Rowing team blow competition out of water

St Paul’s Collegiate School’s rowers managed an impressive medal haul of one gold, four silvers and three bronze at the North Island Secondary Schools Rowing Championships at Lake Karapiro over the weekend.

The golden moment came when Issac West (Year 11) and Sam Harcourt (Year 11) edged out longstanding rivals, Hamilton Boys’ High School, by three seconds in the under-15 boys’ doubles.

St Paul’s Rowing Coach, Nick Barton, is encouraged by Isaac and Sam’s “dominant” performance and believes they are going to be “very strong contenders” at Maadi Cup in two weeks’ time.

Other stand out performers included the girls’ under-18 pair, Grace Watson (Year 12) and Kate Littlejohn (Year 13), who narrowly missed out on gold but finished a convincing 11 seconds ahead of third place.

Coach Barton says he is “immensely proud of the whole team’s efforts.”

“The team’s results are so exciting for St Paul’s rowing and puts St Paul’s in an awesome position to build towards Maadi Cup.”

Full results:

• Gold in boys’ under-15 double sculls – Issac West and Sam Harcourt
• Silver in girls’ under-18 coxless pair oars – Grace Watson and Kate Littlejohn
• Silver in girls’ under-18 coxed four – Grace Watson (stroke), Kate Littlejohn, Olivia Warlow, Jasmine Fountaine and Victoria Chanwai (cox)
• Silver in boys’ under-15 coxed four – Isaac West (stroke), Sam Harcourt, Max McLean-Bluck, Seth Peake and Gus Hanham (cox)
• Silver in boys’ under-18 novice coxed four – Jeremiah McDonald (stroke), Taotahi Te Ua, Dallas Taikato, Ronan Fuller and Sarah Best (cox)
• Bronze in boys’ under-15 coxed eight – Jack Caldwell (stroke), Isaac West, Sam Harcourt, Seth Peake, Max McLean-Bluck, Edwin Wills, Nico Mitchell, Wes Hitchcock and Gus Hanham (cox)
• Bronze in girls’ under-18 novice coxed four – Madeleine Dickie (stroke), Taylor Balme, Alice Cao, Olivia Knowling and Molly Flavell (cox)
• Bronze in girls’ under-18 coxed eight – Bo Jacobsen (stroke), Grace Watson, Kate Littlejohn, Abby Bartels, Olivia Warlow, Jasmine Fountaine, Madeleine Dickie, Alice Emeny and Victoria Chanwai (cox)