Vastly improved weather resulted in gold and silver medals for the Wanaka Rowing Club (WRC) at its most recent foray to a rowing regatta at Lake Ruataniwha last weekend (January 30-31).

Less than two weeks ago, the Canterbury Rowing Champs at Lake Ruataniwha had to be abandoned after rain and strong winds interrupted the finals. In comparison, last weekend’s Meridian South Island Rowing Championships were held in perfect racing conditions - “blue bird skies and flat calm water”, WRC club liaison Angela Rickard said.

“This allowed all the rowers to put their training into practice which was great to see everyone improving their performance since the last regatta,” she said.  

And the results say it all: six gold medals and three silver.

The WRC’s squad of 19 rowers and three coaches competed in 22 events, impressively making it through to 14 A Finals and 2B Finals. 

“As a small club we have performed remarkably well, and it is gratitude due to many hours of hard work from both the athletes and coaches,” Angela said. 

She said the stand out performances were from the Intermediate Girls crews who gained A Finals in all their events.

The Intermediate Coxed Quad (Neve Faed, Lyla Chamberlain, Bella Sarginson, Samara Goodall and coxswain Thomas Mitchell) raced well with a comfortable first place win followed by a gutsy performance by the Girls Under 17 quad (Neve Faed, Emily Findlay, Bella Sarginson, Samara Goodall and coxswain Thomas Mitchell) to take home another gold medal.

Silver medals went to the Girls Under 16 Double sculls for Pipi Horan and Ruby Boyd and the Under 19 Girl’s coxed quad, of Pipi Horan, Emily Findlay, Lyla Chamberlain, Neve Faed and coxswain Thomas Mitchell, who encountered some tough competition from crews a lot older than they were. 

Two other WRC crews also raced in the A Finals of Intermediate Girls’ Double sculls; Lyla Chamberlain and Samara Goodall finished fifth milliseconds ahead of fellow club members Bella Sarginson and Ruby Boyd, who placed sixth.

Another stand out performer was Aaron Maxwell who raced exceptionally well to win the Men’s Intermediate Single sculls comfortably by three boat lengths. A recent transfer to the WRC, Aaron also joined Tao Hawkey-Hight in the Men’s Intermediate Double A final, where they placed seventh.

Proving “they’ve still got it”, the WRC coaches also gained podium finishes in all their events.

Rachel O’Connell had a confident win in her Women’s Masters Single scull event; she then joined Matt Rickard to cruise over the finish line first in the Mixed Masters Double.

Together they teamed up with Dave Ayers and Columba College coach Matt Adams to create a composite Masters Quad and took home a silver medal for their efforts.

Even the club’s novice crews did their club proud, Angela said.

The Novice Girls’ Quad crew (Ella Kaler, Amelia Craig, Kelly Quirke, Jess Gould and coxswain Thomas Mitchell) made it into their A Finals after a brilliant third placing in its heat. A very credible ninth placing in the final was “an excellent result considering they are all very new to competing”, Angela said.

Not to be outshone, the Novice Boys Quad (Jem Curtis, Torben Craig, Anton Jones, Matai Wells and Max Good) showed some strong racing over the weekend as well. Anton also combined with a Timaru crew to fill a seat in its Boys Under 15 Octuple sculls gaining excellent experience and second place in the A final.    

PHOTO: Supplied