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BHS Rowing Squad - South Island Club Rowing Champs
 

Burnside High School Rowing Team show their strength at South Island Club Champs

Christina Blackford —

The small squad of 21 athletes made their way to Twizel for the annual South Island Club Champs last weekend.

The crews had been tracking well after a tough weeklong training camp in early January. After every other Twizel regatta being called off due to high winds, the squad had their fingers crossed for good weather to test themselves.

After a full day of heats on Saturday, where the Burnside crews made 8 ‘A’ Finals and 6 ‘B’ Finals, they were raring to contest the medal races on Sunday.

The day started off with the Girls U15 quad (Samantha Rankin, Kate Ryall, Poppy Knight, Katy Mitchell & Abbie Maye) A length down with 500m to go, the girls took the stroke rate up and chased down the fast Dunstan Arms crew. Despite getting marginally ahead, the line came at the wrong time and the Dunstan crew won on the surge of their boat. Only 100th of a second in it. But such a good start to the day, and Burnsides first silver medal in a long time!

Next up we had Bryah Moriarty in the Girls U17 Single. Bryah won her heat quite comfortably and was in the running for a medal, but which colour was still to be decided. After a slow start, she mowed down the competition and broke away from the pack. Her biggest rivals coming from St Andrews College and Otago Girls, but today she was not letting them get near her, crossing the line 8 seconds ahead for the gold medal.

Without any time for a break, Bryah was back on the water in the Girls U17 Quad. A tough event racing against some established combinations, the girls (Emily Ryall, Liv Dawson, Zeda Matau & Bryah, coxed by Sophie Rowland) went out hard and had to settle for 2nd place to a fast-finishing Mt Aspiring College (Wanaka RC) crew.

Shortly after the U17 quad, we saw the combination of Samantha Rankin and Kate Ryall fly down the course in the Girls U15 double sculls. The girls rowed to the best of their abilities and came away with the bronze medal.

Bryah was back on the water yet again, this time teaming up with Emily Ryall in the Girls U17 double sculls. These two pushed themselves into a bronze medal, which was an incredible achievement considering Emily, an U16 is rowing up an age category.

Our last A final for the day was the Men’s Intermediate Double sculls. Jacob Wadley and Sam Lamont were up against some much older, larger crews. They did not disappoint themselves with a solid 5th place in the final.

Earlier in the day, our Women’s Intermediate quad came in a promising 6th place.

1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze was the final tally for the regatta and made for one of the most successful regattas for Burnside in recent years.

The athletes hard work and dedication is the reason they are seeing so much success and they can not wait for the school season to begin. Maadi Cup is 7 weeks away so there is plenty of hard work still to be done.

If you are interested in joining the Burnside Rowing Team for the 2021/2022 season, please contact Head Coach - Christina Blackford – 021982448 or christina.bakerburns@gmail.com for more information.