Our adult men and the novice women went to Karapiro at the weekend, to take part in the North Island Championships. Despite incessant rain, which was at times monsoon-like, all our crews performed to a high standard.

Our novices, Alice Irving, Ayesha Asif, Catherine Saunders, Kate Edwards and Sarah Cutten, coxed by Isabella Sharp, had a couple of great rows in the four and quad, continuing the improvements they have been showing under the guidance of Laura James and others. They had fun in the doubles, even though swimming wasn’t in the original plan! They are looking good for taking a few more crews come Nationals. Apparently, they didn't actually set fire to their accommodation....

The Senior men raced hard and well, though they came up against some stacked crews from Waikato and West End: most of our crews qualified for their respective finals and put together impressive rows, even though they weren’t amongst the medallists.

Success came for our Club men: on Sunday, the double of Lewis Aitcheson and Josh Clark took charge of their race from the start and then held off attack after attack from a very fancied Clifton crew to take the gold medal by just under a length.

On Monday, our club coxless four, put together for the first time at the Wellington Anniversary camp only a week before, put together an astonishing row to take a bronze medal, less than 1.5 seconds off the gold: a very promising outcome for what was more or less a scratch crew. Well done to Sam Wilkins, Gerard Barbalich, Lochlan Rose and Angus Wilson.

The Club Quad came together for KR1, just before Christmas, winning that regatta on their second time in that combination. At the Christmas Camp, they built an impressive, fluid and sharp unit and added a layer of polish at the Anniversary camp. They won their heat comfortably, posting a time that was a couple of seconds faster than their rivals from KR1, Auckland. We knew that neither crew had had to work to the limit, so we awaited the final with confidence tinged with a few nerves… In the event, our quad took charge and rowed with precision and authority, holding off sustained attacks from Auckland and North Shore and stretching out to just over a length’s lead as they crossed the line. Lochlan Rose and Sam Wilkins added a gold to their earlier bronze, while Lewis Aitcheson and Josh Clark collected a second gold each.

A strong performance to give the club reason for confidence as we enter the last two weeks before Nationals.

Article added: Friday 03 February 2023