For his past achievements and his continued dedication to and leadership in rowing, our 2022 Sports Award winner is Ross Lindstrom (1972-1973).

At Saturday’s nights Annual Old Boys’ Dinner, Ross Linstrom’s son Andrew accepted his father’s award on his behalf stating his Dad was “very honoured to find out that he has been nominated for this award” if somewhat “surprised he had not been left in the category of the lost and forgotten”.

Ross's journey into rowing started in 1973 when in the fifth form he became a first-year rower in the St Bede’s U18 Eight. Success soon followed with a 16-year-old Ross’ selection for the New Zealand U19 Eight where he was the youngest crew member in a team that incidentally also included old boy David Simmons (1968-1972) as coxswain. As an NZ Junior Ross trained under world-famous coach Rusty Robertson, he went on to be part of the U23 crew who were unbeaten on their 1975 tour of Australia, was a reserve for the 1976 Montreal Olympics team, and he was a member of the NZ Eight who won bronze at the 1978 World Champs.

“The experience I gained in rowing gave me a solid platform as I started coaching, where I have been fortunate to lead a couple of successful rowing programs,” Ross explained to us recently.

Ross coached squads in both the North and South Island, including at St Bede’s College. He directed the St Andrew’s College rowing program for 3 years through to winning the Maadi Cup and Spring Bok four in 2017, with several rowers from this crew going on to be currently involved in the NZ rowing program at the senior level.

Ross was Director of Rowing for the Southport school on the Gold Coast over the summers of 2020 and 2021 and he is currently Head of Rowing at St Hilda’s School on the Gold Coast but is due back in New Zealand in October.

You can view the full presentation of the Sports Award at the Annual Dinner by clicking on the image below:

Congratulations Ross on winning our Sports Award for your lifetime achievement in Rowing.