Timaru Girls break medal hoodoo

by Pat McCord, Timaru Herald on 5 Apr 2006 The Timaru Girls High School coxed quad broke a decade-long hoodoo when they won the school's first medal at a Maadi Cup rowing championship on Saturday.
Liz Ireland, Nicole Mehrtens, Lydia Dockrill, Nicola Coulter and cox Nicola Durie put the disappointment of the four result behind them to grab a bronze medal behind Bethlehem College and Christchurch Girls.

They were coached by Keith McRobie and Steve Sanders, the incumbents for three years.

‘Girls High would have been competing at Maadi for over 10 years before us,’ McRobie said. ‘I would say this puts us on the map.’

There had been high hopes this crew would take a medal in the coxed four.
‘They are as good, if not a bit better, rowing,’ he said. ‘But under finals pressure they lost some composure.’

According to Sanders they threw the game plan overboard.

‘They didn't race to the plan,’ he said. ‘They panicked in the first 200m and chucked the race plan and rowed as individuals.’

‘Some lessons are harsh but they learned from it,’ McRobie said. ‘They came back with a vengeance.’

Both men believed it was a marvellous result for Girls High given their time attending Maadi.

‘They will be back again next year, stronger and with more maturity,’ McRobie said.

A feature was the support the South Canterbury schools gave each other when they had a crew on the podium.

‘There is a lot of on the water rivalry but off it they tend to support each other,’ Sanders said.

Timaru Boys high single scullers Richard Gaskin and Richard Kelland had a satisfying win in the under-18 single B final. It ranks them ninth in New Zealand.

Source: www.stuff.co.nz goto Timaru Herald and Sport