“I think most of the club will have sore throats this week, we yelled so hard.”
The championships were held at Lake Karapiro from last Friday to Monday this week.
The club category has no age restrictions. Gisborne's crew were a mix of five high school crew members — Sacha Dewancker, Thom Simmons, Ben McCosh, Oscar Ruston, Joshua Kelly and coxswain Pippa Jones — along with club coaches Alex Hyland, Lewis Green and Luke Jenkins.
The same clubs fought it out in the men's coxed four, with Wellington taking the honours and the Gisborne crew of Alex Hyland, Lewis Green, Luke Jenkins and Oscar Ruston claiming silver.
The win in the eights, considered the premier event of the regatta, reflects the strength of the boys' rowing programme at the Gisborne Rowing Club.
Ruston took out gold in the boys' under-17 single sculls by almost eight seconds, with clubmate Dewancker seventh in the same A Final.
The pair combined later to win the u17 double sculls by over six seconds.
In the men's coxless pair A Final, McCosh and Simmons secured a sixth placing, having shown strong development over the season.
The boys' u18 coxed four of Cody Wright, McCosh, Simmons, Kelly and coxswain Jones placed fifth in their A Final.
The girls' u18 double sculls combination of Eva Mirko and Vita Anderson and the u18 coxed quad of Eva Mirko, Vita Anderson, Sabine Lapointe, Phoebe Naske and coxswain Claudia Shanks raced in A Finals, each placing seventh.
Jenkins said the results were encouraging ahead of the North Island secondary schools regatta in March.
