The Wānaka Rowing Club is celebrating a successful ‘first kick out’ for the 2022/23 Rowing Season. A team of 37 (including 27 school age and 10 Masters) enjoyed a relaxed weekend of Rowing at Lake Ruataniwha in Twizel competing in the Aoraki 1000 Regatta.
The Regatta, designed as a fun lead in to the competitive season, sees the athletes racing over a 1000m course, rather than the standard 2000m, and gives a supported and relaxed introduction for rowers new to the sport and a nice warm up for others at the beginning of the season.
The Wānaka Rowing team sent their largest ever contingent of school age rowers, including 9 novice rowers – an indication of the growing interest in the sport in Wānaka. Club Liaison Angela Rickard said that she was “thrilled to be alongside such a large and enthusiastic young squad – and impressed by the way they managed themselves during the weekend”. She noted that “the whole regatta environment can be quite overwhelming for some, but the WRC squad settled in very well and looked to be enjoying the team and competitive challenge.”
The forecast poor weather did not eventuate and it was good water for Saturday and most of Sunday, with wind causing the abandonment of the regatta for the final few events only.
There were plenty of moments to celebrate. Of note was the excitement surrounding the racing of the Novice Octuple. The club is very pleased to be training a crew in this big boat event, and there were cheers all round as the crew made their way up past the club tent. The Octi managed themselves well in racing and progressed into the A final where they placed a commendable 5th against some well drilled competition.
In other results of note the Girls U17 Double sculls of Annika Massey and Annie Wells gained a 2nd in their A Final, with our other two crews of Isabella Noble-kirkbride, Abbey Petersen and Chloe Murray and Issy Edmond both also making it through the heats and remaining competitive in this A final.
In the age group down the U16 double sculls crew of Lola Ritchie and Lucy Maibach gained a hard fought 4th in the A final, with Lucy Radford and Sophia Tuck placing 4th in their B Final.
Jem Curtis, following on from his outstanding last season, moved into competing in the competitive Open Mens Division, where he gained a first place in the B Final of the single sculls and a 6th in the A final with his double scull crewmate Torben Craig.
Perhaps the most ‘exciting’ race of the day was the final event before the regatta was abandoned – with the wind picking up and the water getting very choppy the Girls U16 Coxed Quad Sculls of Lucy Radford, Chloe Murray, Sophia Tuck, Jess Gould with Isabella Noble-kirkbride (cox) used all their skills to even progress down the course and hold their form. A challenging way to end the regatta.
The Masters squad also had some great results with Chris Brooks gaining an impressive 1st place in his Mens Masters Single Sculls and the Womens Masters Double Scull crew of Lodge and Leishman gaining a 2nd place their A Final.
The Aoraki 1000 has set the club up well for the season, with all involved looking forward to some hard training before the next events.
