Millie Scott and Bridgette Sutton spent their Easter break rowing. Read how they got on.

After Maadi Cup 2022, Millie Scott and Bridgette Sutton received trials for the South Island U18 Rowing Team. The trials took place from 22-24 March and involved a two kilometre erg test, as well as time trials and seat racing in various boats. At the conclusion of these trials, both Millie and Bridgette were named in the team, to race in both the U18 Pair and Eight.

The regatta was held at Lake Karapiro, near Cambridge, from 28-29 of March, giving a short amount of time for the girls to train in their new boats and get to know their teammates.

The squad stayed in Twizel for another two nights and trained in both the girls eight and their pair. It was a really good opportunity to row with new girls from a range of schools, with girls from Rangi Ruru, St Margarets and Marlborough Girls in their boat. On Monday evening after a long day of training, the team drove to Christchurch and stayed the night at the Christchurch Boys’ High School Hostel, before flying to Hamilton on Tuesday morning. They then completed a further two days of training on Lake Karapiro, before racing began on Thursday morning.

The team’s first race on Thursday morning was the eight. They were racing the North Island crew and were unsure what to expect as neither crew had raced together before. The South Island Crew led right from the start, before increasing their lead halfway through the race to win by around 4 seconds. The next race wasn’t until around 2 pm that afternoon, so the team was able to watch Lisa Carrington race, as well as the NZ Elite Rowing team competing in their Winter Series, and the U19 Junior Rowers who were partaking in their trials at the same time.

In the afternoon’s pair race, Millie and Bridgette placed third behind a North Island crew, with two Marlborough girls from their eight taking first.

After day one, the South Island was leading by six points, meaning they neede to win one race the following day in order to take home the trophy.

The layout of the regatta involves the bigger boats being raced twice, so Millie and Birdgette got to compete in the eight for one last race. They knew the North Island would be wanting to win after the previous race, however the South held a larger and earlier lead to win again, this time by six seconds! At the conclusion of racing, the South took home the trophy with a victory of ten points (75-65) over the North Island.

Both Columba girls thoroughly enjoyed this experience. They learnt a lot from their South Island coaches and are excited to pass on their new knowledge to the rest of the Columba crew.