Saturday 20th March saw the NPGHS rowing team along with the SHGC and FDMC rowers off to Lake Ruataniwha, Twizel which is a 3 ½ hour drive inland from Christchurch for 11 days. Our group 16 strong who train at the Clifton Rowing Club on the Waitara River were off to the Maadi Cup regatta which is the largest secondary school sporting event in the Southern Hemisphere drawing a record number of 1900 students who were competing this year.

Rowing is one of the strongest sports in New Zealand and competition is extremely tough with a lot of schools having their own boats, clubs and coaches. We have been very privileged to row for the CLIFTON ROWING CLUB with the use of their boats to compete at the regatta and also at NISS at Lake Karapiro in Cambridge.

After flying from New Plymouth to Wellington then on to Christchurch we got in our rental vans with our house mum Steph Phipps, our manager Noel Henderson and coach Leighton Montgomerie.

Twizel is a small town purposely built for the lake and dam and is at a high altitude for rowing as the air is harder to breathe in, however the picturesque lake made up for the freezing 13 degrees water which if anyone fell in would lead to hypothermia in 3 minutes. Racing started with heats on the Monday where we competed in our four and singles, however wind caused delays for the afternoon and racing was put off until the following morning. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday followed the same with delays throughout the heats, repecharges and semis due to strong winds.

Finals Day Saturday was huge, with thousands of supporters making the journey to watch the U18 Girls four Dawn cup (won by Rangi Ruru Girls School) and the major event the U18 Boys Maadi Cup which was won again by Hamilton Boys High School.

The Maadi cup is an important part of History, with the original Maadi Township in Egypt where the New Zealand soldiers in WW2 trained and rowed, becoming part of the secondary schools competition. This much coveted cup is a very prestigious award for the rowers and their schools with our New Plymouth Boys’ High School winning the cup in 1962, a major achievement with only 14 schools which have won it in 61 years.

After the Regatta finished the celebrations began with the official Maadi Party taking place from 7pm till 1am with an awesome DJ and sound system. Heaps of students came to the party and had heaps of fun, definitely a great ending to the week.

On the Sunday our New Plymouth group headed to Queenstown to check out the cute town and shopping, going on the gondolas and luge, watching the parachute tricks competition and our coach do the bungee. After getting halfway home our van ran out of diesel- it’s a 3 hour drive- in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone reception, we had to wait 1 ½ hours for our second van to get us some fuel and off we were.

We all had an amazing experience going down south and are thankful to our sponsors who made it all possible for us. Also to our house mum Steph, our cooks Colette & Jill, our coaches Gus Berghan and Leighton Montgomerie, Noel our manger and our parents who all together made it possible

The NPGHS team events

Under 17 Single Scull & Under 18 Single Scull
Under18 Coxed Four & Under 18 Coxed Quadruple Sculls

Emma Rees rowed a single and the four rowing crew consisted of Breana Pearce (stroke), Rachel Colson (3 seat), Emma Holmes (2 seat) Rachel Sarten (bow) and Demi Barr (coxswain).

Rowing is where each rower has one oar, and can compete in a pair, four or eight. Whereas sculling is where each rower has two smaller oars and can compete in a single, double or quad.

Come Learn to Row!

Our coaches are looking for new girls to learn this amazing and extremely popular sport.

Get a group of girls together and come down and have a turn in the boats, it’s really awesome once you get the hang of it.

Every Sunday at 10am during the winter at the Clifton Rowing Club there will be open days for those keen to have a go. The rowing club is situated on the Waitara River (the place with all the concrete steps) in Waitara. We would love to see more participation in rowing from our school, and would love to have a possible New Plymouth Girls’ High Eight for next year, as Boys’ High already have their eight training! You’re welcome to come have a go and see whether you like it.

If you would like more information ring Gus Berghan on 752 3677.