Sam Woodgate and Matthew Glen, along with St Bede's rowing coach Dale Maher, will represent New Zealand at the U19 World Champs in August.

In the second week of the holidays, students Sam Woodgate and Matthew Glen attended the New Zealand U19 Rowing Trials at Lake Karapiro. 

After some intense competition, both Sam and Matthew earned themselves positions for the U19 World Champs in Paris from August 2 to 6. 

And it wasn't just the boys who found success. St Bede's head coach Dale Maher was also named as head coach of the U19 squad for the World Champs. Dale has been with the college for several years now and is a key reason for this year's success. 

Before heading to Paris Sam and Matthew will reside in Cambridge for a six-week training camp, where they will juggle a high-performance environment and their studies. Following the training camp, the boys will head to Paris, with the first race on August 2. The course the boys are racing on in France is the same one used during the Olympic Games in 2024.

Both Sam and Matthew began rowing in Year 9, with Dale as their coach. Both boys tribute their success to Dale and the rowers at the college: “Dale has created a competitive environment for us to train and all of the boys have pushed us to get better, we certainly couldn’t have done it without them.”

The college would like to wish Sam, Matthew and Dale the very best for their World Cup campaign and wish safe travels to their families who will join them over in France. 

Please support the boys in fundraising for their trip to Paris by joining them on Friday, 1 June at Rowdy Kitchen for a quiz night. Details, including how to register, are in the attachment below.