Magnificent final day at the Maadi Cup

by Rowing-World on 2 Apr 2006 The final day of the 2006 AON New Zealand Secondary Schools Rowing Championships finished on a stellar note with a double gold medal in the BU-17 and BU-18 Singles; a race to the death in the GU-18 Eights for the Levin Jubilee Cup; and with the first three crews rowing the 2000 metre course in under the magic six minute mark in the Maadi Cup itself.

A final point of intrigue occurred, in these gender equal times, after the Levin Jubilee Cup had been won for the first time by girls crew from Wanganui Collegiate, as to whether their boys crew could win the Maadi Cup and produce an historical double.

The racing in all Eights events throughout the final day had been extremely close, and the ten thousand spectators knew they were in for a treat going into the final premier events.

In the Girls U-18 Eights, Wanganui Collegiate got out very fast and made clear their intentions to take a grip on the race. The current North Island Champions, Westlake Girls went with them, and in fact led through the first 500metres with Collegiate about half a boat length behind. Sacred Heart was also in contact.

Between the 500 and 100 metre mark, Rangi Ruru made their move with Wanganui Collegiate responding to their every challenge, and they continued to leap-frog each other right to the end. By the time they were within had reached to around 500 metres from the finish, Rangi Ruru and Wanganui Collegiate had cleared away from the rest of the field.

At about 150 metres both coxes called for the last sprint, and it was Wanganui Collegiate’s strength that took them away to win by a canvas, however it could have been either schools race.

While disappointed to miss winning the Levin Jubilee Cup, the Rangi Ruru crew were philosophical with the knowledge that several of their crew were U-16’s and would be back to fight another day, all the better for the experience, thank-you.

It would also seem that Rangi Ruru have re-developed the culture they enjoyed a few years ago when they had depth through all the age groups, and had won the U-18 Eight title for ten successive years.

Hamilton Boys went into the Maadi Cup for the Boys U18 Eights, with the backing of the safe money.

With a win in the U18 Pair Oars and the Springbok Shield, the previous day, as well being the current North Island champions and having also won this event in a very convincing manner the previous year, the Waikato crew certainly had the pedigree.

The first start for the Boys U18 Eights for the Maadi Cup was stopped after the King’s College crew snapped an oar a few strokes down the course, and were entitled, under the rules, to call for a repair and restart.

They elected to replace the entire set of oars and the race got away for the second time after a 20 minute delay.

Racing in a gentle tailwind, Wanganui Collegiate got off to a good start in their quest for the double, with Rotorua Boys and Hamilton Boys and held this formation through the first 500metres up to the 750 metre mark. At the 1200 to 1500 metre mark Kings College and Christs College ground their way to take over the front running, looking a little sharper than the lead group.

At about 250 metres from the finish, Kings led by about a canvas, at that point Christs moved their rating up a couple of points and Kings were not able to respond. Christ sent from being a canvass down to about half a length in front at the finish to take the Maadi Cup for 2006. Kings College held on for the solver about half a length back to Hamilton Boys, who came back a little in the final 250metres, but never really looked like threatening at the finish.

Kings and Christs rowed a well planned race, but Christs were the best crew on the day. Significantly all crews went down the 2000 metre course under six minutes – which is a stunning feat in the Maadi Cup event on the Ruataniwha course.

“A well-engineered win” was how one commentator described Christs effort.

The U-18 Single sculls was a race of attrition with Takapuna Grammar (Henry Poor) and Lindisfarne (Adam Tripp) renewing their rivalry from the North Island championships.

They were joined by Marlborough Boys (Ryan Brown) and Bethlehem College (Royce Finlayson). With about 500 metres left it was down to who had enough left in the tank. One of the group broke ranks, and Henry Poor followed about three strokes later and took off like a rocket, finishing about three quarters of a length ahead, with Ryan Brown taking the silver medal and Royce Findlayson winning the bronze.

Interestingly, Henry Poor’s time for the race was almost 20 seconds faster than last year’s winner at Karapiro, and was three second slower than his time set on Karapiro in the North Islands two weeks ago, in similar wind and water conditions.

Earlier in the day, Poor won the U-17 single sculls for Takapuna Grammar, rowing a very controlled race, leading by a length throughout.

Of the competitors in the U-18 1X only one, Matt Cummings (Hutt Valley High), also attempted the double.

Henry Poor’s win in both events, coupled with the same double win at the North Islands, begged comparison with James Sullivan’s effort in 2004 at Ruataniwha, when he won three gold medals in sculling events in 30 minutes.

Somewhat controversially, after that effort, Sullivan was not selected for the Junior Worlds team, and same again initially in 2005. However on Appeal, Sullivan and Daniel Karena were selected for the double sculls at the 2005 FISA Junior World, taking a podium place.

After the racing was over for the day, the NZ Selectors announced a 53 strong list of trialists for the 2006 team. With the level of talent seen in both the sculling and sweep oar disciplines at Maadi 2006, one cannot envy their difficult task to select the team. However it is clearly a great problem to have.

Results for BOYS U18 8+  Sponsored by Aon

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A Final Results

	Club	Finish	1500	1000	500	Crew
1st	CHRISTS COLLEGE SCHOOL 1	5:56:48	-	-	-	James Robins Jeremy McDonnell Daniel Roberts Sam McArthur Ben Stewart James O'Connor Ben Lynten Andrew Archibald Cox Robert Salvesen
2nd	KINGS COLLEGE SCHOOL 1	5:57:41	-	-	-	Richard Menzies Henry Caulton Jack Riddell Daniel Steele Patrick Allison Willoughby Kenny Scott McKenzie Hugo Farmer Cox Miles Arulambalam
3rd	HAMILTON BOYS HIGH SCHOOL 1	5:58:68	-	-	-	Arundeep Singh Joseph Morgan Blair Smith Josiah Lester Jared Pehi Brad Ross Josh Payne Tyson Williams Cox Sam Purvis
4th	ROTORUA BOYS HIGH SCHOOL 1	6:01:04	-	-	-	David White Chris Edward Harry Simperingham Ugi Zoric Blake Pardoe Jesse Acton Mark Costello Thomas O'Donnell Cox Steve Cornwall
5th	ST KENTIGERN COLLEGE SCHOOL 1	6:05:93	-	-	-	Richard Carter Duncan Jessep Sean Reidy Thomas Blampied Robert Kidd Anthony Pohlen Hayden White Nick Bixley Cox Samuel Cosgriff
6th	WANGANUI COLLEGIATE SCHOOL 1	6:08:62	-	-	-	Steven Gulliver Thomas Main Daniel Izard-Price Hugo Peacocke Keith Donald Daniel Horrocks Barclay Winter Craig Van Veldon Cox Tom Middleton
7th	OTAGO BOYS HIGH SCHOOL 1	6:11:75	-	-	-	Curtis Bush Adam Cowie Clarke McNab Peter McLeod Sam Bennett David Waddell Hamish Cooper Grant Fahey Cox Jamie Burgess
8th	NELSON COLLEGE FOR BOYS 1	6:15:15	-	-	-	Simon Moroney Matt Hellriegel James Taylor William Conway Blair Jones Chris Sandall Dmitry Loukine Jamie Orsbourn Cox Edward Burger

Results for GIRLS U18 8+  Sponsored by PPCS

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A Final Results

	Club	Finish	1500	1000	500	Crew
1st	WANGANUI COLLEGIATE SCHOOL 1	6:41:18	-	-	-	Charlotte Burson Georgina Baker Georgia Cottrell Sophie Warnock Paparangi Hipango Harriett Austin Rebecca Hughes Kate Austin Cox Sarah Lyons
2nd	RANGI RURU GIRLS SCHOOL 1	6:42:99	-	-	-	Maryam Spagnuolo Sally Spackman Lucinda Paterson Anna Dawson Sophie Spiers Alexandra Burnside Jenna Suckling Julia Watherston Cox Rosie Ulrich
3rd	SACRED HEART GIRLS COLLEGE 1	6:50:08	-	-	-	Brittany Mace Genevieve Crawford Catherine Mills Kate Reymer Ashleigh Finlay Priscilla McIntosh Tessa Murphy Catherine Arbuckle Cox Annaliese Devoy
4th	NELSON COLLEGE FOR GIRLS 1	6:51:89	-	-	-	Hannah Rutherford Ashley Fenwick Frances Scott Kirsty Butler Brittany Fenwick Shannon Bane Sian Jones-White Natalie Matheson Cox Jenny Mathews
5th	ST MARGARETS COLLEGE 1	6:52:27	-	-	-	Dayna Aubrey Olivia Faull Isla McNeice Tessa Page Jessica Loe Josie Springford Courtney Paterson Rosa Thomas Cox Emma Fechney
6th	WESTLAKE GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL 1	6:59:03	-	-	-	Sarah Wolff Annabel Rowlands Sophie Jones Judith Quinlan Heather King Carolyn Davies Victoria Moss Olivia Wylie Cox Ella Davy
7th	WAIKATO DIOCESAN SCHOOL 1	6:59:63	-	-	-	Kylie Marsh Brylee Haywood Hannah Cameron Anna Telfer Megan Holden Phillippa Summerville Juliet Anderson Charlotte Spratt Cox Kirsty Black
8th	MACLEANS COLLEGE 1	7:05:18	-	-	-	Alex Bayes Monique Lunt Zoe Shaw Marie Venter Lauren Hunter Leigh Brown Sarah Williams Madeline Seaman Cox Matthew Lunt

Results for BOYS U18 1X  Sponsored by Doughboy Bakery/High Country Salmon

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A Final Results

	Club	Finish	1500	1000	500	Crew
1st	TAKAPUNA GRAMMAR SCHOOL 1	7:35:88	-	-	-	Henry Poor
2nd	MARLBOROUGH BOYS COLLEGE 1	7:38:13	-	-	-	Ryan Brown
3rd	BETHLEHEM COLLEGE 1	7:44:39	-	-	-	Royce Finlayson
4th	LINDISFARNE COLLEGE 1	7:51:37	-	-	-	Adam Tripp
5th	ST PATRICKS COLLEGE (KILB) 1	7:55:38	-	-	-	Rowan Barbalich
6th	WANGANUI COLLEGIATE SCHOOL 3	7:57:36	-	-	-	Ross McDonald
7th	RANGIORA HIGH SCHOOL 1	8:00:32	-	-	-	Armin Svoboda
8th	ST PETERS SCHOOL 1	8:02:30	-	-	-	Matthew Glenn

For full results of the 2006 AON Maadi Cup regatta see: www.rowingnz.org.nz/maadi06/stamad06.htm or www.schoolrowing.org.nz