The extraordinary legacy of three generations of Bedean rowers.

Rowing and St Bede’s go a long way back for the Giera family with Murray Giera (1960-1964), sons Dave Giera (1985-1989) and Nick Giera (1988-1992), and also grandson Bede Giera (2020- ) all heavily involved in the sport.

During his own schooling years, Murray was part of the successful St Bede's rowing eight which took out the Head of the River title in 1964. Following his final year, in 1965 Murray donated a cup to the rowing club establishing the Giera Fours which was competed for by four crews formed amongst the Senior, Intermediate, and Juniors rowers. The Giera Fours Cup is still awarded today to the Best Rowing Four and Coxswain - U17 Crew.

As you will read in Mark Meates' profile on Murray included in this newsletter, he went on to coach rowing at St Bede’s for 19 years, devoting so much of his time to the programme in the 1970s and 1980s and in the lead-up to the '91 Maadi Cup win. 

Murray's sons Dave and Nick also both rowed for St Bede's, with Nick being part of the successful 1991 Maadi Cup winning squad and Dave going on to represent New Zealand at U23 level in 1992. Remarkably, Nick's son Bede has followed in his father's footsteps as part of the exceptional 2023 Maadi Cup-winning crew.

Recently we caught up with Nick, Dave, and Bede to learn more about their family's involvement in rowing. We have included the poignant piece 'What rowing means to me' written by Dave in this newsletter, and below, SBC Maadi Cup-winning father-son duo Nick and Bede give us their take on their family's extraordinary rowing successes.   

Nick, can you tell us what the sport of rowing has meant to your family?

Being around rowing brings back a lot of cherished memories of the friendships, training, the regattas, and the people who have left an indelible mark on my life. For our family, Dad had coached and led the programme for a number of years (prior to David and Nick rowing) so that meant a lot of support and work from Mum (Bernadette) to manage the family (4 kids) and run the family business. At Lake Karapiro in March this year, she recalled memories of attending the Maadi Cup on the Wanganui River in the 1970’s - 1980’s. With Bede’s sister and cousins also rowing (at SBC, St Patrick’s, Marian, and Rangi Ruru) Bernadette’s Maadi Cup regatta attendances number over 20 times. Rowing at St Bede’s also opened the door to opportunities of rowing at Avon Rowing Club for both David and I and the successes we had at both club and NZ rep levels (NZ Junior and U23’s). Rowing is a tough sport, it requires commitment, determination, and sacrifice and we’ve felt that it epitomises the best that sport can offer in terms of developing kids with good character. It’s a lot of fun too and as a family, we’ve always felt that school rowing should be the start of an involvement in the sport. We feel very lucky to have been involved.

Nick, what was it like to witness Bede win the Maadi Cup 31 years after your own success on the water?

It was a fairy tale moment for me to witness the win, knowing how difficult it is to have a crew fast enough to win that race. It’s the most coveted trophy in school-boy sport. It takes such a huge effort from the boys, their parents, coaches, and school staff that you need something special to bring it all together. I was very lucky to have been part of a fast crew and in '91, we had some special coaches (Charlie Flanagan and Dave Lindstrom) and parents involved back then and this year’s win is no different in that regard. For SBC to be the top boys rowing school in the country (in terms of success at the 2023 Maadi Cup) and being aware of the effort that has gone into the programme over the years, it was an emotional moment.

Bede, what did it feel like to win the Maadi Cup 31 years after your Dad and continue your family’s extraordinary legacy of rowing success at St Bede's?

To be in the crew that won the Maadi Cup for the second time ever at St Bedes after my dad did was an extremely special moment and made me proud to carry on the family success that was before me in rowing at St Bede's.

Bede, was your Dad’s achievement part of your motivation in training and what words of advice did he give you going into the big race?

By Dad being in the previous crew that won the Maadi Cup and seeing the possibility of contending for the Maadi Cup this season did give me a lot of motivation to train hard before and throughout the season to make the Senior Eight. It was also the extra motivation to pull off what the crew had all been thinking about during the season which was to win the Maadi Cup. Before the race, Dad had just said to stay relaxed and be confident in the preparation and training that Dale our coach had given us leading up to that moment. He really emphasised to just stay in the moment and not get too carried away by what was at stake.

Nick, how has the sport of rowing changed over the past 30 years?

There are over 130 schools participating in rowing now and I think that this fact realises the vision that the early leaders of rowing at St Bede’s had for the sport. To move the sport from elitist to one that kids from all schools can enjoy. There are definitely more opportunities now for boys to get access to top coaches now than 32 years ago and NZ rowers seem to be well sought after in university scholarship programmes in New Zealand, the US, and Europe. At the club level, the sport faces the same challenges as other codes, securing volunteers and funding.

Nick and Bede - What do you think it takes to succeed in rowing? / What words of advice would you give to any young athlete wanting to take up the sport?

- Hang in there! There are lots of moments when it can feel hard to keep going with training, especially in the early parts of the season when there aren’t so many regattas, but the enjoyment ramps up through the season. Also, keep going even when you have setbacks because experiencing the highs and lows of rowing are worth it.

- Stay organised with managing your school work and your sleep so that the workload doesn’t create problems for you.

- Don’t give up your winter sport, most coaches understand the benefits of balance and it makes you a better athlete and more rounded individual in the end.

- Be disciplined with your training, there will be moments when you don’t want to train but they can be the trainings that make the biggest difference to your results.

Bede, now that you have won the Maadi Cup what are your future plans/goals for rowing?

My goals for the future are firstly to try to repeat the success we’ve had this year in the coming season by maintaining the awesome culture we’ve had and the work ethic that is essential to achieve these results. One of my future goals is also to get a NZ Junior trial and achieve a University Scholarship through rowing.