**St Paul's Rowing Club medal winners** by St Paul's Collegiate School

14A Finals and 11B Finals at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Rowing Championship

St Paul's Collegiate School — Mar 25, 2024

There were 47 rowers and seven coaches who travelled to Twizel to represent St Paul’s Collegiate School for the 2024 AON Maadi Secondary Schools Regatta on Lake Ruataniwha.

The team travelled through freezing rain and snow on the hills before arriving in beautiful Twizel. This year the South Island schools have faced repeated racing disruptions due to adverse weather, with not a single regatta going to completion. However, with the exception of the early morning chill, this year’s Maadi regatta was treated to perfect conditions every single day.

The start of the week saw crews going through the process of qualification rounds, racing heats, and in some events repechages, quarter and semi-finals, all with the aim of qualifying for the A and B finals. Heading into finals days, St Paul’s crews were lining up in 14A finals and 11B finals. This meant 25 crews had the potential of making the Top 10 in New Zealand.

On Friday, day one of the finals, eight crews finished in the top ten in New Zealand.

Our Boys' U16 Quad Sculls produced an outstanding win. Handling intense pressure from very strong opposition, the crew of Gus Weir, George Benjamin, Lachie Murphy, Tyler Tretherway and James Verry put in a decisive move at 1000m to cement their position at the front of the field. They completed the 2000m race in a blistering time of 6 mins 41secs - a time we are waiting to have verified as a new New Zealand age group record for Lake Ruataniwha in this event.

Other notable performances of the day came from the Girls' U16 Eight and Girls' U17 Quad. Both crews faced tough competition and went out with the speed and intent to blow away the field. These bold moves saw both crews lead in the early stages of the race before their opposition dug deep to regain ground. Outstanding foundations and attitudes to work on heading into next year’s season.

Saturday and day two of finals dawned with yet another round of perfect conditions. Spirits and motivation were high following the strong performances from day one with 15 more crews still to race in the A and B finals.

There were 11 more crews that finished in the New Zealand Top 10, with more notable medal success.

The Girls' U16 Quad started the day off with a magnificent bronze medal. Remaining calm under pressure and sprinting to the line in a tight finishing pack, they held their nerve to snatch a podium finish. Congratulations to Zara Brangwynne, Olivia Waddell, Georgia Roberts, Polly Hunter and Tilly Millar.

As the girls were heading towards the podium the Boys' U16 Double of George Benjamin and Gus Weir lined up at the start. Another outstanding performance saw the boys again push on in the second half of the race, gaining clear water on the chasing opposition and claiming a second national title in comprehensive style.

The medals weren’t over for the day, with Zara Brangwynne and Sophie Dunn establishing themselves in the silver medal position of the Girls' U17 Double early, chasing the leaders until the finish line and breaking free of the rest of the country chasing them down.

Our final podium of the day came from the novice boys quad of Harry Kilmister, Hadley Thompson, Ben Harper, Lachie Peters and Kye Gault. The boys took the race on from the start, going out with the intent of leading and holding onto that position for as long as possible. This gutsy tactic saw them turning over crews that were expected to medal and claim the bronze position for themselves.

This result brought the St Paul’s medal tally to two golds, a silver, and two bronzes. An outstanding effort from all involved and a testament to the hard work and dedication put in over the duration of the rowing season by the athletes, coxswains and coaching team, along with the support of families, friends, housemasters and teachers.

The Rowing Club is looking forward to a well-deserved break before the start of the 2024-2025 rowing season at the end of Term 3. If you are interested in rowing at the next Maadi Cup, make sure you talk to one of the teaching staff involved in the rowing programme, or even better, some of the rowers themselves.

The full results were as follows:

Boys U15 Double Sculls: 14th (G Watson, J Cashin)
Boys U16 Coxed Quad Sculls:1st (G Weir, L Murphy, G Benjamin, T Tretheway + J Verry)
Boys U16 Coxed Quad Sculls: 9th (CJ Snyman, C Blake, H Parham, M Clausen + H Trower)
Boys U18 Novice Double Sculls: 6th (H Thompson, H Kilmister)
Girls U17 Coxed Quad Sculls: 5th (Z Brangwynne, S Dunn, A Church, F Savill + R Isaac)
Boys U15 Coxed Octuple Sculls: 7th (C Hood, Q McLean-Bluck, L Peters, B Harper, G Watson, W Smyth, J Cashin, C Barlow + A Macleod)
Boys U18 Coxed Quad Sculls:11th (A Plimmer, J King, L Fairweather, D Ellison + B Cropper)
Girls U16 Coxed Octuple Sculls: 5th (O Carruthers, O Waddell, S Mason, A McLeod, L Hadley, L Moon, M Wilson, P Hunter + M Millar)
Boys U17 Double Sculls: 7th (K Robinson, F Rayner)
Girls U17 Single Sculls: 6th (S Dunn)
Girls U16 Coxed Quad Scull: 3rd (Z Brangwynne, O Waddell, G Roberts, P Hunter + M Millar)
Boys U16 Double Sculls: 1st (G Weir, G Benjamin)
Boys U18 Single Sculls: 10th (A Plimmer), C Final, 6th (L Fairweather) D Final, 5th (J King)
Boys U15 Coxed Quad Sculls: 8th (G Watson, L Peters, B Harper, Q McLean-Bluck + A Macleod) and 13th (J Cashin, C Hood, W Smyth, C Barlow + K Gault)
Girls U14 Coxed Four: 10th (L Hadley, A McLeod, S Mason, O Carruthers + R Isaac)
Boys U18 Double Sculls: 9th (A Plimmer, L Fairweather) and Repechage 3: 6th (J King, D Ellison)
Girls U17 Double Sculls: 2nd (Z Brangwynne, S Dunn) and 10th (F Savill, A Church)
Boys U17 Coxed Quad Sculls: 6th (W Peoples, F Rayner, K Robinson, S Schulze + F Rogers) and 7th (G Weir, L Murphy, G Benjamin, C Blake + J Verry) and 14th (T Tretheway, C Snyman, H Parham, M Clausen + B Cropper)
Boys U18 Novice Coxed Quad Sculls: 3rd (H Thompson, B Harper, L Peters, H Kilmister + K Gault) and 12th (C Hood, Q McLean-Bluck, W Smyth, C Barlow + A Macleod)
Girls U16 Double Sculls: 15th (O Waddell, P Hunter)