Gold and two bronze medals for the novice girls squad at the Otago Rowing Championships held at Lake Ruataniwha at the weekend. 1033 rowers attended the event from 35 clubs around the Otago area. Wanaka fielded a squad of 23 rowers. The crews raced in 26 events , placing in 10 A finals and 7 B finals.
The squad included the senior rowers – Sam Pearce, Owen Lea, Quinn Curtis, Maggie Stiven, Sammy Harry, Sophie Fenn, Emma Smith, Grace Shannon and Patrick Hartley and the novice rowers – Hayley Ambrose, Emily Findlay, Ruby Boyd, Samara Goodall, Pipi Horan, Aneka Rossiter, Amber Hewitt, Lyla Chamberlain, Lucia Brown, Bella Sarginson , Neve Faed, Timo Fitzpatrick, Tao Hawkey Hight and Olly Thomas.
The highlight of the weekend was the performance of the girls novice squad who came away with a gold in the girls novice quads, Bronze in the U15 octuple and bronze in the U15 double, continuing their success from previous regattas.
The quad of Hayley Ambrose, Emily Findlay, Ruby Boyd, Samara Goodall, coxed by Patrick Hartley in the heat and Pipi Horan in the final had a battle with Villa Maria but took the lead by 2 seconds, with the two lead crews finishing some 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
The other girls quad of Amber Hewitt, Aneka Rossiter, Lucia Brown and Neve Faed had a solid row in the B Final where they finished 4th.
In the U15 octuples final, the quad was joined by Aneka Rossiter, Amber Hewitt, Bella Sarginson and Lyla Chamberlain and took 3rd place just 10 seconds behind Villa Maria and Dunstan. A fabulous result given the girls were in a borrowed boat with no practice.
In the U15 doubles final , Hayley and Emily , both novices, were third again , narrowly missing 2nd place behind Villa and Dunstan, who are both experienced crews in their second year of racing. Ruby Boyd and Samara Goodall were pipped to 8th place.
In the senior squad, Quinn Curtis had a terrific row in the Boys U17 singles coming 1st in his heat and 5th in the final with a PB of 8.02. Owen Lea also raced in the U17 singles with another PB finishing 4th in the B Final.
Sam Pearce had his work cut out for him in the U18 and Club Singles placing 5th in both events and Maggie Stiven was 8th in Club single.
The Under 17 girls had some steady races but with new squad members joining the group in in the last couple of weeks, need a little more time to get fully up to speed. Both under 17 doubles made the B final with Sophie Fenn and Sammy Harry placing 2nd place and Grace Shannon and Emma Smith 5th.
The novice boys, were unable to field a novice quad due to injuries but Tao Hawkey Hight and Timo Fitzpatrick joined forces with the senior boys Sam Pearce and Owen Lea who took to the water for some racing experience in the Club quad. They knew they would be outclassed but it was a great training experience.
Overall, a very successful weekend boding well for the future season and much excitement in the camp from both rowers, parents and coaches.
Wanaka Rowing Club 
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