Over January our Marlborough Girl's rowers, rowing for Wairau Rowing Club, travelled down to Twizel to compete and race at the South Island Club Championships.

The girls have been working hard all summer, and it definitely paid off at this regatta. 

The women's club 8+ (Molly Wilkes, Grace Straker, Sophia Saggers, Brooke Harper, Mila van Rensburg, Izzy Brick, Hazel Glover, Ella Barnes and Bella Rayner) managed to take out gold, in a nail-biting finish. 

The girl's novice 8+ sneaked in and got 3rd in their event (Lilly McMillan, Elizabeth Bowron, Iris Vavasour, Abby Craig, Lily Smith, Ebony Howes, Ana Bailey, Georgia Marfell, and Georgette Herkt). Throughout the rest of finals day, the girls medaled in 5 other events. 

Our intermediate 4+ clutched a silver (Bella Rayner, Izzy Brick, Charlotte Thomas, Harriet McLauchlan, Tessa Unwin), and the U16 4+ took out gold (Grace Straker, Mila van Rensburg, Brooke Harper, Sophia Saggers, Grace McKendry), then followed by a bronze in the U17 4+ (Hazel Glover, Ella Barnes, Izzy Brick, Bella Rayner, Molly Wilkes).

Coach Sean O'Neill said that his highlight of the regatta was seeing three of our novice 4+ battling it out for a bronze medal in the final - 3rd place crew consisted of Elizabeth Bowron, Iris Vavasour, Abby Craig, Katie Fenwick, and Jemima Soper. Another highlight for him was watching 3 Wairau (Marlborough crews) crews win gold medals one after the other at the beginning of finals day.

We were so stoked with the efforts from our fantastic team at this regatta, as the season continues, the team is putting in the Mahi, in order to work towards South Island Secondary School Championships, and Maadi Cup held in March. Big thank you needs to go out to Sean O'Neill, Andrew Blake, Mike McManaway, Craig Harper, Glen Marfell and all the parents and supporters!