Local rowers impress in stellar year

Tauranga's world champion rowers Adam Ling and Zoe Stevenson.

Tauranga Rowing Cub members performed with distinction nationally and on the world stage in 2015.

Tauranga is the only rowing club in New Zealand to have two current world champions in Adam Ling and Zoe Stevenson, who won gold in September at the world championships held in France.

Ling, 23, blitzed a world class field to win the lightweight single sculls final but as that division is not contested at the Olympics, he will be in another boat at Rio. Stevenson and Eve Macfarlane took out the women's double while Tauranga's Curtis Rapley also qualified for Rio at the world championships in the men's lightweight four.

Former Tauranga local and defending Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale was second in the men's single sculls. Tauranga sent 13 rowers to the nationals in February, with all winning medals including future stars Jordan Parry, Nathan Oakley and Isaac Crockett-Powell.

All Black Sam Cane captained his country for the first time at the Rugby World Cup and with Richie McCaw's retirement is set for a long tenure in the famous number 7 jersey.

There was undoubted improvement in the performance of the Bay of Plenty Steamers who lost a hard fought semifinal after being last the year before. The move to the new High Performance Centre at Mount Maunganui's Blake Park from Baypark is a positive move for the union, as is the signing of some of New Zealand's best young under-20 talent.

Tauranga Sports were crowned Baywide Premier rugby champions after beating home team Te Puke Sports in an exciting final. Tauranga locals Sir Gordon Tietjens (men) and Sean Horan (women) coached the New Zealand sevens teams with distinction on the world stage, with Papamoa's Scott Curry named men's captain. Glen Jackson remains New Zealand's top rugby referee.

Tauranga Sports were crowned Baywide rugby champions.

Tauranga City United clinched promotion to the Northern Premier League with a memorable late run. They had to win the last two games at home with a clear 10-goal margin to steal the final promotion spot from North Shore United. They managed to do it to bring premier league football to Links Ave in 2016 for the first time in 10 years.

Tauranga's dominant position in canoe slalom continued in 2015, led by Luuka Jones and Mike Dawson who will compete at this year's Rio Olympics. The New Zealand under-23 team are all from the Bay of Plenty. Jack Dangen won the New Zealand under-18 nationals and was second in the open men, Alex Hawthorne made the semifinals at the Australia nationals in the U23 K1 and Patrick Washer won the C1 Open nationals.

Tauranga Boys' C2 team were crowned national champs while Tauranga Girls' victory at this year's New Zealand Secondary Schools Canoe Slalom Championships was the school's 13th national title in the past 14 years.

Omanu won the national under-14 title for the second year running at the spectacular Oceans 15 surf lifesaving carnival held at Mount Main Beach, while Mount Maunganui won the 2015 New Zealand Pool Championships and the under-19 men's canoe title. The strength of the surf lifesaving talent along the Western Bay coastline was evident in the number of athletes selected for various New Zealand teams during the year.

Greerton swimmer Nathan Capp broke two New Zealand records in the 400m IM and 800m freestyle at the NZ Open Swimming Championships. He took half a second off Dean Kent's national 400m IM record that has stood since 2006. In setting a new 800m freestyle time of 7:58.30 he became the first New Zealander to swim under eight minutes and was nearly five seconds inside the old record set by Dylan Dunlop-Barrett. He also smashed his own record in the 1500m freestyle by more than seven seconds. Capp owns both the national short course (25m pool) and long course (50m) 1500m records.

Vicky Semple and her Sports BOP team put together the largest NZCT AIMS Games yet. A record 8007 athletes from 261 schools nationwide competed in 19 sports throughout Tauranga. There is no other sporting event in the Southern Hemisphere to match those numbers and something we can all be so very proud of.

Water polo continues to grow in playing numbers and successes. Tauranga under-14A boys were national champions for the first time. Cayne Dew (Aquinas College), Justin Pickering (Mount Maunganui College) and Malia Josephson and Alisha Winstanley (Mount Maunganui College) represented NZ Schools boys and girls in the Trans-Tasman series. Simone Couvee was in the New Zealand Junior Women's team at the FINA World Women's Junior Championships in Greece in August.

Charlie Wood, Hamish Low, Adam McKenzie, Bae Fountain, Josef Schuler, Liam Moffatt, Jack Ellis and Joe Faulkner (boys) and Grace Elisara, Kayla Dew and Shinae Carrington (girls) all represented New Zealand under-15s in Australia. Daniel Dennehy, George Williams, Sam Wylie and Julia Kayes represented New Zealand in under-16 teams.

Tauranga-based pro Mark Brown won his second consecutive Carrus Open at the Tauranga Golf Club on the Charles Tour. Founder and New Zealand's greatest golfer Sir Bob Charles was in attendance. Tauranga's Josh Geary finished second on the PGA Tour China Series in his first full season playing the tour. His reward is exempt status on the feeder tour to the US PGA Tour, the Web.com, where he last played in 2012.

Both the Bay of Plenty men's and women's Interprovincial golf teams performed beyond expectations. Aquinas College student Alannah Campbell captained the Bay women's team and won the Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools Sportswoman of the Year award.

Other notable performances in 2015 include Otumoetai and Greerton Swimming Club's outstanding age-group stars, wakeboarder Marc Jacobs winning his eighth straight national title, Harbourside Netball Centre winning Bay of Plenty Club of the Year, New Zealand's number one beach volleyball team Sam O'Dea and Mike Watson, Otumoetai College Senior A Girls volleyball team and Mount Maunganui College Senior Girls beach volleyball team.

New Zealand Aquaferns team included Tauranga swimmers Sarsha Younger, Eva Morris, Jazzlee Thomas and Amy Lowans, and coaches Julieta Diaz and Suzanne Ribeiro. Former Tauranga Girls' College basketballer Makayla Daysh signed a four-year scholarship with Chadron State University, Nebraska, while Greerton represented Northern Districts at the national club cricket finals for the first time.