On Friday the 24th of April, a squad of 21 girls flew to Auckland Airport, before driving to Cambridge for the prestigious Maadi Cup.

On Saturday the girls went for a few training rows to get used to the different conditions on Lake Karapiro. To formally open the event, the Maadi parade was held on Sunday, with schools from around the country walking down the main street of Cambridge. Banners flew high and all the schools chanted as loud as they could with pride and anticipation of the week to come.

The first race on Monday morning was the Girls U15 Coxed Quad. This crew consisted of Matilda, Isla, Georgia, Delilah and cox Isabella. This was the girls’ first ever race as a crew, and so their 2nd place result in their heat was very impressive. This result meant the crew progressed to a repechage which they won in style, booking themselves a spot in the A Final.

The second race on Monday was Millie and Briar in the girls U18 Double. The South Island Champions dominated their race, progressing straight to the semi finals in a time of 7:57.95.

Shortly after this, the U17 coxed quad of Charli, Bridgette, Jendi, Sara and Isabella placed second in their repechage, held on Wednesday. They won this and progressed to the A Final. Madi and Poppy raced in the Novice Double on Monday afternoon. This is a highly competitive category and the girls did extremely well to place a close 6th in their repechage, only narrowly missing out on a spot in the Semi Finals. To conclude racing on Monday, the experienced U15 Octuple placed a close second in their heat to progress directly to the A Final.

The remainder of the heats were raced on Tuesday, with two new novice quad combinations both progressing to repechages, which they placed first and second in. This meant they both progressed to the semi finals, and it was an incredible achievement for both crews to make it to the B Final in this event. Special congratulations to the crew of Anika, Poppy, Madi, Taylor and Isabella for placing 11th in the country as they placed 3rd in the B Final.

The U18 quad also raced their heat on Tuesday. They won this race and progressed directly to the A Final with the fastest qualifying time.

Sara and Isla raced the in U17 double sculls. This event had 50 entries and was very competitive. Sara and Isla placed 6th in their heat and were unfortunately eliminated.

The final two heats for Columba were the Novice Four and the U16 Double. Poppy, Madi, Annie, Anya and Kate progressed to the B Final. They won this race and can be proud to say they placed 9th in the country in this event! Charli and Ciara’s U16 double event was another with many entries, meaning the progressions were tough. They placed 3rd in their heat, 1st in their repechage and narrowly missed out on the spot in the A Final. However, they bounced back better than ever and won the B Final in their fastest time yet!

Friday saw the first of the A Finals for Columba in the U15 quad. This crew raced an outstanding race in the final, surpassing everyone’s expectations and only missing out on a medal by 0.02 of a second! Well done girls. Next was the U18 Double Millie and Briar never stopped pushing their competitors and looked tidy and composed coming down the course. They also came a very close fourth, which only made them more determined for a medal in other races. The U17 Quad was a very fast final and the girls placed 6th, a respectable achievement.

The final A Final for Columba on Friday was the U15 Octuple. The field was close for the first 1000m for the race before the top three crews broke away, one of which was the Columba crew. The girls never looked back and crossed the line in 3rd, earning themselves a bronze medal!

The U18 quad, raced on Saturday was Columba’s last medal opportunity. They were second in the first 1000m behind a fast-starting Whakatipu crew, but kept calm and made a big move through halfway to take the lead. They held off challenges from crews next to them right until the final stroke, finishing the race as New Zealand Champions! This was the first National title for Briar, Millie, Jendi, Bridgette and Isabella and was certainly a race to remember.

Congratulations to Millie for being named as an U19 New Zealand trialist, and to Bridgette and Isabella for gaining U18 South Island trials. All the best for these girls!

A big thank you must go to the Columba coaches, Matt, Kaylin and Jared, as well as the house parents for Maadi, Tracey and Pen. Thank you also to Mrs Sinclair for all your help, and big shout out to Phil for being unwaveringly positive and helpful all week!