Twenty four Marlborough Girls' College students joined roughly 2,300 other secondary school students heading to Twizel to embark upon the 2024 Aon Maadi Cup (Secondary School National Rowing Championship).

The week started on Sunday with the annual school and banner march through the streets of Twizel, where all the school competing gather, chant/haka off, and are officially welcomed to the regatta.

Monday and Tuesday saw the crews battle through their heats to see how they would advance to the next round of racing. Depending on the race's progression, crews could either advance straight to the A final on Friday or Saturday, or crews could end up in quarter/semi-finals or even a repechage. The crews from MGC saw a range of results on the first couple of days, with the under-17 and under-18 fours advancing straight into the A final on Friday.

Racing continued throughout the week, and 3 more of MGC's crew qualified for A finals, and 2 qualified for B finals, an excellent result for the small squad. Finals days saw a step up in racing, with fast times coming out of every lane. Our MGC rowers competed hard with the school badge on their chests. 

This year the Under-18 four won bronze in the last race of Friday. This was the first time in 12 years that Marlborough Girls' College had won a medal in an U18 event at MAADI, an outstanding achievement. 

Other results: A finals - U17 4+ - 7th; U18 2x - 6th; U18 4x+ - 7th; U17 2x - 6th. B finals - U16 4+ - 1st, Novice 4 - 5th.

A massive congratulations to all of the rowers selected to compete at such a large secondary school event. For our novices (first-year rowers) you have now seen the size, scale, and excitement that MAADI holds and we hope to see you compete for years to come, representing MGC with pride.

To our six Year 13s who have now signed off from MAADI and representing MGC, well done to you all. You have upheld our school's values consistently over the past four years, training and competing with the highest of integrities and creating a culture of whanauangatanga. 

A special mention goes to Mila van Rensburg who has been selected to trial for the New Zealand U19 team, and Grace Straker who has been selected to compete for the South Island U18 team.

Congratulations to our very own Mr Bennion who is now the new coach of the U18 South Island Rowing team!! Well done Joe, we are very proud of you.