Outstanding rowing from MAC at South Island Secondary Schools Regatta
15 March 2022, 6:00 AM
There were gold medals and plenty of outstanding rowing by Mount Aspiring College (MAC) over the past weekend (March 11-13) at the South Island Secondary Schools Rowing Regatta at Lake Ruataniwha.
Held over three days, the event was a satisfying conclusion to a busy season for much of the squad, and a great lead into the Maadi Cup competition for those racing in two weeks’ time.
The school sent a squad of 17 rowers to Twizel, 13 of whom were novice rowers in their first year of competition, and a number who had less than six months experience in the boat.
“The whole team performed very well,” Wanaka Rowing club committee member Karen Wells, noting that the “highlight of the weekend” came in the girls’ under 18 novice coxed quad sculls.
The crew of Lola Ritchie (stroke), Annie Wells, Annika Massey, Lucy Maibach and Thomas Mitchell (cox) were thrilled to end their season on a high with a gold medal performance which saw them outrace the second placed Columba College crew with a comfortable seven second margin.
The girls’ pairs of Annie and Lola and Annika and Lucy also shone as both crews also made it through into the A finals of the girls’ under 18 novice double sculls. A powerful start saw Lola and Annie lead from the outset and claim the gold medal over Craighead by 11 seconds; a win they have been chasing all season.
Other notable performances included a determined effort from the girls under 18 novice coxed four of Chloe Murray, Sophia Tuck, Lucy Radford, Skye Watson and Thomas Mitchell (cox). The team endured extremely choppy conditions to finish a very commendable fifth in their heat.
The same crew (with the experienced Jess Gould) racing in the girls’ under 15 coxed quad sculls also received praise after overtaking two other crews to finish strongly despite a stalled start.
Coach Rachel O’Connell singled out Anton Jones for his composure in the windy conditions. Anton faced very difficult water in an outside lane to finish in good form in the boys’ under 16 single sculls.
Jem Curtis and Phillip Massey in the boys under 17 double sculls did extremely well against well drilled competition to finish fifth in the A final: a great achievement for this developing combination, with Phillip describing it as his most enjoyable race to date.
In another A final showing for MAC, Phillip, in combination with Thomas Mitchell in the boys’ under 18 novice double sculls, kept among the pack throughout the final..
The MAC team is coached by Rachel O’Connell, Matt Rickard, Rob Bruce and AJ Humphreys.