Wellington Rowing Club

We have a strong squad of club rowers who compete at regattas around the country, with the main focus of the season the New Zealand Rowing Championships in February.

Our club crews are divided into novices and non-novice rowers, with the latter competing in Rowing New Zealand divisions ranging from intermediate to club, senior and premier, depending on ability and experience.

Training schedules are set by coaches in consultation with their crews, and the amount of training per week varies over the course of the season.

Typically, novices can expect to train three times a week until Christmas, increasing to five or six times a week in the lead-up to the national championships.

More experienced crews will have more trainings over the course of the week, although rowers may do some of these sessions on their own according to their own preference and other commitments.

We have a thriving Masters squad, which is one of the largest in New Zealand.

Rowers are eligible for Masters classification from the age of 27, although most Masters rowers at Wellington Rowing Club are older than this, having returned to the sport after a number of years, or having taken up rowing later in life.

The Masters squad have dedicated training times and programmes, which are adapted to the varying ability levels and non-rowing commitments of the squad.

Masters rowers compete at a range of regattas around the country, with a particular focus on the National Masters Championships and the Legion of Rowing regattas at Karapiro and Rotorua.

We host five school rowing clubs – Samuel Marsden Collegiate, St Patrick’s (Town), St Mary’s College, Onslow College, and Wainuiomata High School.

These rowers have dual affiliation – to their school and to Wellington Rowing Club. While school rowers have their own training programmes and train in their own squads, they row for Wellington Rowing Club in regattas before Christmas but will row for their school in most post-Christmas regattas, in the lead-up to the major school rowing regatta, the Maadi Cup.

The registration of these rowers and their subscriptions are organised through the school clubs. Most of the subscription contributes to the school’s rowing programme, although a portion goes towards Wellington Rowing Club to cover the usage of the club’s equipment and hosting costs.

We also host the Victoria University Rowing Club, which is mainly active from the start of March to University Games in April.

While many of our club rowers also row for Victoria University, there is a separate university rowing subscription.