speaker of Mahe’s calibre speak at the event.

“He’s quite an inspirational guy. He spoke for 30-45 minutes and everyone was captivated by him and his story, how he got started, the challenges he overcame,” David said.

Jackie Boyd, a club supporter and proud mum of one of the club’s award winners Ruby Boyd, said listening to Mahe share his story and the challenges he faced during his career leading to two Olympic Gold medals “was truly inspirational”.

“I especially liked the message that he achieved his best results when he was focused on being the best he could be,” she said. 

“I’m very proud of Ruby and all of the young rowers with the hours they pour into their training and also very grateful to the coaches, committee, parents and masters who give them all so much support.”

With the Watersports Facility officially opened that morning, the evening’s event was also a celebration of the new building.

Gold medal winning U15 double sculls pair Pipi Horan and Ruby Boyd at this year’s South Island Secondary Schools championships. PHOTO: Rowing Celebration

An estimated crowd of 80 filled Pembroke Pavilion to celebrate the year’s achievements and present the club’s ten awards for individual rowers, crews, coaches and club supporters.

For the second successive year, Pipi Horan was awarded The Tony Wellman Electrical Trophy for Rower of the Year. 

Pipi has had an extraordinarily successful season, even though it was shortened by the COVID-19 restrictions, winning numerous medals and being named best female school rower at the 2020 Otago Rower of the Year awards. She was also recently selected to represent Otago against Canterbury rowing in the women’s under 20 quad, double sculls and single sculls.

The Crew of the Year award went to the Girls’ U15 doubles duo Pipi and Ruby Boyd. The pair had been unbeaten in their age group all season, David said.

The awards for the most improved rowers are decided by the coaching team and this year the Bruce Family Cup for the most improved female rower went to Lyla Chamberlain and the David Varney Cup for the most improved male rower was awarded to Tao Hawkey-Hight. 

Patrick Hartley, who shone as cox of the medal winning quads all season and was recently announced as the top coxswain at the 2020 Otago Rower of the Year awards, was awarded the Ashton Wilson Shield as cox of the year.

Other big winners on the night were Grainne Power (Masters Rower of the Year), Matt Rickard (Coach of the Year), Amanda Inkster (President’s Award), and Bridget Brady who won the Galloway Trophy for her services to the club.

The Doug Stewart Trophy for the most outstanding contribution by a community supporter was awarded to Michael Sidey, whose passion and energy as chair of the Wanaka Watersport Facility Trust guided the Watersports Facility project to completion.

As for the new season, David said the rowers have had a good winter build-up and “without wanting to sound too confident, we’re in a good position to start the new season”.

The new competitive rowing season starts next month and runs until April 2021.