In the first major race of their rowing career, this season’s novices offered no shortage of exciting racing to accompany this weekend’s dramatic rainy weather down at Lake Karāpiro. In the novice events, anything can happen, often making for some of the most thrilling spectacles of entire regattas. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the highlights.
The larger boats in both the men’s and women’s events were dominated largely by the usual suspects. Hamilton Boys’ High School secured comfortable wins in both the coxed four and octuple events, but slipped back to third in the eight after a hard-fought battle with King’s College, which went all the way down to the line. Ultimately, it was Sacred Heart College Auckland who took home the top spot in the eights. They did so with an amazing performance, outrunning a competition stacked with multiple crews from Hamilton Boys’, King’s College and Westlake Boys High School. The crew, led by coxswain Will Vaughan, charged to victory, holding a tight grip on their lead down to a mere length, separating them on the line in one of the more impressive final sprints of the day.
In the women’s events, Waikato Diocesan School continued their weekend successes by adding two more wins to their lengthy list in both the eight and octuple. Both events saw the girls from Dio leave no prisoners, with multiple lengths of clear water separating them as they crossed the line. Counties Manukau also produced some strong performances in the larger boats, finishing on the podium in both the eight and octuple-sculls events, a very notable performance.
Another highlight was from Waikato Rowing Club, who offered up strong performances in the men’s small boat events with novice double winners Theo Maling and Rylan Green teaming up with Tristan Ruha, Ashika Rathnaweera and Bradley Kingma. Together, they secured a first-place finish in the quad, all while a blistering battle between St Paul’s Collegiate and West End Rowing Club left a mere 0.45 seconds between second and third place.
Finally, notable mentions should go to Hamilton Girls High School, who secured several top three positions, taking home first and third in the coxed four, along with being runners-up in the quad. Macleans College also had a good weekend, with Macleans scullers Cole McCabe and Caleb Brown taking third in the double. Meanwhile, their teammates secured a respectable fourth-place finish in the quad. Rounding off, King’s College successfully held clear water over Westlake Boys High School to take second in the four on top of their fierce fight to the line in the eights.
With a gripping weekend of racing behind us, there is little to do now but look ahead to the final big event of the year: Christmas Regatta. And if the racing we just witnessed means anything, the racing there should be just as intense, if not more.
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