KHS Rowing Report – MAADI Cup Regatta 2025.

After a condensed flurry of fundraising, King’s students, Ashton Macnee and Ethan Shirley, arrived in Cambridge on a very warm Saturday afternoon ready to catch, drive, recover, and repeat all week. But first…

The Maadi Cup Regatta kicked off with the liveliest school parade through the host town centre. With their banner held high, Ashton and Ethan proudly joined 2,200 rowers from 130 schools singing, chanting, and laughing their way through the streets of Cambridge and were welcomed to the township by the Major. What a start to the Rowing Regatta.

With two heats on Monday for the Novice U18 2x and U16 2x, it was straight into racing. The morning was off to a blistering start with Ashton and Ethan winning their first heat in the Novice U18 2x; this put them straight into the A final on Friday. The U16 2x was a scorcher; finishing 5th in their heat, the boys were through to the Wednesday repechage. Needing to finish in the top five of the repechages to make the A or B final, it was going to require a mammoth row from Ashton and Ethan. Unfortunately, a few loose nuts and bolts, and a blistering pace from the U16 crews, saw the boys finish 8th and out of the U16 2x finals.

Friday arrived and the boys were ready to row their hearts out in the A final for the Novice U18 2x podium. With St Peter's College on their left and St Andrew’s College on their right, it was set to be an absolute ‘ding-dong’ of a battle for 2,000 metres. It had been a long week of learning, tweaking, and trying to find more speed from ‘Lucy’… but it was not to be in 2025. St Peter’s College were all power and precision and took both gold and silver; Macleans College claimed the bronze. In the battle for 4th and 5th, St Andrew’s College narrowly pipped the boys by .23 of a second. What a race and what a row to be proud of; Ashton and Ethan well and truly earned their Maadi Top 10 badges.

Ashton and Ethan would like to thank all those who contributed to their Maadi Cup campaign; family, friends, local businesses, we could not have made it to Cambridge without your support. A special thank you to King’s Old Boy, Hayden George who has coached the Rowing team all season and brought many laughs and learnings along the way.

If you would like to give Rowing a go, please get in contact with Mr Bannister or Mr Paul. Winter training is a ‘thing’, and the team would welcome more 'Boys in a Boat.'