Boys High tipped to retain cup titles

by Evan Pegden, Waikato Times on 29 Mar 2006 A new coach, new boys and a different venue are the variables for the Hamilton Boys' High under-18 rowing team defending key titles at the Maadi Cup schools rowing regatta near Twizel this week.

But if a successful North Island Secondary Schools Rowing Championships at Lake Karapiro a couple of weeks ago is any guide they should again be competitive.

Last year Boys' High swept the coveted Maadi Cup eight and Springbok Shield coxed four titles at Karapiro under the guidance of ace coach Ian Wright.
With Wright taking up a professional coaching position in Australia, 1972 Munich Olympic eight-oar gold medallist Gary Robertson has taken the reigns at the school.

The school won the boys' under-18 eight, four and pair at the North Island championships and have headed south for the Aon New Zealand Secondary Schools Rowing Championships, starting at Lake Ruataniwha today, with a squad of 33, covering under-18, 17, 16 and 15 age groups.

The regatta is traditionally the biggest in New Zealand and this year boasts 1264 crews representing 101 schools in 42 events, meaning 300 races over six days, climaxing with the Maadi Cup eight final on Saturday afternoon.
Robertson has based this year's under-18 crews on Jared Pehi and Josiah Lester who were in last year's winning under-17 four and part of the Maadi Cup success. The duo won the pair at the North Island championship, as well as being part of the four and eight, and team up with Tyson Williams, Josh Payne and coxswain Sam Purvis in the four that will attempt to win back-to-back Springbok Shields for the school.

Brad Ross, Blair Smith, Joseph Morgan and Arundeep Singh make up the rest of the eight.

'We won the pair and the four quite comfortably at the North Islands but the eight was a good race with Rotorua (Boys' High), Kings (College) and St Kentigern (College) throwing the challenge down and us responding well,' Robertson said.

The big secret was having a programme that every year brought rowers through the grades, step by step.

Robertson listed Rotorua, Kings, St Kentigern, Christ's College and Wanganui Collegiate as the Maadi Cup threats to his crew this year.

Waikato Diocesan School, who won the Levin Jubilee Cup eights in 2002, look the strongest Waikato threat in the top girls' under-18 events, coached by Bruce Holden and anchored by the North Island pair-oar champions Megan Holden and Phillippa Summerville.

Diocesan were third in the under-18 four and fourth in the eight at the North Island championships.

Source: www.stuff.co.nz