At Maadi, the U17 events are commonly used as an indicator of who will go on to find success in the U18 events the following year. The Girls’ U17 Eight is no different, and is a great precursor before these athlete’s final seasons as juniors. And on the grandest junior stage of the year for the Kiwi circuit, there is no better time to make yourself known and prove yourself. So, let us take a look at the main contenders for this year.
Epsom Girls’ Grammar School
Starting with the leaders from the North Island, Epsom have certainly made themselves known, claiming victory at the North Island Secondary School Championships (N.I.S.S.C.) earlier this month by a little under a length. They did not entirely break free of their competition, but will certainly have been putting in the work throughout the past few weeks with the aim of taking gold again, and perhaps more convincingly. Last year at Maadi, these girls finished just outside the medals in fourth, and with an almost unchanged crew, with only a couple of changes, this crew will be eager to make it onto the podium this time around. When split down into two coxed fours at N.I.S.S.C., they finished with a bronze medal for their ‘A’ crew, while their ‘B’ took the win in the B final. Evidently, this crew has significant talent, so it will be fascinating to see what they can accomplish on the Karāpiro waters next week.
Rangi Ruru Girls’ School
Now the main contenders from the South Island. The squad from Rangi Ruru has shown impressive talent so far this season, taking the win at the South Island Secondary School Championships (S.I.S.S.C.) in fairly impressive style, four seconds ahead of the pack. Also featuring a number of athletes from the previous season’s U17 eight, which claimed silver, this lineup is intimidating and energetic and will no doubt have their eyes set on one goal: the centre step of the podium. Not only that, these girls, with a reasonably similar lineup, also won the U18 Eight at S.I.S.S.C. This shows not only impressive talent and depth, but also a program built for longevity; I could see this squad continuing to dominate for years to come. In terms of overall points, Rangi Ruru was the fourth-best club at SISS while entering considerably fewer events than their competitors. Undoubtedly, come race days this crew is not to be taken lightly.
Wellington Girls’ College
Nipping at the feet of Epsom at N.I.S.S.C. was Wellington Girls, taking out the silver medal position in what was a tightly contested podium. They claimed second over Sacred Heart Girls’ College by less than half a second, showing a serious level of grit to fight it out right till the very end. They were a little off the pace of the top crew, but I am sure they will have been working on that in recent weeks. Beyond that, there is not considerably more to say about this crew; they were not present in this event last year, nor the U16 event. I am interested to see what they can pull off here.
St Andrews College
St Andrews have clearly been building up to this for a while, having taken gold in the U16 Eight at Maadi last year with a remarkably similar crew to the lineup they put out at S.I.S.S.C. this time around. They had to fight ferociously to achieve that impressive victory, taking the win by less than 0.2 seconds. This year, they have so far been slightly overshadowed by Rangi Ruru, but with so much on the line, crews have been known to pull anything out of the bag. In Twizel, they also managed to grab bronze in the U18 Eight with an almost unchanged crew, a feat which shows both current skill and future potential. Though gold may be a little out of reach for them here, a medal is certainly on the cards.
Predictions
Clearly this is going to be a great contest, and I personally see the gold medal fight taking place between Rangi Ruru and Epsom. Ultimately, I think the depth and skill of Rangi Ruru will prevail, though of course it’s not over till its over. Fighting it out for the final medal will be Wellington Girls and St Andrews, with Sacred Heart also likely to be in the mix.
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