Silver success for Girls’ High crew

A mouthful of medal . . . the Gisborne Girls’ High under-15 coxed four crew emulate the Olympic Games tradition of nibbling on the medal. In this case, the crew marked what has become customary, mainly to appease photographers, after their silver medal-winning performance at the Maadi Cup national secondary schools regatta at Lake Ruataniwha. From left are Jorjah Forsyth (cox), Alex Mackay (stroke), Bonnie Mason, Mya Carrington and Tillie King. Picture supplied

A silver medal performance in the girls’ under-15 coxed four was a highlight for Gisborne Girls’ High School at the New Zealand Secondary School Rowing Championships at Lake Ruataniwha, near Twizel.

Crews from Gisborne Girls’ and Gisborne Boys’ high schools had the use of newly blessed boats for the championships, known as the Maadi Regatta.

It ran from Monday to Saturday last week and drew about 2300 of New Zealand’s best secondary school rowing athletes.

The GGHS crew of Alexia Mackay (stroke), Tillie King, Mya Carrington, Bonnie Mason and cox Jorjah Forsyth, coached by Luke McKenzie and Esthie De Wet, were less than two seconds behind winners Cambridge High School in the A Final of the u15 coxed four.

Gisborne were runners-up in a time of seven minutes 48.33 seconds for the two-kilometre course, 1.7 seconds behind the winners.

They took the longer route to the A Final, finishing fourth in their heat in 8:10.78 and first in their repechage in a time of 7:58.37. Cambridge had gone straight through to the final, winning their heat in 7:53.20.

Gisborne were 2.01 seconds faster than the third-placed crew, from Wellington’s Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, who won the girls’ u15 coxed quad sculls.

The same Gisborne crew, but with Carrington as stroke, were fifth in that A Final in a time of 7:55.95, just under seven seconds outside the medal places.

Clare Ruston, coached by Esthie De Wet and Joshua Kelly, also made an A Final, finishing eighth in the girls’ u16 single sculls in 8:45.98.

Mackay (stroke) and Mason, coached by McKenzie, were third in the B Final of the girls’ u15 double sculls in 8:17.78.

Ella Knight (stroke) and Ava Duncan, coached by De Wet and Kelly, were eighth in the B Final of the girls’ u17 double sculls in 8:31.39.

Gisborne Boys’ High School crews made no A Finals but won two B Finals and one C Final.

Shaun Diver (stroke) and River Somerton, coached by McKenzie, won the boys’ u15 double sculls B Final in 7:35.01.

Diver (stroke), Somerton, Blake Bramwell, Jeremy Bryant and cox Curtis Wylie, also coached by McKenzie, won the boys’ u15 coxed quad sculls B Final in 7:12.76. The same crew finished fifth in the B Final of the u15 coxed four in 7:37.76.

Carlos Bramwell, coached by Kelly, was third in the B Final of the boys’ u16 single sculls in 8:02.34.

In other boys’ B Finals, Alexander Dinkel (stroke), Bramwell, Hunter Clapham, Tulson Sparrow and cox Wylie, coached by Kelly, were fourth in the u16 coxed quad sculls in 7:09.80;

Louis Wylie, coached by Kelly, was fifth in the u17 single sculls in 7:58.17.

Jackson Horne (stroke) and Louis Wylie, coached by Kelly, were fifth in the u17 double sculls in 7:07.19.

And Theo Mackay and Noah Mason, coached by Kelly, were fifth in the u18 double sculls in 7:13.11.

Mackay (stroke), Mason, Ned Clarke, Louis Wylie and cox Sparrow, coached by Kelly, went under the seven-minute mark in winning the C Final of the boys’ u18 coxed quad sculls in 6:59.55.

They beat runners-up St Kevin’s College of Otago by 0.13 of a second.

Between them, Gisborne Girls’ and Gisborne Boys’ high schools made three A Finals, 10 B Finals and one C Final, compared with last year’s cyclone-affected effort of four B Finals and one D Final.